Skills OK for now

U.S. manufacturing industry executives have bemoaned a skills gap in the nation’s workforce, but a new report says the shortfall isn’t a big deal – yet.

By the end of the decade, the shortage of highly skilled workers could balloon to 875,000 from 80,000 to 100,000 workers now, according to a study from Boston Consulting Group.

The current deficiency of workers represents less than 1 percent of the 11.5 million total factory workers in the country, according to the consulting group.

The numbers “aren’t as bad as many believe,” said Harold L. Sirkin, a Boston Consulting Group senior partner who co-wrote the research.

“It’s much less of an issue in larger communities, where supply and demand evens out more efficiently thanks to the bigger pool of workers,” Sirkin said in a statement. “Investment in training and skills development needs to be stepped up, but there’s little reason to believe that the U.S. cannot remain on track for a manufacturing renaissance by 2020.”