Recruiting high school students into tech programs: making high school students aware of the opportunities available to them can build enrollment in community college technical programs and help meet the nation's workforce needs.

INDUSTRY'S NEEDS FOR HIGHLY SKILLED WORKERS are not currently being met. Six years ago, Ira S. Wolfe wrote about a looming crisis in manufacturing in his Business to Business article, "The Perfect Labor Storm," in which he warned that, in the 21st century, the U.S. would have too few workers with the technical skills to run our factories. Those predictions are a fact today.

Our nation needs more than a half-million people in our skilled worker training programs now. Not enough young people are choosing to be trained in these areas, and compounding this problem is the reality that the average age of our current skilled labor force is 55--ready for retirement soon. These manufacturing jobs not only pay well, but they tend to create a cascade of other jobs. Industry should not have to import skilled employees from other countries or relocate to foreign soil to have access to a qualified workforce.

Recruiting high school students into technical programs is crucial. In the past, older workers would come to tech schools for retraining. However, as the job market strengthens, these workers are more able to find employment when layoffs occur and are less …