Advanced manufacturing is growing and thriving in the United States. Companies are in great need of reliable employees who can communicate well, effectively make decisions, and are interested in long-term careers with opportunity for advancement. Employers have identified a need for a more robust talent pipeline to narrow America’s skills gap—a mismatch between the job-market needs in business and industry and the education and preparedness levels of the workforce. To address this important issue, JFF, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, and the Manufacturing Institute convened higher education and business leaders with state labor officials and other experts for a summit called Minding the Gap: Investing in a Skilled Manufacturing Workforce. This brief highlights major policy and program solutions explored during that summit to address the manufacturing skills gap.
