Coalition addresses skilled-trades gap
By Denise Dick
canfield
A new coalition aims to bridge the skilled-trades gap between available jobs and qualified workers to fill them.
The Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, formed last September, conducted a news conference Friday at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
Manufacturing accounts for about 40,000 jobs in the five-county region, and that number is expected to grow.
Jessica Borza, MVMC executive director, said a 33 percent increase in industry jobs is forecast over the next two to three years if manufacturing companies “can find employees to fill skilled-trades-related opportunities.”
The coalition is working with schools, colleges and universities, career and technical centers as well as businesses and governmental agencies.
“This is industry trying to help itself,” said Brian Benyo, coalition president and president of Brilex Industries.
The solution must be industry-driven, he said; companies can’t rely on Washington or Columbus to fix the problem.
One step in addressing the problem is identifying career pathways, where students know what courses to take to prepare for a particular career.
“Education for the sake of education is really a disservice to the community,” Benyo said.
The jobs Valley manufacturers are looking to fill aren’t the repetitive, production-line work where employees do the same thing all day long. They require specific skills and special training.
“A machinist requires as much training as someone that gets that four-year degree,” Benyo said.
The pay is comparable as well.
“There’s a potential danger if we don’t start to fill this gap,” Benyo said.
If one company loses an employee to another company and can’t fill that job, is that really job creation, he questions.
People in the audience agreed it’s not.