Early-warning signal that the labor market's getting tighter

When an industry that’s been in a prolonged slump starts reporting increased need for workers, you know something’s up.  
The industry is manufacturing, and the reasons are relevant no matter what business your company is in.
Many small manufacturers are reporting shortages in certain skills, according to ATS, a manufacturing consulting firm, and there are at least three reasons why the market for some types of production workers — and workers in general — could get even tighter.
Reason #1 – The experienced people aren’t coming back. According to ATS,  most of the skilled and experienced people who got laid off from production jobs and other types of work during the downturn have heeded the advice of employment counselors: Learn to do something else if you want to be employable.
Makes sense when you think about it. If you got laid off from a job in a particular field and couldn’t find work in that field, wouldn’t you consider giving up and getting qualified in something else? Laid-off workers have heard the mantra that, for instance, health care is an up-and-coming field, so a lot of people have changed career directions accordingly.
Reason #2 – They’re getting older. ATS also reports that the average age of skilled production workers in many US companies is in the late-50s — the Baby Boomer effect. If there’s a pickup in work over the next few years, you’ll start to see the problem of the combination of greater demand and fewer workers, in production jobs and other fields.
What about training younger workers in the skilled areas? For most of those jobs, the training period required for a proficient employee is about one year. Go back to Reason #1 to see why that’s a problem. Workers who are willing to put in a year of training often opt to do so in another field.
Reason #3 – The problem is worldwide. There was a time when immigration would solve the problem of a shortage of production workers. Workers from other countries would come to the U.S. to fill manufacturing jobs. However, the staffing firm Manpower reports that the shortage exists in 36 countries, not just the U.S.
By the way, electricians and computer operators are the most in-demand skilled trades positions.