While the United States unemployment rate is above 8 percent there are 5 percent of manufacturing jobs that go unfilled because business people cannot find a sufficient number of qualified workers. At any given time, according to the the National Association of Manufacturers, there are 600,000 open jobs.
To cut down on the number of unfilled positions, the Manufacturing Institute created a portable skills certificate – the Manufacturing Skills Certification System. In 2011, there were 85,000 of these portable certificates permitting a worker trained in California could find a job in Missouri or Illinois. Right now, 113 colleges across the country have partnered with the Manufacturing Institute. And the number continues to grow as additional community colleges join the partnership.
I know of a number of alternative schools which prepare their students to be “job ready”. It would appear that this certification program would be an additional resource.