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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NH Works and Jobs for the Future are grateful to the many people who have supported and guided the development of this report.

New Hampshire Sector Partnerships Initiative team members have provided excellent guidance for the development of sector partnerships in manufacturing and other key sectors and been critical in shaping this report. Team members include Jackie Heuser, Carmen Lorenz, Michael Power, and Anne Struthers of the Department of Resources and Economic Development; Phil Pryzbyszewski and Kristyn Van Ostern of the Community College System of New Hampshire; Charles McNeil, Lauren Smith, and Wynn Young of the Office of Apprenticeship, U.S. Department of Labor; Katrina Evans of the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau, New Hampshire Employment Security; Eric Feldborg of Career and Technical Education, New Hampshire Department of Education; and Brittany Weaver of the Office of Governor Hassan.

Jobs for the Future researched and wrote the report. The work included writing by Deborah Kobes; additional research, analysis, and editing by Thomas Hooper, Jeremy Kelley, Sara Lamback, and Patricia Maguire; editing by Nomi Sofer; and research and logistical support by Jessica Toglia.

This report relied heavily on the insights and feedback of a wide variety of New Hampshire stakeholders. We would like to express our appreciation to the manufacturers and economic development, workforce, education, and other stakeholders who were interviewed and contributed their time, resources, and expertise. (See names on next page.)

NH Works promotes life-long learning by partnering with businesses, agencies, and organizations to bring the state's education, employment and training programs together into a workforce development system that will provide the means for residents of New Hampshire to gain sufficient skills, education, employment and financial independence. www.nhworks.org

Jobs for the Future (JFF) is a national nonprofit that builds educational and economic opportunity for underserved populations in the United States. We develop innovative career and educational programs and public policies that increase college readiness and career success, and build a more highly skilled workforce. With over 30 years of experience, JFF is the national leader in bridging education and work to increase economic mobility and strengthen our economy. www.jff.org

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• Benjamin Adams, Easter Seals • Mike Alberts, New England Wire • Zenagui Brahim, New Hampshire

Manufacturing Extension Partnership • Matt Burge, Hypertherm • Kim Cadorette, BAE Systems • Pat Carey, Adecco Employment

Services • George Copadis, New Hampshire

Employment Security • Art Ellison, Adult Basic Education, New

Hampshire Department of Education • Doug Folsom, GE Aviation • Deb Gosselin, Southern New

Hampshire Services • Bill Gurney, Regional Center for

Advanced Manufacturing • Jim Hinson, New Hampshire Vocational

Rehabilitation • Lisa Hix, Keene State College • Tom Horgan, New Hampshire College &

University Council • Jay Kahn, Keene State College • Molly Kelly, New Hampshire Senate • Brad Kinsey, University of New

Hampshire • Vic Kissell, Maxcess • Tamer Koheil, New Hampshire Job

Corps Center • Mary Laturnau, Project Lead the Way • Paul Leather, Career and Technical

Education, New Hampshire Department of Education

• Donnalee Lozeau, Southern New Hampshire Services

• Debra Mattson, Great Bay Community College

• Dave Maestri, Wire Belt • Dave Mercieri, Velcro • Katie Merrow, New Hampshire

Charitable Foundation • Britt McCleary, GE Aviation • Sue Newcomer, Greater Keene

Chamber • John Olson, Whelen • Gene Patnode, New Hampshire

Department of Health and Human Services

• Gerard Quintanar, BAE Systems • Jim Roche, Business and Industry

Association • Jeff Rose, New Hampshire Department

of Resources and Economic Development

• Nadine Sacco, Office of Workforce Opportunity, New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development

• Dan Smith, Titeflex • Tim Sullivan, Hitchiner Manufacturing • Ken Swanson, Fireye • Lin Tamulonis, Great Bay Community

College • Gayle Troy, Globe Manufacturing • Val Zanchuk, Graphicast

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PREFACE This report is part of the New Hampshire Sector Partnerships Initiative (NH SPI), which is a new, industry-driven, statewide initiative to help businesses in targeted industries address their workforce needs, while also helping workers prepare for and advance in careers in these critical sectors. This initiative is initially focusing on four industries: manufacturing, hospitality, health care, and information technology. These growing and in-demand sectors were selected based upon in-depth discussions with New Hampshire stakeholders regarding high-leverage sectoral opportunities in the state as well as an initial labor market analysis that examined each industry’s importance to the New Hampshire economy, its concentration in New Hampshire relative to the country, and the number of middle-skill jobs available in the state that require more than a high-school diploma, but less than a four-year degree.

NH SPI is funded through a United States Department of Labor Sector Partnership National Emergency Grant targeted to assist states in the transition to a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act sector partnership approach to workforce development. In New Hampshire, the WIOA service delivery system is managed through a consortium approach known as NH Works.

The NH Works system consists of the following partner agencies:

• Office of Workforce Opportunity; • New Hampshire Employment Security; • New Hampshire Department of Education; • New Hampshire Vocational Rehabilitation; • New Hampshire Economic Development; • Community Action Agencies of New Hampshire; • Community College System of New Hampshire; and • New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

The goal of NH SPI is to assist New Hampshire in connecting the various existing initiatives and build seamless education, career readiness, and training pathways that result in sector strategies that work for all individuals, to create a well-educated populace and a highly-skilled, strong workforce for the region.

NH SPI has contracted with Jobs for the Future to provide a suite of services to support the success of sector partnerships in New Hampshire, which include labor market analyses, asset mapping, workforce planning, and sector launch events. JFF works nationally to design and scale creative education and workforce strategies that respond to labor market demands.

For this report, JFF collected information from a range of stakeholders to determine asset strengths, challenges, and opportunities to be considered by the state team and manufacturing sector partnership in building, strengthening, and coordinating the education and training pipeline through a sector-driven approach for the manufacturing industry. This report includes recommendations that the state team and sector partnership can use as a starting point for

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planning and action. JFF will work closely with the state and a team of local leaders with the motivation and “muscle” needed to help them develop and implement a sector partnership action plan.

STATE OF THE SECTOR Supporting 67,218 workers across approximately 1,950 businesses, manufacturing is one of New Hampshire’s largest industries—behind only retail, health care, and government—and is one of its major economic drivers.1 Manufacturing is more concentrated in the state, including 7 of its 10 counties, than the national average (Table 1).2 It is also poised to grow: small and large companies throughout the state indicate that they are ready to expand, contingent upon their ability to fill key positions. Companies considering a move to New Hampshire will also require a qualified workforce large enough to fill the jobs they bring.

Location Quotient of New Hampshire Counties

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015 preliminary data). Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. The number of businesses cited does not include non-employer establishments—which according to the U.S. Census, there were approximately 2,230 non-employer manufacturers in the state. Note: the number of government employees reflects the combined total of federal, state, and local government employees. 2 The manufacturing location quotient for New Hampshire is 1.23, indicating that the industry is 1.23 times more concentrated in the state than in the nation as a whole. EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016.

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Table 1: Manufacturing by Location Quotient3

“Location quotient” is the per capita concentration of an industry or occupation in a region as compared with the national average. A value above 1 indicates an above average concentration. The industries highly concentrated in an area are usually critical to the health of its economy and serve as a guide to understanding what makes that area’s labor market unique.

New Hampshire County 2015 Jobs 2015 Location Quotient Sullivan County 3,620 2.56 Cheshire County 4,888 1.55 Hillsborough County 26,124 1.49 Strafford County 5,586 1.29 Grafton County 5,775 1.18 Rockingham County 15,775 1.17 Belknap County 2,691 1.02 Merrimack County 6,598 0.98 Coos County 750 0.64 Carroll County 1,204 0.56

The manufacturing sector continues to need skilled workers for a wide range of occupations vital to the industry. This is evidenced by manufacturers filling an average of approximately 4,430 positions per quarter in 2014, through both new and recall hires.4 During the same time period, there were approximately 4,320 separations, indicating that there is a large amount of “churn” within the industry.5 This conclusion is supported by the fact that numerous manufacturers and staffing agencies cite workers already employed within the industry as their primary source of talent. These challenges stem from numerous trends: statewide, unemployment has steadily dropped to 2.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, in April 2016, its lowest point since December 2000.6 The state is also experiencing demographic shifts: the population under age 18 was 13.9 percent lower in 2014 than in 2000; as a result, the number of young people available to fill the workforce pipeline has been steadily declining.7 And many manufacturing workers are nearing retirement: 29.1 percent of workers in the industry were age 55 and up in 2014, compared to 18.3 percent in 2004—representing a 10 percentage point increase. In addition, in 2014, 58.8 percent of all manufacturing workers were age 45 and up,

3 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016. 4 U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies, LEHD. n.d. “QWI Explorer.” Quarterly Workforce Indicators. Data reflects all hires (both new and recall) from Q1-Q4 2014, the most recent full-year period for which data is available. Available at: http://qwiexplorer.ces.census.gov/ 5 US Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies, LEHD. n.d. “QWI Explorer.” New Hampshire separations from Q1-Q4 2014. Available at: http://qwiexplorer.ces.census.gov/ 6 New Hampshire Employment Security, Economic & Labor Market Information Bureau. n.d. “Labor Force and Unemployment.” Available at: http://www.nhes.nh.gov/elmi/statistics/laus-data.htm 7 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, in New Hampshire, people 18-to-64 years old—the working-age population—increased by 8.6 percent. However, the 25-to-44-year-old age group declined by 18.0 percent, while the 18-to-24-year-old age group increased by 23.7 percent, and the 45-to-64-year-old age group increased by 37.6 percent; at the same time, the 65-years-and-older population increased by 42.2 percent. Available at: http://www.factfinder.census.gov/

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indicating that the “silver tsunami” has yet to hit.8 This workforce challenge will continue to constrain the manufacturing sector until companies, educators, workforce agencies, and other key stakeholders come together to jointly expand and enhance the talent pipeline.

While a dearth of skilled workers impacts the manufacturing industry as a whole, companies are impacted differently based on a variety of factors including their size, location, and subsector. Small companies expressed concern not only about filling particular positions but also about succession planning, as long-time employees, including their leadership, prepare to retire. In contrast, large companies have addressed their talent needs through either upskilling workers with internal training or hiring the sector’s skilled workers away from other companies through high salaries and benefits. Regionally, paths for internal advancement are particularly critical in the rural parts of the state, such as the North Country, because they have difficulty recruiting from outside the region. In 2014, Southern New Hampshire, including Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties, drew roughly 33,000 residents of Massachusetts in for work, but also had to compete with companies from that state. At the same time, roughly 85,000 residents of these three counties commuted to Massachusetts for work.9 Finally, while skill shortages appear across a wide range of specialties, the particular mix of skills needed depends on the subsector. Highly regulated parts of the industry, such as defense contractors and safety equipment manufacturers, face an additional layer of qualifications and credentialing requirements.

The manufacturing industry includes a wide range of subsectors with overlapping but distinct skill needs (see Table 2 for top occupations). Computer and electronic product manufacturing,

8 Ibid. 9 U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies, LEHD. n.d. “On the Map.” Available at: http://onthemap.ces.census.gov

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fabricated metal product manufacturing, and machinery manufacturing employ the most workers (Table 3).10 Inspection, repair, computer aided drafting/design, sales, and machining are the skills most in demand in online postings across the industry.11 The range of skills frequently cited by manufacturers also includes computer numerical control (CNC) machine operation and programming, programmable logic controller programming, automation, metrology, non-destructive testing, and tool and die making. The certifications most requested across the industry are Six Sigma certification, Certified Quality Engineer, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers certification. See Appendix 1 for more detail on the jobs and skills data for the computer and electronic product manufacturing and fabricated metal product manufacturing subsectors.

Table 2: Top Manufacturing Occupations12

SOC Description 2015 Jobs

Median Hourly

Earnings

2015 Location Quotient

Regional Completions

(2012) Open-

ings Typical Entry-Level Education

51-2092 Team Assemblers 4,431 $15.29 0.82 0 397

High school diploma or equivalent

51-9061

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

3,584 $19.75 1.42 0 442 High school diploma or equivalent

51-1011

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers

3,047 $26.74 1.06 118 260

Post-secondary non-degree award

51-4041 Machinists 2,634 $19.83 1.38 124 376

High school diploma or equivalent

51-9199

Production Workers, All Other 2,348 $14.92 1.94 0 338

High school diploma or equivalent

51-2022

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

2,058 $14.49 2.18 0 116 High school diploma or equivalent

51-4011

Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic

1,908 $17.58 2.78 120 349 High school diploma or equivalent

The fifth largest occupation within manufacturing is “Production Workers, All Other.” When an industry is highly concentrated in an area, it is not unusual to see a large number of jobs grouped in the “All Other” category partly because the nature of these jobs is more specialized, thus making a more specific occupation code harder to assign. “Production Workers, All Other” is also the most commonly requested occupation code in online advertisements, underscoring the need for sector partners to look more closely at the industry’s nuanced job classifications.

10 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016. 11 Burning Glass Labor/Insight data for the manufacturing industry during 2015. Data extracted by Jeremy Kelley, May 2016. 12 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016.

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Table 3: Top Manufacturing Subsectors13

NAICS Description 2015 Jobs 2014 Establishments

334 Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing 14,652 267

332 Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing 12,185 411 333 Machinery Manufacturing 7,361 163

326 Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing 5,043 94

335 Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing 4,051 57

Already, 28.7 percent of jobs in the manufacturing sector require more than a high school diploma; this number will continue to rise as the industry continues to adapt to new technology.14 Companies, educators, and other key stakeholders in the manufacturing industry have expressed a general consensus that the current education and training offerings in the state are not sufficient to meet the needs of the industry. While the quality and relevance of the programs vary, this education and training gap is primarily about numbers: educational and training institutions are not graduating enough skilled manufacturing workers. Technical education within high school and career and technical education (CTE) centers is not structured to prepare many students to go straight into the manufacturing sector. Community colleges have greatly increased their manufacturing education capacity in recent years, but have not been able to recruit students to fill their programs. Four-year colleges are able to enroll students in their engineering and related programs, but still need to link more strongly to partners in order to serve community college graduates and incumbent workers seeking to advance in the industry.

KEY AREAS OF FOCUS: ASSETS AND RECOMMENDATIONS An industry-led sector partnership can bring together critical manufacturing stakeholders to develop and implement a coordinated strategy to significantly expand and enhance the talent pipeline for the sector. A statewide sector partnership will be able to build upon the many assets, excellent programs, and existing local and regional partnerships already in place (Table 4). This report outlines key issues and provides recommendations for consideration as New Hampshire takes the critical next steps in launching the sector partnership. It examines significant challenges and opportunities identified by a range of key manufacturing leaders representing

13 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016. 14 The percentage is based upon industry staffing patterns and includes all jobs within the manufacturing industry (i.e., both production and non-production jobs). EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016.

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business, education and training providers, the workforce system, policymakers, and other critical partners. The areas of focus are:

1) Coordinating ongoing state and regional efforts; 2) Recruiting people to opportunities in manufacturing; 3) Advancing incumbent workers; 4) Coordinating across and within educational institutions; 5) Expanding industry-college partnerships; and 6) Partnering with high schools and CTE centers.

Table 4: Summary of Major Assets for the Manufacturing Talent Pipeline

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14

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1) COORDINATING ONGOING STATE AND REGIONAL EFFORTS

New Hampshire’s business, educational, workforce, policy, and other leadership has recognized the value of collaboration, as evidenced by the range of statewide initiatives that currently target workforce development. Many of these efforts, such as the New Hampshire Economic Development FY 2016-2017 Strategic Plan, place a significant emphasis on manufacturing. While these initiatives share overlapping goals and strategies, and could leverage each other for greater impact, they are not currently formally connected. Stakeholders agree on the need to coordinate and streamline these efforts, especially when engaging industry, and for one entity or initiative to take the lead in ensuring strong collaboration and communication among them.

In addition to minimizing redundancy and maximizing benefits for both workers and employers, participating in multiple initiatives can be time consuming. Many manufacturers are highly engaged in these statewide efforts and participate in a variety of initiatives, and coordinating these efforts will save time for businesses and their partners. For example, the president of Graphicast is currently chair of the Business and Industry’s Association’s board of directors, on the board for the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a member of the state’s Pre-Engineering and Technology Advisory Council, and a member of the Monadnock Educational Partnership. Several other manufacturers have filled leadership roles in multiple initiatives.

New Hampshire can also strengthen coordination among agencies and the state’s various publicly funded programs that benefit workers. For example, co-enrolling individuals in multiple workforce and education programs, such as the WIOA and the state’s vocational rehabilitation program, can help workers better address their barriers to employment and acquire the skills needed by the state’s manufacturers. Similarly, increased coordination among staff focused on employer engagement, such as among New Hampshire Employment Services and other America’s Job Center staff, would minimize duplicative employer outreach efforts.

Strengths

The value the state places on collaboration is evident not only in its range of partnerships but also in its strategic plans. The New Hampshire WIOA Combined State Plan for 2016-2020 includes the explicit goal of promoting industry-driven sector partnerships, and highlights the value of coordination to support economic development and build a talent pipeline using career pathways and work-based learning. The robust community of partnerships across the state means that a new sector partnership does not have to start its efforts from scratch. Instead, it can leverage the knowledge and successes of existing initiatives to move the manufacturing sector forward. Many of these collaborative efforts can complement a manufacturing sector partnership, including:

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• Governor’s Advanced Manufacturing Education Advisory Council. Established in 2008 via legislation, the council convenes lawmakers, manufacturers, educators, and other diverse stakeholders to advise the state Department of Education on secondary math, manufacturing, and pre-engineering curriculum and educational opportunities.

• Governor’s Pre-Engineering Technology Advisory Council. Established in 2002 via legislation, the council oversees approval of pre-engineering curricula such as Project Lead the Way, and directs state-apportioned capital funds for pre-engineering laboratory facilities

• Governor’s Task Force on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education. The Task Force, chaired by the Chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH), assists the state with implementing recommendations to help New Hampshire schools and students be more economically competitive, including through hands-on learning for students and a stronger role for teachers.

• 65 by 25. New Hampshire Coalition for Business and Education has launched 65 by 25 to provide 65 percent of adults 25 and older in New Hampshire with some form of postsecondary education, from certificates to advanced degrees, by 2025.

• STEM Smarter Pathways. This New Hampshire Charitable Foundation initiative brings together the CCSNH, The University System of New Hampshire, The New Hampshire Department of Education, the New Hampshire Department of Resources (DRED) and Economic Development, and the New Hampshire Coalition for Business and Education to collectively create learning pathways for students that meet the workforce needs of New Hampshire businesses.

• STEAM Ahead NH. This collaboration is one of several regional collaborations across the state that has translated statewide priorities into local action. The Manchester School District, Manchester Community College, the University System of New Hampshire, and Manchester businesses, including DYN and SilverTech, are creating pathways for students from secondary to postsecondary schooling in STEM and the Arts. The initiative also provides high school students access to college credit.

Long-Term Strategies

• Increase integration across initiatives. JFF recommends that the initiatives work together to identify potential efficiencies among these efforts and integrate efforts where possible. For example, common messaging related to key concepts could enhance alignment in efforts to build a cohesive talent pipeline and help employers and other industry representatives better understand ongoing workforce efforts. Combining events and co-sponsoring conferences could streamline dissemination and attract broader audiences. Combining surveys to companies about workforce needs could reduce employer fatigue and provide a robust source of results across initiatives.

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• Increase employer engagement coordination. Additional coordination of employer outreach among regional initiatives and public workforce system staff will help minimize outreach to individual employers and result in additional information sharing of job leads and other information among various educational and training programs, ultimately leading to better worker outcomes.

• Expand co-enrollment. Increasing co-enrollment among different public programs, such as WIOA, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Vocational Rehabilitation, will help participants better address barriers to employment and help businesses better meet their hiring needs.

Short-Term Strategies

• Develop an inventory of state and regional initiatives. JFF recommends that these initiatives work together to develop a complete inventory of state and regional collaborations, identifying their respective goals, activities, progress and results, and members in a comprehensive crosswalk. Each initiative can then use this crosswalk to identify overlap and synergies, and identify areas to work together. Partners can also identify which initiatives have had the most traction and deepest track record on specific areas of common interest.

2) RECRUITING PEOPLE FOR OPPORTUNITIES IN MANUFACTURING

The manufacturing industry faces challenges at three critical moments along the talent pipeline. First, there is a lack of awareness about the manufacturing industry and the opportunities it provides to youth and new workers. Second, educational institutions have difficulty recruiting students into their manufacturing programs. In part, this is because unemployed individuals often face barriers to employment that prevent them from enrolling in training, such as lack of child care and transportation, the particularly high cost of postsecondary education in the state, and the time it takes to complete training. Third, companies struggle to attract skilled candidates to their open positions.

Now that the low unemployment rate and decreasing population have given the remaining workers more choices about where to work, manufacturers are struggling against low interest in the industry. Youth shy away from jobs that they believe are dirty and do not lead to long-term and well-paying careers. New approaches are needed to attract not only youth but also new and nontraditional workers to the manufacturing industry. Currently, women compose one-third or less of the workforce in the largest three clusters of manufacturing.15 Manufacturers may also

15 New Hampshire Economic Development: FY 2016-2017 Strategic Plan

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have to determine whether the low pay and shift schedules of many entry-level positions are a major barrier to attracting people to the industry.

These recruitment challenges early in the talent pipeline translate directly into a struggle for manufacturers to attract qualified job candidates to their open positions. Companies’ traditional recruitment strategies reflect the now-outdated expectation that they can fill positions simply by posting a sign. Most manufacturers interviewed cited word of mouth as their main source of recruitment, especially at the entry level, but also for more advanced positions. Some formalize this process with referral incentives for their workers. The next most common recruitment strategy is online advertising, with Novo Nordisk, Hypertherm Incorporated, and Dell advertising the most jobs online in 2015.16 Job fairs and outreach to colleges, guidance counselors, and staffing agencies are also common placement strategies. Companies are beginning to re-examine their recruitment strategies and test new ideas to broaden awareness of and access to their job openings.

Strengths

Manufacturers and educators are already making inroads into connecting a broader population to the industry and making jobs accessible to more workers. Eighteen percent of adults and dislocated workers who received training through NH Works centers in 2014 enrolled in manufacturing training.17 CCSNH is on the state Workforce Innovation Board, and individual colleges have relationships with NH Works career centers, vocational rehabilitation offices, and other public workforce agencies. For example, Great Bay Community College has recruiters for their manufacturing programs that specifically work with these agencies. The industry-led Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing (RCAM) will soon launch a partnership with the Monadnock United Way, Keene Housing Authority, and CCSNH to provide childcare, transportation, and other wraparound services that reduce barriers to a manufacturing education. The state has a strong adult education infrastructure to help individuals acquire the skills and high school diploma needed to pursue these opportunities in postsecondary education, with 30 centers throughout the state serving approximately 7,000 individuals.

Through Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants and other federal funding, community colleges have greatly expanded their facilities and capacity to educate students in the most in-demand areas of manufacturing, including CNC and mechatronics. As a result, graduates of these and four-year college manufacturing programs are successfully entering the industry in skilled, well-paying positions, and these programs are well-equipped to train additional students.

16 Burning Glass Labor/Insight data for the manufacturing industry during 2015. Data extracted by Jeremy Kelley, May 2016. 17 New Hampshire Office of Workforce Opportunity. Annual Report for the period July1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. Concord, NH: Author.

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Internships—paid and unpaid, credit bearing and non-credit bearing—are popular among small and large companies, successfully exposing students to the industry and cultivating permanent employees. These internships are available to students across the educational spectrum. Hypertherm has launched a paid summer institute for high school students that includes classroom instruction and job shadowing. GE Aviation and Nashua Community College have partnered to offer an associate’s degree in precision manufacturing that incorporates paid internships. Velcro regularly enrolls cohorts of 10 to 15 engineering technician interns, drawing from both two- and four-year colleges. Approximately 90 percent of the University of New Hampshire’s mechanical engineering students secure internships as undergraduates at manufacturing or other companies. Many of the interns in these and other programs have been hired as permanent employees of their host company.

Long-Term Strategies

• Tap into untapped sources of labor. With availability in the traditional labor pool shrinking, we recommend that the manufacturing sector seek to cultivate talent among nontraditional populations including women, refugees, and veterans. These efforts can leverage existing programs such as BAE Systems’ Women in Technology partnership with local high schools, which creates hands-on rotations across the company. Setting up these populations for career success requires not only greater outreach but also attention in training program design to overcome their barriers to career entry and advancement. For example, programs can support the entry and advancement of refugees through the integration of technical English as a Second Language and reading in training programs. Wire Belt can serve as an industry leader in these efforts, as it already attracts many refugees to its workforce. Strategies can draw on the knowledge of programs that work with these populations, such as the New Hampshire Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

• Engage staffing agencies in new roles. Staffing agencies could play a broader role that leverages their assets in recruitment and assessment. One option is to use these companies to recruit students for educational training programs. For example, Adecco currently works with SIG SAUER and Great Bay Community College to recruit and select students for their joint CNC production technician boot camp. Adecco also requires all of its employees to complete basic testing in areas including technical math and spatial recognition. Perhaps this could serve as the first step in a referral process to relevant college programs. Similarly, companies that engage staffing agencies could require their incumbent workers to complete similar assessments to identify strong candidates for additional training.

• Develop training at the hiring stage. Many individuals, particularly from nontraditional populations, do not enroll in the training they need to access good jobs because they cannot afford to give up wages while they are in school. Companies can reach a wider pool of job candidates if they can identify some skills that are not needed in advance but

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instead can be taught in-house or through partnering colleges as part of a hiring process. They can widen their pool even further if they pay them during that training period. One promising example is a six-week paid training program offered by New England Wire. Sixty percent of participants have successfully completed the program, leading to guaranteed jobs at the company. A sector partnership can support this strategy by identifying resources for training wages and instructional partnerships.

Short-Term Strategies

• Launch a marketing campaign. Manufacturing faces a perception problem that the industry is dirty and that it no longer provides stable careers. Positive stories of companies can do a lot to challenge that perception, with depictions of their state-of-the art shop floors, evolving technology, current labor force, and average tenure of their current workforce. For example, Graphicast estimates its average employee has been there 15 years. At Wire Belt, which has a turnover rate below 5 percent, over twenty percent of its employees have been there over 25 years. These stories could be an effective part of a larger multi-tiered marketing and communications strategy targeting a variety of audiences.

• Formalize internship programs. Most internships are offered in an ad hoc way through individual relationships between companies and high schools or colleges. A clear, structured pathway could more effectively attract students to the industry by providing a predictable avenue to a career. A formal program would make it easier for colleges to identify interns and prepare them with the appropriate skills. Finally, internship programs available to multiple employers would make it easier for small companies to engage.

• Use underutilized federal funds. A variety of funds can be used to serve nontraditional populations. For example, part of the $4 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant funds that are set aside for economic development projects could be utilized for job training programs.

3) ADVANCING INCUMBENT WORKERS

Expanding training opportunities for incumbent workers can provide a timely solution to the lack of a ready pool of skilled jobseekers, while also building on the longstanding culture and workforce goals of many manufacturers. Manufacturers of all sizes have highlighted their desire to promote workers from within who have knowledge of their unique production process and company expectations. One company described their ideal as an entry-level worker without a college degree but who has aspirations to continue their education while working, and so all workers across the company would begin at the entry-level and work their way up. A structured system for incumbent worker training can facilitate this kind of talent pipeline within a company.

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Incumbent training needs are particularly acute in small- and medium-sized companies. Large companies have greater capacity to move entry-level workers through the ranks. Some large companies use attractive entry-level jobs with high wages to hire workers who already have the skills and credentials they need for advancement without additional training. Other large companies rely more heavily on in-house training because they have the capacity to define the job descriptions of subject matter experts to include mentorship, teaching internal courses, or otherwise promoting skill development. We recommend that sector partnership attention to incumbent worker training focus on the small- and medium-sized manufacturers that do not have the capacity to implement similar programs on their own.

Strengths

New Hampshire has several strong programs that can provide a starting point for expanding and formalizing incumbent worker training pathways. Many companies have informal mentorship and on-the-job learning opportunities. Small companies in particular rely on MEP for training in non-technical areas such as leadership and lean manufacturing. Other companies partner with educational institutions to offer training to their workers. For example, Hitchiner works with Manchester Community College for on-the-job robotics training and a college certificate, and with Keene State College to provide an engineering certificate comprising 11 courses delivered on site. Hypertherm has formalized its internal training program in partnership with the River Valley Workforce Institute. They invested $2 million in a training facility and developed a Registered Apprenticeship program for unskilled participants that now trains an average of 45 to 60 workers per year and is part of a grant with RVWI and 80 employers statewide to replicate pieces of the training at other companies. The Department of Education administers five apprenticeship programs in skilled trades that are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, serves approximately 400 individuals, and includes a manufacturing apprenticeship sponsored by Keene Adult Education that is currently without apprentices.

Long-Term Strategies

• Refocus tuition reimbursement. Tuition reimbursement was commonly described by companies as a primary strategy for providing workers access to skill attainment and training. Some smaller companies expect workers to use tuition reimbursement to get a degree as a step to career advancement. The use of this benefit varied across companies, with most noting a low uptake. Higher uptake seems to occur when a company pays tuition directly, pays for time in class, offers flexible spending, or puts similar supports in place, but these incentives are not the norm. In addition, many workers enroll in supervisory courses rather than technical ones, so tuition reimbursement does not necessarily address a company’s most urgent skill needs. We recommend that the sector develop strategies to encourage a structured and predictable

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use of tuition reimbursement, or to redirect these resources to incumbent worker training strategies that can more effectively target a company’s skill needs.

• Identify sources of wages for training time. As with incoming workers, the cost of wages during training can be a major barrier for companies because it is expensive to pay for the cost of training, wages for classroom or training time, and wages to maintain production levels. Efforts to identify resources for wages for training incumbent workers could be coordinated with resource development for new training at the hiring stage.

• Build consortium connections to colleges. Many companies that do not have the capacity for a robust in-house training program can benefit from sending incumbent workers to community and four-year colleges. While a single small- or medium-sized company is unlikely to have enough demand to fill a course, a consortium approach can make it accessible to companies and affordable for the colleges to offer training. One promising approach being considered by Great Bay Community College is to work with companies to develop courses to prepare incumbent workers with two years on the job and who have completed their associate’s degree for SME Certification as a Certified Manufacturing Technologist. These strategies have the flexibility to be offered in combination with other solutions such as expanding Registered Apprenticeships.

• Expand Registered Apprenticeships. The U.S. Office of Apprenticeship lists over 400 Registered Apprenticeship training opportunities in manufacturing production, which include multiple training models for target occupations. Registered Apprenticeships are an excellent “learn while you earn” model for advancing along a clear pathway. They also help address a hurdle to accessing postsecondary education by providing participants with a progressively increasing wage while they receive training. New Hampshire has several starting points from which to expand its apprenticeship efforts, which is also a goal of the NH WIOA Combined State Plan for 2016-2020. Great Bay Community College and Manchester Community College are both members of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship’s Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium, which can serve as a potential source of support in strategic design. Keene Community Education, in cooperation with its RCAM partners, has also developed a Registered Apprenticeship program that is poised to expand. While many small companies are sponsors of Registered Apprenticeships, many other small- and medium-sized companies have expressed that they lack the capacity to sponsor apprentices on their own. A long-term sector strategy to develop a consortium approach to Registered Apprenticeship could greatly expand their reach. There is strong interest in the Department of Education’s apprenticeship programs registered through their Bureau of Adult Education, and the state could explore opportunities to expand these programs. Finally, Registered Apprenticeship programs in the state can also explore increased linkages with community colleges and four-year institutions.

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Short-Term Strategies

• Disseminate return on investment information. Many employers remain reluctant to train their workforce because of the investment required. The sector partnership can combat the cost concerns by sharing data on the value of training to a company’s bottom line. RCAM is currently studying how employer involvement in its training programs has impacted company turnover, and we recommend disseminating these results statewide.

• Use underutilized federal funds. Many companies are already tapping into resources that support incumbent worker training. In fact, the manufacturing sector received over 60 percent of the New Hampshire Job Training Fund in 2014.18 Yet WIOA funds available for incumbent worker training are underutilized, in part because of the perception that they are only available to unemployed workers. We recommend that the sector partnership and workforce system work with companies and educational institutions to clarify the diversity of populations eligible for the funds and increase usage of WIOA funding for customized incumbent worker training and Registered Apprenticeships.

4) COORDINATING ACROSS AND WITHIN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The full talent pipeline will be most effectively educated and trained if different types of educational institutions are coordinated so that individuals can advance from one skill level to another along a clear career pathway. Different types of educational institutions serve different talent needs for companies: high schools and CTE centers prepare students for entry-level workers; certificate and associate’s degree programs at community colleges support technicians; and four-year colleges primarily train engineers. While there is a push at the college-system level to create connections between two- and four-year programs, these efforts are recent and uneven. Some high schools and colleges have very strong relationships, but this is not universal, and career pathway development between high schools and community colleges is similarly uneven. Coordination is also sometimes hindered by a perception of competition for resources, industry partnerships, and program development among institutions. While the recent federal TAACCCT grants have been a critical resource allowing community colleges to meet a previously unmet need, they also quickly transformed the community college system from having a limited presence in manufacturing to having some of the most state-of-the-art programs.

18 State of New Hampshire, Department of Resources and Economic Development. Report on Activities: July 1, 2014—June 30, 2015. New Hampshire Job Training Fund and WorkReadyNH.

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Strengths

Educational institutions have begun to build bridges through shared use of facilities and articulation agreements. For example, the Richard W. Creteau Regional Technology Center at Spaulding High School has a lab that Great Bay Community College uses for open enrollment machining courses, and Keene State College has made its lab available to partners including a youth apprenticeship program. Running Start, a dual enrollment program developed through a TAACCCT grant, helps high school students earn college credits towards advanced manufacturing-focused credentials. A memorandum of understanding between CCSNH and University System of New Hampshire also connects high schools and two- and four-year colleges by providing for dual admission of entering students. Two- and four-year colleges in the state have begun to coordinate their degree programs in a variety of articulated programs. The University of New Hampshire civil engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering programs have articulation agreements with New Hampshire Technical Institute, Nashua Community College, and Great Bay Community College, respectively. Similarly, Keene State has articulation agreements into their mechanical engineering program with several community colleges including Lakes Community College and River Valley Community College. In addition, the community college system is implementing guided pathways, helping students effectively navigate the key courses offered by their institutions to acquire the credentials needed in their areas of interest.

Long-Term strategies

• Develop career pathways and missing courses. To create complete career pathways, high schools and two- and four-year colleges must not only map courses to identify opportunities for alignment, but also develop courses that address any existing gaps. For example, community colleges would need to offer calculus-based physics as part of a path to a four-year engineering program. Standardizing the pathways and courses can foster their increased adoption across the state. See Appendix 2 for sample career pathways in manufacturing.

• Coordinate within the community college system. Competition and lack of coordination are barriers both across and within institutions. The credit branch and industry or customized training branch of the community college system face the internal constraints of serving different audiences and having different structures. Currently, one side tends to stay away from courses being offered on the other side, but this is an opportunity to create bridges between the two programs. Coordination could also provide a more seamless set of educational solutions for industry skill needs. Continuing implementation of guided pathways will help students prepare for in-demand jobs in manufacturing as well as other industries.

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Short-Term Strategies

In the short term, the sector is well positioned to expand on its growing successes in educational coordination. We recommend that high schools, CTE centers, community colleges, and four-year colleges continue to explore how to share labs so that existing assets are fully utilized. We also recommend that colleges identify additional articulation agreements in the areas where there is already the most alignment across programs. For example, University of New Hampshire plans to next focus on developing an articulation agreement into their mechanical engineering program.

5) EXPANDING INDUSTRY-COLLEGE PARTNERSHIPS

A manufacturing education has more value to students, companies, and colleges if it supports the skills trends and needs of the industry. The sector is poised to create coordinated industry-college partnerships at scale, building on the many individual partnerships that have been developed recently. TAACCCT grants serve as a major catalyst of new programming and the creation of advisory boards that are valued by industry. Companies that have participated in these efforts have noted that the colleges have been responsive to their needs and effectively train to current industry standards. In addition, employers are engaged in manufacturing programming at community colleges throughout the state, such as advising colleges on curriculum development.

Several challenges remain in expanding these partnerships, including industry frustration with the slow pace of program development at colleges; a lack of knowledge among companies about the college programs that already exist; a lack of knowledge among educational institutions about the latest high-demand jobs; varying levels of employer engagement across the various community colleges; challenges engaging smaller companies, which often lack the staff to dedicate to partnerships with educational institutions; and the high cost of purchasing and maintaining manufacturing equipment, particularly CNC machines. Areas where colleges can enhance their engagement with employers include accelerating program development, particularly on the credit side; introducing flexible and non-traditional delivery formats that emphasize work-based learning and other industry needs; and integrating soft skills—from job readiness to leadership preparation—into technical courses.

Strengths

New Hampshire can build off of many strong partnership leaders at the regional, company, and college level. RCAM emerged when manufacturers, colleges, and the Keene Chamber of Commerce recognized a disconnect between business and industry. High-quality, industry-driven college programs continue to emerge as RCAM convenes companies, secondary and postsecondary institutions, and community-based organizations providing support services to

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strengthen their local talent pipeline. Individual companies have also served as hubs for these partnerships. For example, Hitchiner has partnered with Nashua Community College for metrology program curriculum design, Great Bay Community College for non-destructive testing curriculum design, Manchester Community College for an on-the-job robotics certificate, and Keene State College for an engineering certificate for incumbent workers.

In parallel, several colleges have effectively built programs that support multiple industry partners. Manchester Community College has brought together numerous aerospace companies for a specialized, in-demand tube bending and welding certificate. Great Bay Community College’s Business Training Center developed a CNC production technician boot camp for which SIG SAUER vets jobseekers, pays for their training, and hires successful completers. The credit side of the college has developed a six-month Advanced Manufacturing Composites certificate program to fill a 400-500 person hiring need for a plant opening by Albany and Safran. Additional companies have expressed interest in hiring graduates of both programs. University of New Hampshire is currently engaging industry partners to establish the John Olson Manufacturing Center, which will expand the undergraduate manufacturing curriculum to include a manufacturing engineering minor. At a state level, the types of partnership used most widely are internships, with large and small companies, and two- and four-year colleges operating internship programs. River Valley Community College has internships in place with 60 companies spanning manufacturing and other industries.

Long-Term Strategies

• Expand community college certificate programs. Manufacturing companies repeatedly point to recent certificate programs as particularly effective strategies for meeting their specialized skill needs in a reasonable amount of time. Smaller companies appreciate that graduates of these programs are not as expensive as degree graduates. Employers particularly value these programs when they are nimble and avoid unnecessary academic focus or administrative requirements that hold up program development. A sector partnership can play a key role in identifying additional in-demand specialties that could benefit from certificate programs and develop strategies for scaling these programs around the state.

• Build out partnerships to encompass small companies. Many current industry-college partnerships have been developed to meet the needs of large companies, as in Great Bay’s CNC boot camp and composites certificate. This has been effective because larger companies bring a scale in demand and resources (including public economic development funds) sufficient to offset the cost of establishing a new program. By expanding these programs to smaller employers, and by engaging them from the start, colleges can provide greater value to small companies. This strategy can also serve as the basis for scaling up certificate programs.

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• Cultivate a faculty pool from industry. As they have built out their facilities through grants and partnerships, both two- and four-year colleges have found their capacity limited by the ability to find qualified instructors. This is both because individuals with specialized skills and industry experience are in high demand within industry and because they do not necessarily have the credentials required to serve as faculty. Cultivating an adjunct faculty pool within the manufacturing industry and its recent retirees could help meet this need. For example, in-house trainers at Hypertherm are also adjunct faculty at River Valley Community College.

Short-Term Strategies

• Build awareness. The most immediate step to building college-industry partnerships is to increase knowledge among companies about college program offerings and to increase knowledge among colleges about the landscape of the manufacturing industry. Several subscription services such as Hoovers and Tower Publishing provide directories of manufacturing companies by specialty area. The sector partnership could vet, add detail, and disseminate that information to colleges so that they can expand access to their current programs and identify new potential program specialties.

6) PARTNERING WITH HIGH SCHOOLS AND CTE CENTERS

Manufacturing companies around the state expressed a lot of support for existing efforts to expose high school students to the industry, as well as interest in deepening and expanding those connections. They cite these partnerships as frequently as partnerships with colleges, although the depth of many of these relationships is shallower. Manufacturers are concerned that high school education currently underprepares students for technical careers and undervalues manufacturing. Companies see a stronger connection between secondary education and the industry as critical to building a long-term manufacturing talent pipeline.

CTE centers currently prepare students for a wide array of industries, including 22 that offer a total of 30 programs in manufacturing technology or engineering, The centers partner with employers in myriad ways, from collaborating on field trips and job shadowing to hosting sites for interns. Many of these programs result in industry-recognized credentials, helping students secure employment in these industries. There are some opportunities to enhance their services and programming. For example, the current approach for transporting students can make it challenging for students to access these services and has led to high transportation costs, resulting in uneven participation among school districts. The sector partnership could coordinate with the statewide CTE advisory council to explore policies and practices to engage more CTE students, such as through the increased use of pre-apprenticeships.

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Strengths

Manufacturers engage students for anywhere from one-time events to year-long courses and internships. The New Hampshire MEP coordinates an annual statewide Manufacturing Week. This past October, 41 companies hosted 1,641 students for company tours, 82 percent of whom indicated they would be more likely to consider a career in the industry based on the experience.19 Several programs bring together high schools with community colleges and/or companies for in-depth manufacturing curricula. Among the largest programs are STEAM Ahead NH and Project Lead the Way.

Project Lead the Way has a significant presence in New Hampshire, as it is currently being implemented in 22 high schools, 6 middle schools, and 7 elementary schools. The Little League of Manufacturing and School-to-Work are intensive work-based learning courses that have expanded and can continue to scale. The Little League of Manufacturing, launched by Whelen Engineering, has expanded to over 20 high schools and has been adapted for middle schools. Grafton County’s school-to-work program, North Country Work Place Education Program, connects students from 3 high schools to internships at 25 local companies including manufacturers. The Lakes Region’s 200 by 2020 provides internships for students at 15 high schools across 80 manufacturers and other employers. Individual companies provide additional job shadowing opportunities. For example, Wire Belt hosts two students from Manchester Technical School to job shadow machinists throughout the school year.

Successful efforts to engage high schools target not only students but also teachers and guidance counselors. The University of New Hampshire has used National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to bring teachers to their research labs to expose them to manufacturing education, and it partners with Great Bay Community College and the Albany and Rochester school systems to provide teacher training for high school teachers. For the past two years, Velcro has participated in a discussion series to help high school teachers understand the employment expectations and opportunities in manufacturing for students who do not continue to college.

Long-Term Strategies

• Expand industry programs across school districts. The existing programs that bring together high school students, community colleges, and employers have been valued by all the partners. CTE centers have served as hubs for a number of these partnerships and even shared lab facilities. Yet the level of engagement has varied widely across school districts. The manufacturing sector can scale the level of high school engagement by developing incentives and strategies in the least active districts. For example, CTE centers can work with employers to increase their involvement in curriculum design and

19 New Hampshire MEP. New Hampshire Manufacturing Week 2015: Record Number of Students Participate. October 5-9, 2015.

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work-based learning across the state, and expand the number of manufacturing offerings that result in industry-recognized credentials.

• Enhance career navigation and education. Part of the challenge in engaging high school students has been their lack of awareness of manufacturing and their career options, more broadly. A high school-level career navigation course could promote the industry while also educating students about how community colleges and four-year colleges in New Hampshire could help them achieve their career goals. This type of course could be developed as a cross-sector effort with other sector partnerships.

Short-Term Strategies

• Deepen outreach to teachers and guidance counselors. Manufacturers express a consistent concern that teachers and guidance counselors do not understand the career opportunities within manufacturing, or the educational pathways for entering the industry. Initiating more dialogues and providing more job shadowing opportunities for these influential educators will increase the information available to interested students.

• Explore employability skills needs. In addition to the need for a technically trained workforce, many manufacturers noted a need for greater employability skills (sometimes called soft skills) such as communication and teamwork, particularly among their younger workforce. The sector partnership can continue to build on the progress made by WorkReadyNH, a partnership among the Office of Workforce Opportunity, the Department of Resources and Economic Development, and CCSNH that provides standardized work readiness training and credentials. Currently, 94.2 percent of trainees are 18 or older.20 In order to develop strategies to address this need, the sector partnership can survey employers to find out whether they would value career readiness credentials from high school graduates seeking entry-level employment.

ESTABLISHING A SECTOR PARTNERSHIP A manufacturing sector partnership that convenes the leadership across all the stakeholders invested in the success of the industry would be uniquely positioned to advance short- and long-term strategies to strengthen its talent pipeline, as well as to continue to identify emerging areas for future action. While a number of initiatives already bring together many of these stakeholders, manufacturers agree that they do not yet have a place to regularly convene and jointly address industry challenges. An industry-led sector partnership can add value to statewide efforts to promote the industry while also helping individual companies network and share ideas to address their internal needs.

20 State of New Hampshire, Department of Resources and Economic Development. Report on Activities: July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015. New Hampshire Job Training Fund and WorkReadyNH.

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Despite enthusiasm for the idea of a sector partnership, many stakeholders interviewed for this report recommend demonstrating how this initiative will be different than previous statewide efforts. There is concern that many past efforts, particularly ones led by the state, have not translated into tangible results. One clear way that the sector partnership can distinguish itself is by elevating the successful partnership efforts underway at a regional level. Many stakeholders point to regional organizations and initiatives as the primary catalysts for improvements in the manufacturing talent pipeline. Yet these regional efforts are not yet systemic. A statewide initiative that leverages these efforts can elevate current successes and knowledge, be grounded in action, and efficiently respond to local and regional needs.

While the sector partnership will primarily focus on the industry needs highlighted throughout this report, it can also set itself up for long-term impact by setting broad goals for sustaining the partnership and supporting the talent pipeline. This includes securing funding to adequately staff the partnership for project management between meetings. Because resources are a primary concern for all manufacturing stakeholders, we recommend that sector partnership members build consensus about whether the partnership will be a forum for applying to, or coordinating the flow of, external resources including federal or philanthropic grants and state funds among members. If partners are interested, this kind of strategic coordination can help demonstrate a statewide return on investing in the talent pipeline as a strategy to secure business, national, and philanthropic resources.

We recommend that the sector partnership be structured to facilitate widespread participation among stakeholders while ensuring deep engagement and time commitment from its members. The sector partnership can clarify forms of engagement and expectations of members early to ensure effective participation. We recommend that:

• The sector partnership include members that represent businesses, secondary and post-secondary educational institutions, Registered Apprenticeship providers, the workforce system, state and local agencies including economic development agencies, community-based organizations, and policymakers;

• Two business leaders co-chair the partnership to ensure that the efforts are industry-led, with support from an executive committee that guides the partnership agenda and recruits partners to the effort;

• As the sector intermediary, DRED convenes and staffs the partnership and manages projects between meetings. DRED brings the benefits of a statewide perspective, the respect of a wide range of stakeholders, perception as a neutral player interested in industry advancement, and staff capacity to the initiative;

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• Representation from regional leaders, through a regional committee or as part of the executive committee, to serve as a conduit for regional input on statewide sector partnership strategies and to support the adoption of those strategies within their areas. These regional entities can also support DRED in project management as appropriate.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX 1: TOP MANUFACTURING SUBSECTOR DATA

The top three manufacturing subsectors employing the most workers were computer and electronic product manufacturing, fabricated metal product manufacturing, and machinery manufacturing. Due to the fabricated metal product manufacturing (NAICS code 332) and machinery manufacturing (NAICS code 333) staffing their respective subsectors with similar occupations, the “fabricated metal and machinery” categories in these tables combine data from both NAICS codes.21 Key observations from the subsector data:

• While both of the top subsectors employ a significant number of team assemblers and inspectors, sorters, samplers, and weighers, the computer and electronic product manufacturing subsector employs electrical and electronic equipment assemblers and electrical and electronics engineering technicians as two of its four largest occupations. In contrast, the combined fabricated metal and machinery subsector employs machinist and computer-controlled machine tool operators as two of its four largest occupations.

• The combined fabricated metal and machinery subsector is generally staffed with more traditional manufacturing-related occupations, such as welders, mechanical engineers, and machine operators. The computer and electronic product manufacturing subsector employs workers more focused on assembling electrical and electronic equipment and also employed over 800 people working in a software development capacity in 2015.

• According to online job ads, there is significant demand for individuals with sales skills in the combined fabricated metal and machinery subsector. “Sales trainee” and “sales executive” were the subsector’s two most commonly requested job titles in 2015, and sales was the most commonly requested specialized skill. “Sales engineer” was also one of the three most requested job titles in computer and electronic product manufacturing.22

• Job ad data revealed demand for Microsoft Office skills in both subsectors. In computer and electronic product manufacturing, the most commonly requested non-Microsoft Office software and programming-related skills were Linux, Java, C++, and Python. In

21 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016. All data in this section is from EMSI, unless otherwise noted. 22 Burning Glass Labor/Insight data for the manufacturing industry during 2015. Data extracted by Jeremy Kelley, May 2016.

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fabricated metal and machinery, Oracle, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and computer aided drafting/design (CAD) were the most commonly requested non-Microsoft Office platforms.23

• Communication skills were the most commonly requested baseline skills in both subsectors, along with writing and planning.24

Computer and Electronics Manufacturing Occupations25

SOC Description Employed in Industry (2015)

% of Total Jobs in Industry (2015)

Median Hourly Earnings

51-2022 Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers 1,388 9.5% $14.75

51-9061 Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

591 4.0% $18.28

51-2092 Team Assemblers 578 3.9% $15.29

17-3023 Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians 557 3.8% $27.18

51-2023 Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers 540 3.7% $16.96

15-1132 Software Developers, Applications 461 3.1% $43.83

17-2071 Electrical Engineers 454 3.1% $46.99 17-2112 Industrial Engineers 427 2.9% $38.04 17-2141 Mechanical Engineers 356 2.4% $39.05

15-1133 Software Developers, Systems Software 344 2.3% $53.33

23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016.

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Computer and Electronics Manufacturing Job Ad Data26

Top Titles Top Skills

Baseline Specialized Software and Programming

Software Development Engineer Communication Skills Software

Development Microsoft Excel

Quality Engineer Writing Project Management Microsoft Office Sales Engineer Detail Oriented LINUX LINUX

Engineering Technician Teamwork/ Collaboration Software Engineering Microsoft Word

Manufacturing Engineer Planning Budgeting Microsoft

PowerPoint Quality Assurance Engineer Organizational Skills Customer Service JAVA

Material Handler Problem Solving Sales C++ Sales Representative Research Product Development Python

Fabricated Metal and Machinery Manufacturing Occupations27

SOC Description Employed in Industry (2015)

% of Total Jobs in Industry (2015)

Median Hourly Earnings

51-4041 Machinists 1,579 8.4% $19.85

51-4011 Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic 1,195 6.5% $17.76

51-2092 Team Assemblers 1,084 6.0% $15.29

51-9061 Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers 689 3.8% $18.28

51-4121 Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers 631 3.4% $20.24

51-1011 First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers 628 3.4% $27.84

17-2141 Mechanical Engineers 484 2.6% $39.05

51-4081 Multiple Machine Tool Setters; Operators; and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 436 2.4% $18.63

11-1021 General and Operations Managers 396 2.1% $48.19

51-4199 Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other 354 1.9% $14.99

26 Burning Glass Labor/Insight data for the manufacturing industry during 2015. Data extracted by Jeremy Kelley, May 2016. 27 EMSI Analyst. 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley during May of 2016.

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Fabricated Metal and Machinery Manufacturing Job Ad Data28

Top Titles Top Skills

Baseline Specialized Software and Programming

Sales Trainee Communication Skills Sales Microsoft Office

Machine Operator Basic Computer Skills

Project Management Microsoft Excel

Machinist Project Management Mathematics Oracle

Sales Executive Writing Customer Service Microsoft PowerPoint

Quality Engineer Planning CNC Microsoft Word Field Service Technician Mathematics Machining CAD Software Development Engineer Problem Solving Sales Calls ERP

Production Supervisor Customer Service Repair Minitab

28 Burning Glass Labor/Insight data for the manufacturing industry during 2015. Data extracted by Jeremy Kelley, May 2016.

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APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE CAREER PATHWAYS

Pathway 1. Career pathways can be conceptualized as a progression of skills, not just of academic degrees or occupations. Some employers may value certifications (such as an American Society of Mechanical Engineers certification) more highly than an academic degree, while other employers may develop relationships with high school CTE programs and community colleges to the point where they value graduates from individual training programs more than people with third-party certifications. The sample pathway below contains information about advancements in skills, wages, certifications, and education levels for a sector partnership collaborative to consider as it seeks to optimize the state’s job training assets and market career opportunities to potential students.29

29 Occupational, wage, and education data is from EMSI, 2016.2 proprietary data extracted by Jeremy Kelley. Data on industry-valued certifications, skills, and competencies is based upon data from Burning Glass Labor/Insight, extracted by Jeremy Kelley in May, 2016.

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Pathway 2. This template, based on the National Career Clusters framework, was created for Manchester High Schools to help students begin to understand what classes will help them become college- and career-ready in the manufacturing sector. The specifics will vary in high schools across the state to reflect the different programs and graduation requirements of each school. While not designed as a career pathway, it outlines a four-year high school plan for the manufacturing career cluster in alignment with postsecondary educational opportunities, Registered Apprenticeships, other industry-recognized credentialing, and broader career options.

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