by Tom Hammel

Increasingly, the answer is, “Retiring.” The graying of America’s industrial workforce threatens to be just as critical to its future vitality as the threat of foreign competition. Everywhere the lament is being heard: “Doesn’t anyone want to be a welder or a mechanic anymore?” For all too many, the answer is, “No.”

Workers who were born in 1946 will turn 64 in 2010. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reports that as baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) begin to retire, the workforce will begin to shrink because the following generation, (born between 1965 and 1985), had a much lower birth rate than the boomers, yet it is expected to fill the void. Add to this smaller pool a reduced inclination among young people to follow their parents into the factory, the less than glamorous prestige of manufacturing work and incessant reports of an evaporating manufacturing base here at home, and you have a serious three-strikes recruiting scenario.

Still worse for manufacturers is that aging workers are not only among their most skilled, reliable and loyal employees, they are also the safest on the job. DOL workplace statistics for 2004 show workers aged 64 and older had the lowest number of workplace injuries of any group surveyed. The bad news is that although this group had fewer accidents, they were more serious: workers aged 65 and older had the highest rate of workplace fatalities (2003 figures).

What to do? First, steps must be taken to reeducate the public and restore some sheen to manufacturing’s image as a career choice. This will be long, costly and difficult, particularly in light of the dismal play manufacturing has been getting on the evening news. A good place to start is by joining the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Coalition for the Future of Manufacturing, which sees the shortage of skilled workers as a key action point.

Secondly, steps are needed inside the plant to improve safety conditions for aging workers to make the most of their remaining years of service. To address this, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has issued suggestions that can increase workplace safety not just for the aging members of the workforce, but for all members. Some of these include better lighting; larger more easily visible signage and computer displays; skid resistant materials for flooring and stair treads; and reducing in-plant noise levels.

Think the aging of the workforce won’t affect you? Go out on the plant floor and count the gray heads.

This article appeared in the February/March 2006 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright 2006.

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