But the education system is not powerless in the face of high unemployment—as long as employers are partners. What’s clear is that there are a few, relatively small sectors of the economy in which there are real shortages of trained workers. Some of those sectors require an advanced degree or very high-level skills, such as in engineering or computer programming. But not all of them do. One of these sectors is mid-skill manufacturing. There is a shortage of machinists who can operate the new, computer-programmed, robotic assembly lines that build cars, turbines, generators, steel and iron plumbing products, armaments, and shipping and packing equipment. There may be as many as 600,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs of this type, but compared with their European counterparts, American companies have shown little willingness to invest in training workers to fill these positions.
At last a small group of employers are importing the Northern European apprenticeship model to the United States. These programs combine classroom learning, typically at community colleges, with paid worksite training, and guarantee successful graduates a job. This is the sort of meaningful, fairly compensated work experience that is almost impossible to come by in our loosely regulated American internship culture yet is built into the educational systems of nations like Germany and Switzerland, where youth unemployment is far lower than it is in the United States.
Volkswagen opened its first American plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2010, and executives knew from the start they wanted to launch a German-style apprenticeship program alongside it. The plant employs 3,000 people building the Passat, Motor Trend’s 2012 “car of the year.” Volkswagen saw a shortage of mid-skill machinists, workers who perform maintenance on robotic welders and other state-of-the-art manufacturing tools. The three-year apprenticeship program, Volkswagen Academy, is a partnership between VW and Chattanooga State Community College. Built to address that need for regular plant maintenance, it enrolls about 20 students per year. The college screens for students’ math and reading skills, and VW administers a test in which applicants read diagrams, assemble car parts, and install a dashboard. They are also given a personality test, a background check, and a drug screening. There are three applicants for every available slot.
Apprentices spend five trimesters in the classroom and lab, and four trimesters working for Volkswagen, earning between $10 and $13 per hour. Of the program’s first group of recruits, about 60 percent are expected to graduate in 2013 and will be guaranteed a job at Volkswagen. According to Chattanooga State, most of the student attrition was caused by family responsibilities and financial stress, which drive much of the dropout rate across the American community college system.
Read the full original posting at Slate's site: http://hive.slate.com/hive/made-america-how-reinvent-american-manufacturing/article/the-apprentice
