It’s hard to plan for jobs of the future that promise to be vastly different. But the future is rapidly approaching in advanced manufacturing. 

How can state governments, education and training organizations, and employers start to collaborate now to create these new jobs?

Manufacturing jobs a decade, or even five years, from now will require education, training, and skills that are in short supply today. For example, the number of semiconductor jobs is expected to grow by 33% by 2030, but 58% of these jobs will go unfilled at current degree completion rates.

Ensuring the United States can fill the jobs of the future is not just an economic issue, but also a matter of national security. Onshore production capabilities support U.S. global competitiveness and reduce reliance on other countries for defense-critical technologies, which will be especially important if relations sour.

State agencies and regional workforce boards play key roles in preparing Americans for today’s jobs. They identify workforce needs and partner with employers and training organizations to develop the education and training that industry needs. Yet state and regional workforce planning is no easy task, and it often falls short. Even in established fields like nursing and welding, large gaps exist between the skills workers have and the skills employers need. 

Establishing workforce strategies for jobs of the future will be even more challenging due to uncertainty about the skills that will be needed and when the jobs will come online, as well as the lack of education and training options that provide these skills today. Many colleges establish industry advisory committees to help guide their programs, but these committees often lack strategic direction, are time consuming for industry partners, and fail to align programs with business needs.

But what is hard is not impossible. And a few states and regions are leading the way in building future advanced manufacturing workforces with proactive, centralized, and strategic approaches to engaging industry and education and training partners.

Ohio has created a comprehensive strategy for its advanced manufacturing workforce. Since 2023, the Ohio Department of Higher Education has worked closely with the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, and a consortium of community colleges to build semiconductor career pathways.

Together, these partners created curricula, developed a new portable semiconductor credential, and planned student supports. Moreover, they have mapped competencies from the semiconductor workforce to other areas of advanced manufacturing, which will help Ohio build its workforce in other emerging technology industries in a more efficient way.

California has zeroed in on Imperial County, a potential hotbed for lithium extraction—designating it a “California Enterprise Zone,” where companies can receive tax credits and deductions for building. This March, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California secured $10M for the county to build out an infrastructure plan that supports this burgeoning workforce. The region is engaged in strategic workforce planning that incorporates data analysis, stakeholder feedback, and coordination with education and training providers to build out new programs.

Indiana is leaning into apprenticeships for emerging fields like advanced manufacturing. CEMETS iLab Indiana seeks to build pathways to apprenticeships and postsecondary certificates in advanced manufacturing, robotics, and biotech. Chaired by representatives from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and First Internet Bank, the iLab encourages more high school students to pursue these growing fields by bringing together:

  • Industry partners in banking, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and construction;
  • High school and higher education partners from public and private schools across the state; and
  • State and intermediary policy partners from state government and education and workforce alliances.

Each committee has a set role, as well as a short-term and long-term funding source. Early this year, iLab announced a plan to serve 50K students with youth apprenticeships within the next decade. The plan calls for industry-led talent associations to identify workforce needs and shortages, ways to enhance career advising, and structured career pathways that recognize work-based learning.

These examples illustrate the kind of collaboration among state agencies, industry representatives, and education and training providers that will be needed to build the workforce of the future. They are strategic, focused, well-resourced, and inclusive of a variety of stakeholders. 

Learning from these initiatives can provide a path to the right types of skills at the right times for the jobs of the future.

Alexis Gable is an associate policy researcher at RAND. Her research primarily focuses on how the U.S. education and training system prepares people for work.

Jonah Kushner is a Ph.D. student at the RAND School of Public Policy and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. His interests include postsecondary education, workforce development, and the future of work.

Lindsay Daugherty is a senior researcher at RAND. Her research examines education and training at the high school and postsecondary levels and transitions into the workforce.