What the Wave of Retiring Machinists Means to Plant Safety
Currently, the average age of highly skilled manufacturing employees is 56, and nearly one-third of all manufacturing professionals are over 50. As they retire, knowledge goes out the door with them.
Within the next decade, approximately 2.7 million “baby boomers” (b. 1946-1964) will retire, thereby ensuring that tens of thousands of skilled, well-paid positions will become available without a ready supply of American workers to fill them. Statistics paint an especially gloomy picture for the manufacturing sector, a widening of the skills gap, and a possible dilution of existing training programs.
Compared to the rest of the economy, the impact on manufacturing of this generational shift is oversized owing to two factors: