[smalltownslick]

“At our plant, you have lots of people with 20 to 30 years’ experience,” says Kirk, who has three high-skill openings that he can’t fill. “But there’s no apprenticeship program—no way to fill the future growth. We are simply running out of people.”

The obvious is staring her right in the face. Start one NOW while those highly skilled people are still there.

[Roccus]

Heh-heh. Got inturrupted by a phone call between finishing my comment and clicking “post” and you jumped right in..GMTA

[Mygirlsmom]

Start (an apprenticeship program) NOW while those highly skilled people are still there.

Easier said than done. Many young people lack the motivation and foresight to be able to successfully complete an apprenticeship, which starts out at a relatively low rate of pay. They come in, work for a few days and then say, "This is too hard and too messy. Why should I work so hard when I can make more on unemployment?"