Workforce

High schools and community colleges in Colorado are increasingly offering students an alternative to a four-year degree: training programs that will prepare them for well-paying jobs in manufacturing (KUNC).

What’s going on: At CEC Early College in Denver, the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus in Centennial and other campuses, apprenticeship “programs are coming back, in part, through funding for career and technical education. In Colorado, 69 manufacturing programs operate at high schools across the state.”

• CoorsTek, a Golden, Colorado–based manufacturer of technical ceramic products, trained 18-year-old Genesis Gomez on its complex machinery—including its computer numeric control machines—during Gomez’s apprenticeship through Early College. Gomez has since graduated and is now a full-time CoorsTek employee.
• Andrew Sutliff, an 18-year-old current apprentice at CoorsTek through Cherry Creek Innovation Campus, is planning a career in manufacturing upon graduation from the program. “I would much rather do this than sit in a classroom for another four years,” he said.

Why it’s important: Though U.S. manufacturing job openings have declined slightly  since 2024, talent acquisition remains a top manufacturer concern nationwide.

• “While job openings still remain significant, even though the pace of hiring has slowed, this creates space for employers to refocus on long-term talent development … like apprenticeships and upskilling,” NAM Chief Economist Victoria Bloom told the news outlet. Bloom is also head of research at the Manufacturing Institute (the NAM’s workforce development and education affiliate).
• In July, there were 437,000 manufacturing job openings in the U.S., down from the half-million jobs averaged throughout 2024.

Check it out: For more information about apprenticeships and other job-training programs, visit the MI’s website here.

• And to learn much about the industry’s most effective workforce strategies, join the MI for its Workforce Summit Oct. 20–22 in Charlotte, North Carolina.