In just one industry segment where more than 35,000 skilled production employees are needed, the National Tooling and Machining Association said in a Nov. 10 report that finding skilled workers at an average wage of $16.34 per hour for those jobs could mean an increase of $120,000 in sales per year, per employee.

The NTMA says it conservatively estimates that filling those jobs ultimately could add $10.1 billion per year to the U.S. economy.

Any job shop could use an additional $120,000 a year in sales, but the limited number of skilled employees reduces the chances to land that work. The crisis in skilled labor cuts into any shop's flexibility and limits its ability to use new technologies.

The lack of trained welders directly hurts competitiveness and profit.

This issue of Welding Design & Fabrication includes a report that addresses one part of the solution to that crisis, the increasing number of women who are picking up torches and burning careers for themselves.

"Women in Welding" is not intended as social commentary, but it is a look at the economic effects that the shortage of skilled labor is having on job shops from Maine to California.

Although women are stepping into welding jobs, they do not make up for the fact that there are not enough trained workers in the United States.

Even with an abundance of jobs in manufacturing, young men and women are making other career choices because they — and their parents — have been convinced that manufacturing is dying or is dead in the U.S.; that a job in manufacturing and basic industry has no future.

However, in reading the report about women who weld, one of the things that becomes clear is that manufacturing not only remains alive, but continues to provide much better paying jobs than local discount stores or offices — jobs can and do pave the way to a better future.

It should come as no surprise that skilled women find those jobs attractive, and that smart job shop managers are hiring them.

Separately in this issue, Contributing Editor Richard Harris writes about his visit to the Cherry Point Naval Air Depot, one of two repair depots where skilled civilian and military workers help to keep the air vehicles in battleready shape despite their age.

Harris focuses on the welders and the metal repair work they do at Cherry Point, and his report gives an interesting look on the behind-the-battlefront work that supports our troops.