NewsDesk Deals, Openings, Acquisitions, Partnerships, Orders, Expansions, Awards Worker Shortage is Getting Worse T
he shortage of qualified production workers in the United States is getting worse, according to results from a March 2013 survey released on June 6 by the Manufacturing Leadership Council and Frost & Sullivan. The report, entitled “The Manufacturing Workforce: A Deepening Crisis,” says: “The issue of attracting people with the right skills to manufacturing jobs, both hourly and salaried, is not only real, but is growing more severe despite numerous efforts by many organizations to develop skills certification programs, initiatives such as STEM programs to raise educational levels, and report-laden campaigns to refute the public perception that manufacturing is not an attractive career choice.”
The survey was developed by the Manufacturing Lead- ership Council Editorial Department and was approved by the Board of Governors. The survey was fielded to the Manufacturing Leadership Community audience, includ- ing members of the Manufacturing Leadership Council, in March of 2013. These findings are based on 226 com- pleted responses: • In North America, 80.6% of companies reported a medium or high level of difficulty finding qualified workers. In the next 5–10 years, however, the number that expected a high level of difficulty finding workers jumped to 35.9% from 27.3% today.
• More than half, 51.5%, of respondents said that candi- dates for hourly positions are coming to them under- qualified and not “workforce-ready.”
• Only 31% of survey respondents said they have devised a formal strategy to identify their long-term workforce needs, including skill types.
• The skills identified as high or medium priority recruit- ing areas were: engineering (92%); technical skills, such as welding and mechanics (90%); management (89%); and computer science (77%).
“The bottom line on the manufacturing workforce,” the report concludes, “is that manufacturers face significant challenges in attracting the people they need to run their production facilities and operations. Absent major changes
and improvements to the educational system as well as the public perception of manufacturing and the career opportu- nities it can offer, individual manufacturing companies will bear most of the responsibility for providing for their future workforce needs.” Download the report at
http://tinyurl.com/ mfgcrisis. ME
Obama Takes on “Patent Trolls” T
he Obama Administration on June 4 unveiled a pack- age of executive orders and recommendations for leg- islation that takes aim at patent-holding firms, or so-called “patent trolls.”
Among the seven key legislative proposals: Require pat- entees and applicants to disclose the “Real Party-in-Interest,” by requiring that any party sending demand letters, filing an infringement suit or seeking PTO review of a patent to file up- dated ownership information, and enabling the PTO or district courts to impose sanctions for noncompliance.
“Patent trolls” are “costing the economy billions of dollars and undermining American innovation.”—Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council.
In a blog post, Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, said these “patent trolls” essentially use “litigation tactics as a business model—costing the economy billions of dollars and undermining American innovation.” “In the last two years,” he wrote, “the number of lawsuits brought by patent trolls has nearly tripled, and account for 62% of all patent lawsuits in America. All told, the victims of patent trolls paid $29 billion in 2011, a 400% increase from 2005—not to mention tens of billions of dollars more in lost shareholder value.” The administration’s proposals and a link to a study on the issue can be found at
http://tinyurl.com/uspatentpropals. ME
July 2013 |
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