Massachusetts Manufacturing Job Openings Report Released
Resurgent manufacturers helped the economy continue to recover as Massachusetts companies advertised 72,996 job openings in the state’s manufacturing sector, second only to the health care sector, according to a report released by the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness and the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute. However, the workforce needs of manufacturers have changed considerably, and the traditional assembly line worker has largely been supplanted by one with a background in engineering, computing, and/or business management. The report found that in 2011, only 4,036 of manufacturing job openings were for traditional production occupations.
The occupations most sought after by manufacturers in the state included sales and customer service representatives, computer and information technology‐related positions, and managers. “The data reveals the critical workforce needs of our state’s employers and also the true anatomy of manufacturing firms. It takes a great assortment of jobs and skill sets to make these enterprises successful. There is a much richer diversity of career opportunities in manufacturing than is often realized,” said Dr. Martin Romitti, Director of Economic and Public Policy Research at the UMass Donahue Institute.
Forty-five percent of all openings required some college or post‐secondary education: 38 percent of openings required a bachelor’s degree, 5 percent required a graduate degree, and 2 percent required a post‐secondary or associates degree. Fifteen percent of openings required a high‐school degree, and 30 percent of all openings in manufacturing did not specify educational requirements. “Increasingly, manufacturing jobs are requiring higher levels of skills and education, with firms needing workers with analytic and technical management skills, on the shop floor as well as in the executive offices,” said Dr. Kenneth Poole, CEO for the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness.
The report analyzed 574,745 web‐advertised job openings posted by Massachusetts employers between January 1 and December 31, 2011. The analysis was completed by the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness, an Arlington, VA‐based nonprofit research organization, in cooperation with the UMass Donahue Institute, using data provided by Burning Glass International, Inc., a leading information technology company that scans the web for job openings across the nation. The report includes data on job openings by sector, manufacturing sub-sector, production roles, education requirements, and specific skills.
Related Documents:
Massachusetts Manufacturing (PDF 0.2 MB)
February 09, 2012
