Caterpillar to Invest $10 Million in Illinois Workforce Development

NAM News Room August 4, 2026

Construction and mining equipment maker Caterpillar will invest up to $10 million in Illinois to prepare workers across the state for manufacturing jobs, it announced on Wednesday (25 News Now).

What’s going on: The move is part of the company’s five-year, $100 million “Building the Future Workforce Initiative.”

  • The Illinois funding will go toward four “areas”: generating interest in manufacturing careers, leveraging resources to improve local schooling programs, increasing access to and affordability of training initiatives and communicating the investments’ results to the public.

Why it’s important: In June, the manufacturing industry had more than 474,000 open jobs— and if that skills gap remains, it could result in 1.9 million unfilled industry positions by 2030, according to a study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, the NAM’s 501(c)3 workforce development and education affiliate.

  • “This investment … help[s] ensure people have a clear path to manufacturing careers today while equipping the next generation of Illinoisans with the skills they need to succeed,” Caterpillar Chief Human Resources Officer Christy Pambianch said in a news release.
  • Caterpillar employs over 17,000 people in Illinois.

There’s more: Caterpillar is also partnering with organizations in the state to get more job seekers and students interested in manufacturing careers.

  • These include the Greater Peoria Leadership Council, the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County and Heartland Community College.

The FAME connection: Illinois is home to two chapters of the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), the workforce development program founded in 2010 by Toyota and now run fully by the MI.

  • These are the Great River FAME chapter in Quincy and the Prairie Land FAME chapter in Decatur. Caterpillar supports and participates in the latter.
  • At Caterpillar Decatur, Prairie Land FAME participants “gain direct experience with robotics, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLSs), working alongside industry professionals,” according to the chapter. “This exposure provides valuable growth opportunities and a pathway to full-time roles” at Caterpillar.