FRANFORT, Ky. — Advanced manufacturing employment in Kentucky surged in the third quarter of 2018 with more than 300,000 workers employed – surpassing pre-recession employment peaks by nearly 15,000 workers. This according to a new report from Detroit-based LIFT—Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow, a Manufacturing USA institute.
Demand for lightweighting-related skills grew by 19 percent between Q2 and Q3 2018 with 20,325 job postings.
The quarterly reports, highlighting employment trends, top jobs and required skills in advanced manufacturing through Q3 2018, are completed with research and analysis from the Workforce Intelligence Network of Southeast Michigan (WIN) and Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, a region that’s home to more than 50 percent of the metalworking jobs in the country.
“As demand for advanced manufacturing jobs continues to climb, the need for talent development in Kentucky and the rest of our nation is imperative,” said Emily DeRocco, vice president education and workforce, LIFT. “Developing new ways to address these workforce needs by engaging both industry and academia will be the key to our country’s long term economic prosperity.”
The top in-demand lightweighting-related occupations in Kentucky in Q3 2018 included: Maintenance and repair workers (2,887 postings), first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors (2,462), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,963 postings), industrial engineers (1,503 postings) and laborers and freight, stock and material movers (1,453 postings).
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 Kentucky report can be viewed at: http://lift.technology/education-workforce-development/.
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