Support For Education/Skill Development Is Important For Printing Industry

One of the major battlegrounds of the 2012 presidential election will be the state of our economy. Republicans say it has been mismanaged and Democrats say much progress has been made. One point for agreement—both sides are not happy where it stands. Probably the most glaring metric is the high unemployment rate, stubbornly hanging above 8 percent.

That's why an article on CNNMoney last month really caught my attention. It was titled, "Northeast Indiana: Hundreds of factory jobs go unfilled." With evidence that manufacturing jobs are coming back to the U.S. from overseas, along with post-recession economic growth, the article focuses on a problem being faced by manufacturing companies in this region: "There's a widening gulf between open jobs and qualified applicants to fill them," it states.

Kris Deckard, executive director for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce's workforce development initiative, said that companies get plenty of applicants, but the great majority are either unqualified or not a good fit. One company highlighted in the article, Damon Manifolds, has ten positions to fill in the next few months. The company says it will go through hundreds of applications for these positions—half of which will not be completely filled out; other applicants will not get past a phone interview; and others won't pass hands-on skill tests.

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana offers certified courses for manufacturing skills and is working hard to fill the need, graduating about 25,000 students last year. But it's not enough to meet the immediate requirement for the estimated 40,000 to 50,000 jobs needed to be filled.

Hiring qualified workers is a common challenge faced by printing companies also. And just like Ivy Tech Community College, the printing industry has a host of schools and colleges that are teaching the skills and providing the education to fill the pipeline for printing industry jobs.

Many companies in our industry should also receive special recognition for the support they provide to these institutions with donations of equipment, software, and materials. A small sampling of recent support came from companies such as All Printing Resources, SpotOn! Press, Esko, Heidleberg, and Karlville. Of course, you can't talk about this topic without recognizing Harper Corporation of America and its founder, the late Ron Harper and his wife, Katherine, for standing at the top of the list when it comes to support for education in the printing industry.

By providing this support for education and skill development, these companies are creating a win-win for themselves, the students, and the industry as a whole.

Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief

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