The area's manufacturing industry is hungry for workers, and it is eyeing high schools as the best place to start recruiting.
The Arrowhead Manufacturers & Fabricators Association will meet at Two Harbors High School on Wednesday to talk about "programs that feed the manufacturing pipeline." All those interested in Northland manufacturing are welcome to attend.
The AMFA luncheon will be held at noon and will include a tour of the school's "robust" machining and robotics classes, which include access to "top-notch" equipment.
The group of more than 100 companies annually gives thousands to schools to support technical education.
The jobs are available, and so are many workers, but the skills needed and the skills those workers have are mismatched as manufacturing becomes more specialized and computerized - hence the focus on education before students enter the workforce.
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Wednesday's panel discussion will include Brad Vieths, the Vocational Programs coordinator for Duluth Public Schools and coordinator for the Lake Superior Carl Perkins Consortium; Roy Smith, director of workforce development at the Applied Learning Institute; and Rich Sill, North Shore Trade and Tech project coordinator.
Minnesota manufacturers expressed optimism for the year ahead in a recent survey by the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Already in January manufacturing jobs and wages are growing throughout the Midwest, according to Creighton University's monthly outlook.
"This is the highest confidence reading we have recorded in six years," according to the report released Wednesday, which pegged Minnesota manufacturing wages as rising 7.2 percent in the past year.
Even as some manufacturing sectors shed jobs in Minnesota, the report reiterated the biggest concern among managers as "finding and hiring qualified workers."
