Employer Demand For Lightweighting-Related Skills In Michigan Up 18 Percent In Q2

DETROIT – Employer demand for lightweighting-related skills in Michigan increased by 18 percent between the first calendar quarter (January through March) and quarter two 2018 (April through June). What’s more demand has doubled since the first quarter of 2018 with more than 56,000 job postings.

This according to a new report from Detroit-based LIFT—Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, a Manufacturing USA Institute.

Additionally, 2018 marks the ninth consecutive year of employment growth in lightweighting-related occupations in Michigan, with nearly 700,000 workers employed in the field today.

The top in-demand lightweighting-related occupations in Michigan in Q2 2018 included: Industrial Engineers (6,995 postings), Maintenance and Repair Workers (6,459 postings), Mechanical Engineers (5,432 postings), First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (4,448 postings) and Electrical Engineers (2,513 postings).

The quarterly reports, highlighting employment trends, top jobs, and required skills in advanced manufacturing through Q2 2018, are completed with research and analysis from the Workforce Intelligence Network of Southeast Michigan (WIN) for Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee – a region home to more than 50 percent of metalworking jobs in the country.

“As we invest in advanced manufacturing research and development and lightweighting innovation, new and significant employment opportunities are continuing to emerge,” said Emily DeRocco, education and workforce director, LIFT. “The challenge we are working to address is in educating students and workers to rebuild the pipeline where job demand continues to outpace supply. An investment in talent, paired with collaboration among industry and education, will be critical to mitigating today’s skills gap and retaining jobs.”

LIFT, operated by the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII) and one of the founding Manufacturing USA institutes, is a public-private partnership dedicated to developing and deploying advanced lightweight metal manufacturing technologies, and implementing education and training programs to better prepare the workforce today and in the future.

The full Michigan report can be viewed at: http://lift.technology/education-workforce-development/.

About the Author: Mike Brennan

Founder of Michigan News Network, and serves as CEO, as well as Editor & Publisher of MITECHNEWS.COM. Brennan has worked since 1980 as a technology writer at newspapers in New York, NY, San Jose, CA., Seattle, WA., Memphis, TN., Detroit, MI., and London, England. He co-founded and served as managing editor of Pacific Rim News Service (SEATTLE), which developed a network of more than 100 freelance journalists in 17 Asia-Pacific countries.