The demand for workers in lightweight manufacturing-related fields in Kentucky has doubled since the end of 2014, although actual lightweighting-related employment remained relatively flat between 2014 and 2015, according to a recent report released by the Louisville-based public-private partnership Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT).
Online job ads for advanced manufacturing positions related to lightweighting in Kentucky leveled off slightly at 6,198 in July-August 2015, after reaching a high of 6,218 in May-June of this year. Lightweighting refers to the incorporation of lightweight materials technology, particularly as related to transportation manufacturing, to improve efficiency and fuel usage. The number of online job postings in the field has risen steadily in Kentucky since November-December 2014, when a total of 2,963 postings were reported. At the same time, actual lightweighting-related employment in Kentucky rose only slightly, from 265,452 in 2014 to 265,793 in 2015.
“The positive, upward trend of lightweighting-related postings continues to strengthen and encourage the need for a skilled and trained workforce,” said Emily Stover DeRocco, education and workforce director of LIFT, in a release on the report. “Advanced manufacturing knowledge remains key for our region’s success as a talented, inventive manufacturing hub.”
The report, released by LIFT and the Workforce Intelligence Network (WIN), tracks demand for lightweight-related workers based on both employment data and online job postings for specific lightweight-related occupations in skilled trades (including machinists, assembly and operations workers, and skilled materials workers); administration (including procurement and purchasing workers, human safety workers and logistics workers); and engineering and design (including electrical and mechanical engineers, chemical engineers and metallurgy workers, designers and drafters, and process engineers and testers).
LIFT is a public-private partnership tasked with developing and deploying advanced lightweight materials manufacturing technologies and improving related workforce development in a five-state region, including Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. For more information on the report, check the LIFT website.