Careers Still Found On Factory Floor
Over the next decade there are likely to be lots of job opportunities in technical fields, particularly in manufacturing, but Central Massachusetts educators and nonprofits trying to draw students down those career paths have their work cut out for them.
That was the consensus of a number of speakers at a symposium on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education that the Massachusetts Manufacturing Engineering Partnership held in Worcester.
Barry Bluestone of the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University said that, thanks to the rapid aging of the manufacturing work force and the absence of younger workers coming up to replace them, there will be about 100,000 openings in Massachusetts factories in the next decade.
He said one major barrier to filling those jobs is that young people and their parents don't see manufacturing as a career with promise for the future.
"That's why just telling this story becomes important," he said.
Several other speakers from local colleges, government agencies and nonprofits spoke about educating parents about opportunities in manufacturing, bringing technology professionals together with middle school students and helping dislocated workers and veterans find jobs in the sciences.
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