Full text of Shortages in Skilled Labor : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Economic Goals and Intergovernmental Policy of the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Ninety-Seventh Congress, First Session, November 3, 1981

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SHORTAGES IN SKILLED LABOR

HEARING
BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GOALS AND
INTEBGOVERNMENTAL POLICY
OF THE

JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
NINETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

NOVEMBER 3, 1981

Printed for the use of the Joint Economic Committee

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
90-376 o




WASHINGTON : 1982

J O IN T E C O N O M IC C O M M IT T E E
(Created pursuant to sec. 5(a) of Public Law 304, 79th Cong.)
HOUSE OF R EPR ESEN TA TIVE S

SEN ATE

H E N R Y S. REUSS, Wisconsin, Chairman
R IC H A R D BOLLIN G , Missouri
LEE H. H AM ILTON, Indiana
GILLIS W. LONG, Louisiana
P A R R E N J. M IT CH EL L , Maryland
F R E D E R IC K W. RICHM OND, New York
CL A R E N C E J. BROWN, Ohio
M A R G A R E T M. H E C K L E R , Massachusetts
JOHN H. ROUSSELOT, California
CHALM ERS P. W YL IE , Ohio
Ja m e s
B

S u b c o m m it t e e

on

R O G ER W. JEPSEN, Iowa, Vice Chairman
WILLIAM V. ROTH , Jr., Delaware
JAMES AB D N O R , South Dakota
STEVEN D. SYMMS, Idaho
PAULA HAW KINS, Florida
M ACK M A T T IN G L Y , Georgia
LLO Y D BEN T SE N , Texas
W ILLIAM PR O XM IR E , Wisconsin
E DW AR D M. K E N N E D Y , Massachusetts
PAUL S. SAR BAN ES, Maryland

K. G a l b r a i t h , Executive Director
R. B a r t l e t t , Deputy Director

ruce

E c o n o m ic

G oals

HOUSE OF R EPR ESEN TA TIVE S
LEE H. H AM ILTO N, Indiana, Chairman
R IC H A R D BO L L IN G , Missouri




and

I ntergovernm ental

P o l ic y

SEN ATE
L LO Y D BEN T SE N , Texas, Vice Chairman
PAU LA H AW K IN S, Florida
STEVEN D. SYMMS, Idaho
M ACK M A T T IN G L Y , Georgia

(II)

CONTENTS
W IT N E SS E S A N D S T A T E M E N T S
T uesday, N ovem ber 3 , 1 9 8 1

Bentsen, Hon. Lloyd, vice chairman of the Subcomm ittee on Econom ic
Goals and Intergovernmental P olicy: Opening statem ent_______________
W illenbrock, F. Karl, Cecil H. Green Professor of Engineering, School of
Engineering and Applied Science, Southern M ethodist University, Dallas,
Tex., on behalf of the American Electronics Association________________
Weinig, Sheldon, president and chief executive officer, Materials Research
Corp., Orangeburg, N .Y _________________________________________________
Cooper, W . Paul, chairman of the board, Acme-Cleveland Corp., chairman,
Governm ent Relations Committee, and vice chairman of the National
M achine T ool Builders’ Association, M cLean, Va., accom panied by
John Mandl, training director___________________________________________

Pase
1
8
61

76

SU B M ISSIO N S F O R T H E R E C O R D
T

uesday,

N

ovem ber

3, 1981

Cooper, W . Paul, et al.: Prepared statem ent______________________________
Hawkins, Hon. Paula: W ritten opening statem ent________________________
Jepsen, Hon. Roger W. : W ritten opening statement_______________________
National Tooling & Machining Association, the Statement o f _____________
Rousselot, Hon. John H .: W ritten opening statement_____________________
Weinig, Sheldon: Prepared statement______________________________________
Willenbrock, F. K arl: Prepared statement, together with attachm ents____




( H I)

81
6
4
99
7
66
15

SHORTAGES IN SKILLED LABOR

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1981
C o n g r e s s o f t h e U n it e d S t a t e s ,
S u b c o m m it t e e o n E c o n o m ic G o a l s a n d
I n t e r g o v e r n m e n t a l P o l ic y o f t h e
J o in t E c o n o m ic C o m m it t e e ,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room
6226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lloyd Bentsen (vice
chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Senator Bentsen.
Also present: James K. Galbraith, executive director; and George
R. Tyler, Robert Premus, and William Keyes, professional staff
members.
O p e n in g S t a t e m e n t

of

Senator B

entsen,

V

ic e

C

h a ir m a n

Senator B e n t s e n . The subcommittee will come to order.
I recall in 1973, I asked the chairman of the Senate Finance Com­
mittee to let me form a subcommittee on capital formation. No one
seemed to know what we were talking about then even though now
it has become a buzzword. We were at the cutting edge of our pro­
ductivity problem then and it took 8 years to see real progress in
tackling that problem.
One thing I have learned in the Senate is you have to say some­
thing 44 times, or even more, before someone finally says, “ Oh, by
the way, did you hear what he said?” But that’s the nature of this
business.
I think we are on the cutting edge of another major economic
problem; one that we have to address and address now. I do not
think we can wait another 8 years as we did with the capital formation
issue; that wait threw us too far behind in trying to do what had to
be done to increase productivity and in learning the lessons of what our
competitors were doing. Our Nation has begun to deal with the
capital formation aspect of productivity, but we have overlooked another
ingredient which is just as major and just as essential. That is the
question of skilled labor in this country, the adequacy of our human
skills and its role in increasing productivity.
I have made four speeches on this topic on the floor of the Senate
in recent days. I intend to make a lot more to draw attention to this
problem and get this country concerned about it.
According to the most recent Labor Department data, our Nation
faces a shortage of 2.5 million skilled workers this decade. That’s
a bare minimum estimate covering only 13 occupations with the




(1)

2

largest prospective gap between job openings and trained workers
to fill those jobs. These projected shortages are in all types of occupa­
tions from service sector nurses to white collar computer systems
analysis to blue collar tool and die craftsmen.
One of the most alarming aspects of this shortage is that it, in some
degree, exists today. It is not a hypothetical problem we may or may
not be forced to deal with next year or in 1990. It exists today hand in
hand with 8 million men and women crowding into personnel offices
looking for jobs, any jobs. I cannot hope to guess how many times on
the stump I have heard people who have said, “ The jobs are there.
All you have to do is look at the classified pages. All those unemployed
people have to do is go apply. Some of them just don’t want to work.”
What they do not realize is if you read those classified pages, al­
most every one of those open jobs requires some kind of skill and
that is where our Nation is falling down. I think the most denigrating
thing you can do to an individual is tell them they have no productive
role to fulfill in our society. If you really want to turn them off, that
is the way to do it.
To be out of work is a personal tragedy. But it is a national tragedy
for millions of job openings to exist side-by-side with millions of
unemployed. That is an indictment, a blot on our Nation that we
must begin to correct. We have not learned how to train and retrain
our labor force the way the Japanese and our European competitors
do. I am told that the Japanese have about 40 percent of their high
school students in vocational education programs. The Germans have
approximately 70 percent. In our Nation, only 1 high school in 40 is a
vocational one and far fewer of our high school students, than overseas,
are in useful vocational programs. We have ignored the problem. In
fact, it is only in recent weeks that serious attention has been paid to
the prospect that shortages of skilled labor could choke efforts to
rebuild our vital defense sectors.
We spend well over $30 billion a year on higher education and
occupational training in this country, yet we cannot even train enough
computer specialists or machinists to meet defense needs. But, the
problem is much broader than just the defense sector. The adminis­
tration projects a real GNP growth of 15 percent over the next 3 years.
If that projection is met, that kind of heady growth would generate
a major wave of inflation as hard-pressed firms frantically outbid
one another for scarce computer operators and other skilled per­
sonnel already in short supply.
Many firms are dealing with today’s labor shortages by diverting
skilled craftsmen and technicians for on-the-job training of new
workers. This diversion of skilled workers— this shadow education
system—is enormous and has been a heretofore silent contributor
to our lagging productivity performance and to inflation. The failure
of our Nation to train sufficient technical personnel, especially com­
pared to Japan, jeopardizes our ability to maintain foreign markets
as well.
At first blush, one expects the shortage of skilled labor to exist
most heavily in States like Texas and California which are growing
the fastest today. But the fact that our Houston Chronicle, because
of its employment classified ads, is the second or third largest seller
in Detroit does not tell the whole story. Our skilled labor crisis is
not a regional issue. Two jobs will be created in Texas for every one




3

in New England during the 1980’s, but that worker in Boston or
Maine needs the same skills which the two need in Dallas or Houston.
It is a national problem demanding national attention and requiring
national answers.
This is the first hearing by the JEC on our skilled labor shortage.
We will not be looking solely for answers. We are seeking better
information on where the shortages exist. We have to get a better
handle on the dimensions of the problem before we effectively tackle
the problem itself.
Senators Jepsen and Hawkins, and Representative Rousselot have
not arrived, as yet, so I will take this opportunity to place their
written opening statements in the hearing record at this point.
[The written opening statements of Senators Jepsen and Hawkins,
and Representative Rousselot follow:]




4

W

WHY
SAM E

r it t e n

WE

T IM E

H E A R IN G

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WE

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ARE

SH O U LD

H ELP

SU CH

H IG H

W IT N E S S IN G

A M E R IC A N
US

PEO PLE

IN

OUR

Senator Jepsen

of

A

U NEM PLO YM EN T

SH O RTAG E

DESERVE

ATTEM PT

OF

ANSW ERS.

TO

ANSW ER

AT

THE

S K IL L E D

AND
T H IS

TODAYS
IR O N IC

Q U E S T IO N .

DOES
L IB E R A L

THE
ARTS

T E C H N IC A L

THE

EM PLO YM ENT

E X IS T

F IR S T

IT

MAY

MANY

AND

LABOR

IS
BE

MUCH

WE

HAVE

THROUGH

BEC AU SE

PROGRAM S

BEC A U SE
FRO M

THEREBY

FO CUSED

THE

YEARS,

ON
AND

THE

ARE

AND

THE

S K IL L E D
AND

IN T O

PREVENT

FEDERAL

M IS D IR E C T E D ?

M IN IM U M

M O V IN G

F O R T Y -E IG H T

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P R E V A L IN G

THE

LABOR

O N -T H E -J O B

SH O RTAG E
W AGE

FO RCE

IN

T R A IN IN G

LAW S
THE
FO R

P O S IT IO N S ?

IM P O R T A N T
EVEN

W H IC H

W IL L

H ELP

LABO R

PRO BLEM S.




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U NEM PLO YM EN T

PEO PLE

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PLACE

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PRO BLEM

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DOES

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US

THAT

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IM P O R T A N T
IN

OUR

GET

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WE

C O N S ID E R A T IO N

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R E C E IV E
OF

A

Q U E S T IO N S .
IN F O R M A T IO N

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TO

OUR

C E R T A IN L Y

P U B L IC

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TO

FEDERAL

EM PLOYM ENT

AND

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FROM

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OF

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UNDER

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W ORTH

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WE

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US

TO

GET

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HANDLE

ON

T H IS

6

W

THE

NEED

P L A N N IN G
OF

O p e n in g S t a t e m e n t

r it t e n

IS

FO R

IN N O V A T IV E

PARAMOUNT.

S K IL L E D

S C IE N T IS T S ,

R A T IN G S ,
IN

of

Senator H

APPROACHES

TO

D EFEN SE

P O S S IB L E

BO TTLENECKS

T E C H N IC A L

PERSO NNEL,

A M E R I C A 'S

ARM ED

FORCES

CALL

a w k in s

IN

M ANPOW ER

THE

SU PPLY

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FOR

NEW

AND

M ANPO W ER

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AS

IN

FO STER

THE

D EFEN SE
BE

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REDUCED.

CALLED
WHO
FO R

TO

"L A T E R A L

HAVE

LABO R

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EXAM PLE,

M ARKET

W O R K IN G

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OF

NEED
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HAVE

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THANK

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AMONG

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BUT

I

OF

B E L IE V E

7

W r it t e n O p e n i n g S t a t e m e n t of R e p r e s e n t a t iv e R o u s s e l o t

A m e r i c a needs m o r e ski l l e d labor.

Pu b l i c e d u c a t i o n can help

g i v e us a start on this goa l by p r o v i d i n g s t udents w i t h the a b i l i t y
to rea d and write.

But bey o n d that a b a sic science c u r r i c u l u m is

c r i t i c a l for the d e v e l o p m e n t of n e w t e c h n o l o g i e s and p r o d u c t i o n
m ethods.

F u r thermore, an u n d e r s t a n d i n g of culture,

language, and

h u m a n i n t e r e s t is n e c e s s a r y to m a r k e t p r o d u c t s in ot h e r lands.
J obs are a cont i n u o u s learning experience, and skill
t r a i n i n g a nd u p g r a d i n g of our labor force are i m p o r t a n t if A m e r i c a
is to m e e t the c o m p e t i t i t i v e c h a l l e n g e s of the future.
doing,"

"Learning by

"hands on e x perience," and "employee d e v e l o p m e n t " are not

just b u z z w o r d s to att r a c t p o t e n t i a l emplo y e e s but are cru c i a l to
an i n c r e a s e in p r o d u c t i v i t y and output.
The m i n i m u m wage, however,

is d e p r i v i n g u n s k i l l e d labor of the

o p p o r t u n i t y to e n t e r the labor market.

The door to b u s i n e s s and

f u r t h e r d e v e l o p m e n t is closed to y o u t h w h o can not c o n v i n c e emplo y e r s
tha t they are w o r t h at least the m i n i m u m wage.
I am p l e a s e d that these he a r i n g s are being held.

O v e r the

l ast few y e a r s we have ra i s e d the pu b l i c awa r e n e s s of the need for
i n c r e a s e d c a pital formation.
portant corrollary —

N o w we m u s t do the same for the i m ­

a m o r e ski l l e d labor force.

T o g e t h e r these

two d e v e l o p m e n t s wi l l increase p r o d u c t i v i t y and w i l l bri n g risi n g
l iv i n g s t a n d ards to all Americans.




8

Senator B e n t s e n . Our witnesses today are F. Karl Willenbrock.
Cecil H. Green professor of engineering at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, who is appearing on behalf of the American
Electronics Association; Sheldon Weinig, president of Materials
Research Corp. of Orangeburg, N.Y., and W. Paul Cooper, vice
chairman of the board of the National Machine Tool Builders’ Associa­
tion. Welcome, gentlemen.
Mr. Willenbrock, we will start with your testimony, please.
STATEMENT OF F. KARL WILLENBROCK, CECIL H. GREEN PRO­
FESSOR OF ENGINEERING, SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND A P ­
PLIED SCIENCE, SOUTHERN METHODIST U N IVER SITY, DALLAS,
TEX., ON BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION

Mr. W i l l e n b r o c k . Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. My name is
F. Karl Willenbrock. I am Cecil II. Green professor of engineering at
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Tex.
I have a brief biographical sketch which indicates my activities in
engineering education, engineering practice, and engineering profes­
sional societies. For 6 years I was Director of the Institute for Applied
Technology of the National Bureau of Standards; I have also served
as a consultant to many industrial companies.
I am appearing before you this morning on behalf of the American
Electronics Association. AEA is a trade association of more than 1,500
electronics companies in 43 States. The members manufacture elec­
tronics components and systems or supply products and services in the
information processing industries. While their companies employ more
than a million Americans and include some of the Nation’s largest
companies, more than half of the association’s members are small
companies that employ fewer than 200 people.
I am a member of AEA’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Engineering
Education, chaired by William J. Perry, former U.S. Under Secretary
of Defense for Research and Engineering. The members of this com­
mittee are attached to my prepared statement along with an AEA
document entitled “ Planting the Engineering Seed Corn” which, with
your permission, I am submitting these for the record as part of my
testimony.
Senator B e n t s e n . Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. W i l l e n b r o c k . Thank y o u .
Mr. Vice Chairman, as you know, electronics is one of America’s
most economically important high technology industries. Growing at a
phenomenal annual rate of 17 percent for the last 10 years, electronics
companies now have total sales of $200 billion and employ 1.5 million
people. Electronics, on which both computer and communications
systems are based, is part of the information technology sector which
alone accounts for 45 percent of the GNP.
I am pleased to be able to testify on AEA’s behalf today, as I
share their concern over the growing shortage of skilled labor—
especially of engineers and technicians—which threatens the electron­
ics industry’s ability to continue to grow, and which also erodes
our country’s ability to remain at the forefront of many technologies.
As the Nation’s largest association of electronics companies,
i\EA is deeply concerned about the shortage of technicial personnel.
Its board of directors appointed a blue ribbon committee to study




9

the availability of technical personnel, determine the extent and
causes of the perceived shortage, and recommend a plan for industry
action to remedy it. Toward this end, AEA conducted a national
survey of its members, asking them to project their technical work­
force needs in 21 job categories through 1985.
Data were received from 671 respondents to the AEA questionnaire.
The participating companies reflect a broad cross section of the
electronics industry by product line, company size, annual sales,
and geographical distribution. The respondents represent approxi­
mately a half million employees and a combined annual sales volume
of approximately $77.7 billion. This sample is representative of
the entire U.S. electronics industry. The 671 respondents, roughly
one-third the entire industry, project a need oyer the next 5 years
for; an additional 113,098 technical professionals in eight job
categories, an average of 168 per respondent and an increase over
current staff of 76 percent; an additional 140,002 technical paraprofessionals in 13 job categories, an average of 208 per respondent
and an increase over current staff of 102 percent.
The projected percentage growth in each of the 21 job categories
is detailed on a chart from a 200-page report entitled “ Technical
Employment Projections, 1981-1983-1985,” which gives the details
of the survey made. A copy of the report has been supplied to the
staff of the subcommittee.
Extrapolating the collected data to the entire electronics industry
and focusing on the electrical and computer science areas shows
a projected demand for some 199,000 new electrical and computer
science engineers by 1985. However, the projections through 1985
for degrees to be awarded in these two fields from all U.S. colleges
and universities indicate some 70,000 new bachelor of science electrical
and computer science graduates. The shortfall between supply
and demand of bachelor of science electrical and computer science
projects to 129,000 or 25,000 annually. To meet just the needs of
electronics industry alone, the engineering schools would have to
triple their output of EE and CS engineers each year for the next
5 years. This statement does not take into account the needs of other
engineering-intensive industries.
It is apparent that no such dramatic increase will occur. In some
cases leading engineering schools are decreasing their enrollments
because they do not feel they can provide their students with an
educational experience of adequate quality. In other schools, students
are being delayed in their completion of the 4-year program, because
they are not able to obtain entry into required courses with the
result that a longer time is needed to complete a baccalaureate
degree program.
Engineering shortages pose a particular dilemma for defense con­
tractors. When the President was asked recently by reporters where
companies would find technical workers if the defense budget passes,
his optimistic reply was “ give industry the money and it will find
the people.” Yet to win defense dollars company proposals must
demonstrate that competent technical talent is already on board or
“ at hand.” Alack of engineers prevents many companies from bidding
altogether.
Companies which now have defense contracts are experiencing
difficulty in staffing existing vacancies. The Department of Defense




10
has great difficulty in hiring and retaining civilian as well as military
engineers. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon re­
cently announced that “ because of a shortage of engineers at Vandentuig Air Force Base in California, there will be a 14-month delay
in launching the first military payloads aboard the Space Shuttle.”
Japan picduces 163 engineering graduates per million population,
and the Soviet Union 260 per million. The United States produces only
67 per million—actually dropping from production of 88 per million
in 1970. Comparisons with the U.S.S.R. are difficult because of the
diffeiences between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. educational systems.
However, an SRI international report, referenced in the attached
document, entitled “ The Education and Employment of Scientists
and Engineers in the United States and U.S.S.R.” by Katherine
P. Ailes and Franchis W. Rushing, published May 1981, concludes
that although the United States has nearly three times the number
of students enrolled in higher educational institutions, the Soviet
Union graduates almost six times as many technical specialists at
the undergraduate level as does the United States.
In the U.S.S.R. it is probable that there is inferior instruction
with respect to approximately one-third of the engineering graduates
who are enrolled on a part-time basis. It should also be noted that
approximately 70 percent of the Soviet graduate students are enrolled
in science and engineering fields. This compares to U.S. science and
engineering enrollments of approximately 20 percent in 1976, of
which only one-quarter are in engineering.
Japan has approximately half the population base of the United
States. Yet the Japanese universities graduate more engineering
students at the baccalaureate level than the United States. This dis­
parity is particularly noteworthy in the area of electronics where
the Japanese are graduating almost 4,000 more engineers a year
than the United States and are sharply increasing their rate of pro­
duction. In view of the plan of the Japanese Ministry of International
Trade and Industry [MITI] to concentrate a major effort in computers,
this disparity is of particular concern to the AEA member companies
which include most of the major computer manufacturers.
However, there are a number of positive statements that can be
made about the future supply of engineering talent in the United
States. The most positive is that the demand for engineering education
at the undergraduate level in engineering schools throughout the
United States is higher now than it ever has been and is still increasing.
Most engineering schools also report that the quality of students
requesting engineering education is higher than it ever has been. An
important feature of this demand is that there is the large increase in
the number of women students. Some schools report that 20 to 25
percent of their freshman classes are women. This is a remarkable
change. The percentage of women among the Nation’s more than 1
million engineers is of the order of 1 percent. Since the United States
has a smaller percentage of women engineers than most of the other
industrialized countries except Japan, it is now in the process of catch­
ing up. There is also a growing number of minority students taking
engineering.
The shortage of engineering talent in the United States does not
stem primarily from a lack of students, but rather with the shortage of




11
educational resources to educate them. The colleges of engineering
are accommodating increasing numbers of students, but the shortage of
engineering faculty—some 2,000 to 2,500 faculty positions are open
or 10 to 15 percent of the total—is causing some schools to cut enrollments
to hold down the student-to-facuity ratios. In addition to the faculty
shortage, engineering schools also lack up-to-date laboratory equip­
ment. Much laboratory equipment in current use is 30 to 50 years old.
A deep concern exists among engineering educators about the effect of
too little, too old laboratory facilities on the quality of their education­
al programs. Engineering education requires a balance between
analytical and experimental instruction.
If I may interpolate in my remarks, Mr. Vice Chairman, I recently
learned that the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology,
which is a nationally recognized accreditation body for all engineering
colleges in the United States has noted a significant deterioration of
quality during the last accreditation cycle. They accredit on a yearly
cycle. In last year’s cycle, approximately 50 percent of the schools
obtained full 6-year accreditation for their programs. Previously
6-year accreditation has been up to 70 percent. So the deterioration
is being demonstrated by the fact that the accreditation teams are
finding that the programs are not up to previous standards. Another
fact is that there have been a larger number of programs than ever
before that have been not accredited or have been assigned a “ show
cause” action which indicates they will lose their accreditation in
3 years unless very significant improvements are made.
So the concern about quality is not only something that the engineer­
ing educators are talking about. Rather quality deterioration is
showing up in the accreditation process; this is a very serious indica­
tion of a problem that is being faced by the engineering schools today.
Returning now to the my prepared statement, the faculty shortage
is the most serious problem. It is primarily caused by low academic
salaries compared to industry, by outdated, scarce equipment and
facilities, and by insufficient external research support. But the
teaching shortage is compounded by the sharp decrease in the number
of U.S. post-baccalaureate students undertaking graduate work in
engineering. Increasingly, U.S. engineering students are stopping
their formal education after the B.S. degree. Faced with attractive
industrial job offers in contrast to few low-paying graduate fellow­
ships, students lack the incentives to pursue a Ph. D. to become a
future faculty member. According to the American Association of
Engineering Societies’ Manpower Commission there were 490 fewer
MS/EE’s awarded in 1980 than in 1970, a decrease of 11.8 percent.
There were 356 fewer Ph. D./EE’s awarded in 1980 than in 1970,
a decrease of 40 percent.
Furthermore, according to the AAES, engineering graduate student
ranks are increasingly swelled by foreign students. In 1980, 46.3
percent of all engineering graduate students were foreign students.
Of the foreign students who received Ph. D. electrical engineering
degrees last year, 66 percent were on student visas.
Senator B e n t s e n . H o w does that compare with other countries?
You say that 46 percent of all the engineering graduate students
in our country earning their Ph. D. are foreign nationals on student
visas, and that most of them go home. How does that compare with
the engineering schools of other countries?




12

Mr. W i l l e n b r o c k . It would vary widely from country to country.
In Japan I would expect there would be relatively few foreign students.
There’s a language barrier. The most popular engineering graduate
schools are determined by the language. English is the language of
science and technology, so the engineering schools in the United
States, Canada, and England would have relatively large foreign
student enrollments. In England there’s been a very significant
decrease recently since the Thatcher government has raised the
tuition very significantly for foreign students. Some are coming to
the United States now, because it’s less expensive to complete their
graduate education here.
In Germany and in Swiss universities, there are also large foreign
student populations. I can’t specify other countries. I would say
that the United States probably has the largest number. We are
very effective exporters of some of our engineering knowledge this
way.
Senator B e n t s e n . Maybe we ought to be raising the tuition a
bit ourselves for the foreign students?
Mr. W i l l e n b r o c k . That’s one thing to do. As you know, in most
State unversities you can establish residence in a State after 1 year,
and resident tuition in most State universities is extremely low.
So, actually, the tuition is not a barrier. Living cost is a lot
more expensive.
Most engineering educators feel, however, it is not the increase
in the foreign students, it’s rather the decrease in the American
students that’s the real problem. The percentages of foreign students
has gone up because the American students are decreasing in number.
Educators would much prefer to solve the problem by an increase
in U.S. graduate students.
At the graduate level, the industrial job attractiveness is high.
In essence, the student faces the alternative of a $25,000 a year job
or $5,000 a year fellowship. It’s pretty easy to select the industrial
position, particularly if you’re allowed to get a master’s degree on
a part-time basis at full salary which many companies allow. In­
dustrial companies have made their positions very attractive, and
the universities just can’t keep up with it.
Based on a University of California Davis study which is detailed
on page 21 of the attachment entitled “ Planting the Engineering Seed
Corn,” the projected need for new engineering faculty members—
including positions for expansion and replacements—requires the
addition of approximately 1,000 new professors per year through the
next decade. Yet there will be an annual shortfall of approximately
50 percent, because as well as finding it very difficult to compete with
industry at the baccalaureate level, at the Ph. D. level the competition
is also extremely strong. The result is that most American graduate
students with a Ph. D. degree go to industry and relatively a decreasing
percentage are accepting academic positions.
Now turning to what the companies are doing to combat the
shortage, in recent years electronics companies have been scrambling
for technical talent. The shortages of engineers and technicians in
particular, have driven up the cost of doing business. In many cases,
companies outbid one another for the services of an engineer. Loral
Electronics, for example, pays $5,000 for referral of an engineer with
4 years’ experience. Three Lockheed divisions pay employees $1,000
for each engineer they refer for possible employment.




1 3

Small companies, unable to offer perquisites of tennis courts and
jogging tracks or to spend huge sums on media-splash advertising
and recruitment campaigns as some big companies do, are severely
disadvantaged. Since innovation and accelerated job growth so fre­
quently come from small companies, the effect on them of long-term
shortages is of special concern.
Senator B e n t s e n . I have tried to help resolve that problem by
restoring some of the advantages of stock options so that these small
companies could compete in attracting some of these people from the
larger companies.
Mr. W i l l e n b r o c k . Yes, sir, your efforts in that direction are wellrecognized and well-appreciated. Small companies are very happy
about it. Fve talked to quite a few companies whose executives feel
through stock options they can compete effectively with the large
companies which have many other advantages.
The competition for technical people has created a job-hopping
mentality of technical personnel that is reflected in a high turnover
rate—overall more than 25 percent in the electronics industry. In
several regions of the country such as California, high-priced housing
exacerbates recruitment from other areas and turnover rates escalate.
In Orange County AEA’s 1981 Benchmark survey documented an
annual turnover of the entire work force at 41.5 percent; in Santa
Barbara, 38.4 percent.
AEA is undertaking an aggressive program to increase the avail­
ability of technical personnel. The nine-point plan, recently approved
by the AEA board of directors, is included in the attachment referred
to earlier. It calls for an industrywide standard annual contribution
to engineering colleges equivalent to 2 percent of each company’s
R. & D. expenditures. These contributions in the form of cash grants
for graduate fellowships to encourage students to enter teaching, for
equipment and facilities, et cetera, are expected to produce $30 to
$50 million annually for engineering education.
AEA is also forming Industry Electronics Education Committees
on a regional basis. With the assistance of loaned executives, these
committees will focus on activities such as providing industry employ­
ees to serve as part-time faculty members and encouraging companies
to give sabbaticals so their engineers can serve as full-time visiting
professors.
In addition, AEA is setting up a foundation to receive and disburse
funds for companies that do not wish to give directly to a college or
university on their own. Legislative activity will also be initiated in
selected States to strengthen the support of engineering education in
publicly funded universities—especially relative to engineering faculty
salaries and equipment and facilities budgets.
While we are optimistic that the AEA action program will have a
positive effect on the shortage of engineering personnel, it is clear to
me that a problem of this magnitude will require action on the part of
the Federal Government as well. I would like to indicate my own view
of some of the approaches within which solutions should be sought.
First, the connections between industry and universities in the
United States should be strengthened. An undesirable side effect of
the availability of Federal funding for research since World War II
has been separation of the university engineering and scientific com­
munities from those in industry. These communities have much to
learn from each other.

90-376

0 - 8 2 - 2




1 4

Industrial companies can gain much mobilizing the capabilities of
the faculty/graduate student research team on topics of importance
to their futures just as the Federal agencies have. In turn, the aca­
demic community can gain from the problem-solving orientation of
the industrial community. Various techniques such as joint research
programs, industry-funded research projects, exchanges of personnel,
and the joint use of equipment should be encouraged. The Federal
Government, through its policies and practices, can facilitate and
enhance the industry/university linkages.
Second, the National Science Foundation should strengthen its
support of engineering with respect to both its research and education
programs. Over the last three decades, the Foundation has developed
the ability to work with and influence the programs of the Nation’s
universities. It should also strengthen its ties to the technologybased industrial sector whose activities relate so directly to the
health of the Nation’s scientific and technical enterprise. The Founda­
tion should continue to explore new ways to encourage universities
and industrial companies to combine their efforts in mutually sup­
portive ways.
Third, the Department of Defense should take steps to strengthen
the engineering education system upon which its industrial suppliers
and military services depend. In its buildup of the defensive strength
of the United States, the DOD is highly dependent on the avail­
ability of an adequate number of technical personnel of appropriate
skills, not only in the industrial sector, but also in the military services
and in the civilian work force.
I was very interested in some testimony given last month
by Gen. Robert Marsh, who is the Commander of the Air Force
Systems Command, before the House Science and Technology
Committee. lie gave some numbers which were pretty startling
as to the shortages of technical personnel both in the military and
civilian ranks for the Air Force. These shortages are impending
their ability to accomplish the task that they have before them.
Mr. Vice Chairman, it is both through cooperative efforts, as
well as the individual initiatives on the part of the industrial, academic,
and governmental communities that specific means can be found
for increasing the quality and quantity of the Nation’s technical
personnel. According to an NSF 1977 study, the high technology
industries have twice the productivity, triple the real growth, six
times fewer price increases, and nine times more employment gain
than low technology industries. The electronics industry, a leader
in high technology, is proud of its past growth and is confident that
if the human technical resources are available, it can continue its
rapid progress.
Thank you. I will be happy to respond to any questions you have.
Senator B e n t s e n . I will have several questions, but I would like
to hear the balance of the testimony first before moving to the
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Willenbrock, together with the
attachments referred to, follows:]




1 5

Pr e p a r e d

St a t e m e n t

of

F.

Ka r l Wi l l e n b r o c k

Mr. Chairman, and members o f th is distinguished Committee, my
name i s F. Karl Willenbrock. I am C ecil H. Green Professor o f Engi­
neering at Southern Methodist U niversity.
Attached to my testimony i s a b re if biographical sketch which
indicates my a c t iv it ie s in engineering education, engineering prac­
t ic e , and engineering professional s o c ie tie s .

For six years I was

Director o f the In stitu te o f Applied Technology of the National
Bureau o f Standards; I have also served as a consultant to many
in du strial companies.
I am appearing before you th is morning on behalf o f the Ameri­
can Electronics A ssociation. AEA i s a trade Association o f more
than 1,500 electron ics companies in 43 s ta te s. The members manufac­
ture electro n ics components and systems or supply products and ser­
vices in the information processing in d u stries. While th eir compa­
nies employ more than a m illion Americans and include some of the
n a tio n 's la rg est companies, more than h alf of the A sso cia tio n 's mem­
bers are small companies that employ fewer than 200 people.
I am a member of AEA's Blue Ribbon Committee on Engineering
Education, chaired by Dr. William J. Perry, former U.S. Undersecre­
tary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The members o f th is
committee are lis te d at the end o f my testimony along with an AEA docu­
ment en title d "Planting the Engineering Seedcorn" which, with your
permission I am submitting for the record as part of my testimony.
Mr. Chairman, as you know electro n ics is one of America's most
economically important high technology in d u stries. Growing at a
phenomenal rate o f 17% for the la s t ten years, electro n ics companies
have to ta l sales of $200 b illio n and employ 1.5 m illion people.
Electronics, on which both computers and communications systems are
based, i s part o f the information technology sector which alone
accounts for 46% of the GNP.




16

I am pleased to be able to t e s t if y on AEA's behalf today, as
I share th eir concern over the growing shortage o f sk ille d labor—
esp ecially o f engineers and technicians— which* threatens the e le c ­
tronics in d u stries' a b ilit y to continue to grow, and which also
erodes our country's a b ilit y to remain at the forefron t o f many
technologies.
AEA'S SURVEY OF TECHNICAL EMPLOYMENT NEEDS
As the n ation 's la rg est association of electron ics companies,
AEA is deeply concerned about the shortage o f technical personnel.
I t ' s Board o f Directors appointed a Blue Ribbon Committee to study
the a v a ila b ility o f technical personnel, determine the extent and
causes of the perceived shortage, and recommend a plan for industry
action to remedy i t .
Towards th is end, AEA conducted a national sur­
vey o f i t s members, asking them to project th eir technical workforce
needs in 21 job categories through 1985.
Data were received from 671 respondents to the AEA questionnaire.
The participatin g companies r e f le c t a broad cross-sectio n o f the
electron ics industry by product lin e , company s iz e , annual sa les,
and geographical d istrib u tio n . The respondents represent approximately
a h a lf m illion employees and a combined annual sales volume of
approximately $77.7 b i lli o n . This sample i s representative of the
en tire U.S. electron ics industry. The 671 respondents, roughly
one-third the entire industry, project a need over the next fiv e
years fo r:

(L>
© an additional 113,098 technical professionals i n s i g h t
job categories (an average o f 168 per respondent and an
increase over current s t a f f o f 76%),
o an additional 14 0,002 technical paraprofessionals in 13
job categories (an average o f 208 per respondent and an
increase over current s t a f f of 102%).
The projected percentage growth in each of the 21 job categories is
detailed on the chart attached to th is testimony.

This chart is de­

rived from a 200-page report e n title d , "Technical Employment Projec­
tio n s, 1981-1983-1985," which gives the d e ta ils of the survey made.
A copy of the report has been supplied to the s t a ff of the subcommittee.




1 7

Extrapolating the collected data to the en tire electro n ics in­
dustry and focusing on the EE/CS areas shows a projected demand for
some 199,000 new e le c t r ic a l (EE) and computer science(CS) engineers
by 1985. However, the projections through 1985 for degrees to be
awarded in these two fie ld s from a l l U.S. colleg es and u n iv e rsitie s
indicate some 70,000 new BS/EE and BS/CS graduates. The sh o r tfa ll
between supply and demand o f BS/EE & CS engineers projects to 129,000
or 25,000 annually.

To meet ju st the needs o f electro n ics industry

alone, the engineering schools would have to t r ip le th eir output of EE
and CS engineers each year for the next fiv e years. This statement
does not take into account the needs of other engineering-intensive
in du stries.
I t i s apparent that no such dramatic increase w ill occur.

In

some cases leading engineering schools are decreasing th eir en ro ll­
ments because they do not fe e l they can provide th eir students with
an educational experience o f adequate q u a lity .
In other schools,
students are being delayed in th eir completion o f the four-year pro­
gram because they are not able to obtain entry in to •required courses
with the re su lt that a longer time i s needed to complete a bacca­
laureate degree program.
DAMAGE TO THE NATION'S DEFENSE
Engineering shortages pose a particular dilemma for defense con­
tra cto rs.

When the President was asked recently by reporters where

companies would find technical workers i f the defense budget passes,
his optim istic reply was "give industry the money and i t w ill find
the peop le." Yet to win defense d o lla rs company proposals must
demonstrate that competent technical talen t is already on board or
"a t hand." A lack of engineers prevents many companies from bidding
altogether.
Companies which now have defense contracts are experiencing
d i f fi c u lt y in sta ffin g existin g vacancies. The Department of Defense
has great d if fic u lt y in hiring and retaining c iv ilia n as well as
m ilitary engineers. According to the Wall Street Journal, the
Pentagon recently announced that "because of a shortage of engineers
at Vandenburg Air Force Base in C alifo rn ia, there w ill be a fourteen
month delay in launching the f i r s t m ilitary payloads aboard the space
s h u tt le ."




1 8

TECHNICAL MANPOWER GAINS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Japan produces 163 engineering graduates per m illio n population,
and the Soviet Union 260 per m illio n . The United States produces only
67 per m illio n — a ctu ally dropping from production o f 88 per m illion
in 1970. Comparisons with the USSR are d i f f i c u lt because o f the d i f ­
ferences between the USSR and the US educational systems. However an
SRI international report, referenced in the attached document in May,
1981, en title d "The Education and Employment o f S c ie n tists and Engi­
neers in the US and USSR" by Katherine P. A ile s and Francis W. Rushing
concludes that although the United States has nearly three times the
number o f students enrolled in higher educational in s titu tio n s , the
Soviet Union graduates almost six times as many technical s p e c ia lists
a t the undergraduate le v e l as does the United S tates.
In the USSR i t
i s probable that there i s in fe rio r instruction with respect to approx­
imately one-third o f the engineering graduates who are enrolled on a
part-tim e b a sis.
I t should also be noted that approximately 70% of
the Soviet graduate students are enrolled in science and engineering
f i e ld s .

This compares to U.S. science and engineering enrollments

o f approximately 20% in 1976, o f which only one-quarter are in engi­
neering.
Japan has approximately h a lf the population base o f the United
S ta tes. Yet the Japanese u n iv e rsitie s graduate more engineering
students at the baccalaureate le v e l than the United S ta tes. This
d isp arity is pa rticu la rly noteworthy in the area o f electron ics where
the Japanese are graduating almost four thousand more engineers a
year than the United States and are sharply increasing th eir rate of
production.
In view o f the plan o f the Japanese M inistry o f Interna­
tio n al Trade and Industry (MITI) to concentrate a major e f fo r t in
computers, th is disp arity i s o f particu lar concern to the AEA member
companies which include most of the major computer manufacturers.
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
However, there are a number o f p o sitiv e statements that can be
made about the future supply o f engineering talen t in the United
States.

The most p o sitiv e is that the demand for engineering educa­

tion at the undergraduate le v e l in engineering schools throughout
the United States is higher now than i t ever has been and is s t i l l




1 9

increasing. Most engineering schools also report that the quality
of students requesting engineering education is higher than i t ever
has been. An important feature o f th is demand is that there i s the
large increase in the number o f women students. Some schools report
that 20 to 25% o f th eir freshman c la sses are women. This is a re­
markable change. The percentage o f women among the n ation 's more
than one m illion engineers is o f the order o f 1%. Since the United
States has a smaller percentage o f women engineers than most o f the
other indu strialized countries except Japan, i t is now in the process
o f catching up.

There i s also a growing number o f minority students

taking engineering.
CAUSES OF THE U.S. ENGINEERING PERSONNEL SHORTAGE
The shortage of engineering talen t in the U.S. does not stem
primarily from a lack of students but rather with the shortage o f
educational resources to educate them. The colleg es o f engineering
are accommodating increasing numbers o f students, but the shortage
of engineering facu lty— some 2,000 to 2,500 or 10%-to-15% of the
t o t a l— i s causing some schools to cut enrollments to hold down the
stu d en t-to -facu ity r a tio s .
In addition to the facu lty shortage,
engineering schools also lack up-to-date laboratory equipment. Much
laboratory equipment in current use i s 30 to 50 years o ld . A deep
concern e x is ts among engineering educators about the e ffe c t of too l i t t l e , too-old laboratory f a c i l i t i e s on the qu ality o f their
educational programs. Engineering education requires a balance
between an a ly tica l and experimental in stru ction .
The facu lty shortage is the most serious problem.
I t is primar­
i ly caused by low academic. sa la ries compared to industry, by outdated,
scarce equipment and f a c i l i t i e s , and by in s u ffic ie n t external research
support. But the teaching shortage i s compounded by the sharp decrease
in the number o f U.S. post-baccalaureate students undertaking graduate
work in engineering.
Increasingly U.S. engineering students are stop­
ping their formal education a fter the BS degree. Faced with a ttra c­
tive in du strial job o ffe r s in contrast to few low-paying graduate
fellow ships, the incentives are lacking to pursue a Ph.D. to become
a future faculty member. According to the American Association of
Engineering S o c ietie s' Manpower Commission there were 4 90 fewer MS/EEs
awarded in 1980 than in 197 0, a decrease of 11.8%.




There were 356

20

fewer PhD/EEs awarded in 1980 than in 1970 a decrease of 40%.
Furthermore, according to the AAES, the engineering graduate stu­
dents ranks are increasingly swelled by foreign students.

In 1980,

46.3% of all engineering graduate students were foreign students.
Of the foreign students who received Ph.D/EE degrees last year, 66%
were on student visas.
country.

Most of these students return to their home

Based on a UC Davis study which is detailed on page 21 of the
attached document, the projected need for new engineering faculty
members— including positions for expansion and replacements— requires
the addition of approximately 1,000 new professors per year through
the next decade.
mately 50%.

Yet there will be an annual shortfall of approxi­

COMPANY EFFORTS TO COMBAT THE SHORTAGE
In recent years, electronics companies have been scrambling for
technical talent.

The shortages of engineers and technicians in parti­

cular, have driven up the cost of doing business. In many cases,
companies outbid one another for the services of an engineer. Loral
Electronics, for example, pays $5,000 for referral of an engineer
with four years' experience. Three Lockheed divisions pay employees
$1,000 for each engineer they refer for possible employment.
Small companies, unable to offer perquisites of tennis courts
and jogging tracks or to spend huge sums on media-splash advertising
and recruitment campaigns as some big companies do, are severely
disadvantaged. Since innovation and accelerated job growth so fre­
quently come from small companies, the effect on them of long-term
shortages is of special concern. The competition for technical people
has created a job-hopping mentality of technical personnel that is
reflected in a high turnover rate— overall more than 25% in the
electronics industry. In several regions of the country such as
California high-priced housing exacerbates recruitment from other areas
and turnover rates escalate.

In Orange County AEA's 1981 Benchmark

survey documented an annual turnover of the entire workforce at 41.5%;
in Santa Barbara, 38.4%.




21

A E A's P R OGRAM TO COM B A T THE SHORTAGE
AEA is undertaking an agressive program to increase the avail­
ability of technical personnel. The 9-point plan, recently approved
by the AEA Board of Directors, is included in the document attached.
It calls for an industry wide standard annual contribution to engi­
neering colleges equivalent to 2% of each company's R&D expenditures.
These contributions in the form of cash grants for graduate fellow­
ships to encourage students to enter teaching, for equipment and
facilities, etc. are expected to produce $30 to $50 million annually
to engineering education.
AEA is also forming Industry Electronics Education Committees
on a regional basis. With the assistance of loaned executives, these
Committees will focus

on activities,.such as providing industry em­

ployees to serve as part-time faculty members and encouraging companies
to give sabbaticals so their engineers can serve as full-time visiting
professors.
In addition, AEA is setting up a foundation to receive and dis­
burse funds for companies that do not wish to give directly to a
college or university on their own.

Legislative activity will also

be initiated in selected .states to strengthen the support of engineering
education in publicly funded universities— especially relative to
engineering faculty salaries and equipment and facilities budgets.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL
While we are optimistic that the AEA action program will have
a positive effect on the shortage of engineering personnel, it is
clear to me that a problem of this magnitude will require action
on the part of the federal government as well. I would like to
indicate my own view of some of the approaches within which solutions
should be sought.
First, the connections between industry and universities in the
U.S. should be strengthened. An undesirable side-eff zt of the availbility of federal funding for research since World War II has been jU
separation of the university engineering and scientific communities
from those in industry. These communities have much to learn from each
other. Industrial companies can gain much by mobilizing the capabili­
ties of the faculty/graduate student research team on topics of impor­
tance to their futures just as the federal agencies have.

In turn,

the academic community can gain from the problem-solving orientation
of the industrial community.




Various techniques such as joint re-

22

search programs, industry-funded research projects, exchanges of
personnel, and the joint use of equipment should be encouraged.

The

Federal Government, through its policies and practices, can facilitate
and enhance the industry university linkages.
Second, The National Science Foundation should strengthen its
support of engineering with respect to both its research
education
programs. Over the last three decades the Foundation has developed
the ability to work with and influence the programs of the nation's
universities. It should also strengthen its ties to the technology-based
industrial sector *<hose activities relate so directly to the health
of the nation's scientific and and technical enterprise.

The Foundation

should continue to explore new ways to encourage universities and
industrial companies to combine their efforts in mutually supportive
ways.
Third, the Department of Defense should take steps to strengthen
the engineering education system upon which its industrial suppliers
and military services depend.

In its build-up of the defensive

strength.fof the United States, the DOD is highly dependent on the
availability of an adequate number of technical personnel of appropriate
skills, not only in the industrial sector, but also in the military
services and in the civilian work force.
Mr. Chairman, it is both through the cooperative efforts, as well
as the individual initiatives on the part of the industrial, academic,
and governmental communities that specific means can be found for
increasing the quality and quantity of the nation's technical personnel.
According to a 1977 study, the high technology industries have twice the
productivity, triple the real growth, six times fewer price increases,
and nine times more employment, than low technology industries. The
electronics industry, a leader in high technology, is proud of its
past growth and is confident that if the human technical resources are
available, it can continue its rapid progress.
Thank you.
have
Attachments,




I will be happy to respond to any questions you

2 3

American Electronics Association
Government Operations Office

AEA

1612 K Street N.W.
Washington. D.C. 20006
(202) 659-9416

AEA BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ON ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Committee Chairman
Dr. William J. Perry, Partner
Hambrecht and Quist
Dr. Richard Atkinson, Chancellor
University of California, San Diego
Dr. Joseph A. Boyd, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Harris Corporation
John M. Fluke, Chairman
John Fluke Manufacturing Company, Inc.
Dr. C. Lester Hogan, Director and Consultant
Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation
Dr. Robert N. Noyce, Vice Chairman
Intel Corporation
Dr. Joseph Pettit, President
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Allen E. Puckett, Chairman
Hughes Aircraft
Ray Stata, Chairman and President
Analog Devices, Inc.
Dr. Dean A. Watkins, Chairman
Watkins-Johnson Company
Dr. Karl Willenbrock, Green Professor of Engineering
Southern Methodist University
John A. Young, President and Chief Executive Officer
Hewlett-Packard Company







24

UNITED STATES: AEA DATA ONLY
Projected Growth as Percentage of Total
1981-1985

25

Planting The Engineering Seed Corn

‘‘Academicians compare industry’s appetite for BSE
graduates to that of starving American Indians of long
ago who, to survive the winter, ate the seed corn
needed to plant next year’s crop. ”




26

INTRODUCTION

The American Electronics Association's 1981 Board of Directors appointed
a select group of industry executives and educational leaders to a Blue
Ribbon Committee on Engineering Education.

The committee's charge has

been to study the problem of engineer shortages, certify its existence
and degree, identify the major barriers, and recommend a plan for
Association action.
On September 15, 1981, AEA's Board approved the following nine-point plan
for both short- and long-term redress.

A white paper, which outlines the

significance of the problem and points toward major causes, is included
to provide a philosophical framework to view the direction of remedy
the Association will take.
Because of the changing nature of the problem, industry will need to work
to solve it for the "long haul."
down the way.

Other areas will clearly need attention

For example, although an adequate supply of qualified

engineering students now exists, changing demographics will cause a reduc­
tion in the applicant pool and a change in its composition to include more
females and minorities and fewer white males.

Increased career counseling

and math and science "outreach" programs, therefore, will need to be aimed
at females and minority high school students.

Moreover, the increasing

shortage of math and science teachers at the secondary school level, already
at a danger point, will predictably reach crisis stage if something does
not turn it around soon.
There is engineering seed corn still in the U.S. silos.

The electronics in­

dustries just need to make a decision to pay the high cost to buy and plant it.




Pat Hill Hubbard, Manager
Engineering Education

One of America's fastest-growing and most economically-prized high tech­
nology industries is electronics.

Young and dynamic, electronics has had

a phenomenal annual growth rate of 17 percent during the past d ecadeJ
Sales of

electronic products by 100 of the major companies reached $152

billion in 1980,

2

to $200 billion.

bringing the total sales for the larger industry close
A 1981 Panel on Computing and Higher Education quotes

a Commerce Department report that says information technology accounts
for 46% of the GNP, and computer sales alone bring a $6 billion balance
3

of trade surplus.

The promise of electronics to continue improving the quality of life is
threatened by the growing shortage of computer software (CS) and electrical/
electronic (EE) engineers.

Like critical pieces of technological DNA,

engineers are the building blocks of electronics.




28

AEA ENGINEERING EDUCATION PROGRAM
PROGRAM GOAL:

To significantly increase the quantity of engineers while
maintaining educational quality.

Problem Statement: An increasing national shortage of engineers threatens
to limit the growth of high technology and negatively impact the economic
and political leadership of the United States, as well as the continued
health and expansion of the electronics industries.
Extent of the Problem:

A shortfall exists between supply of engineering

graduates and projected industry demands for engineers.

The shortfall for

the electronics industries alone projects to 25,000 EE/CS baccalaureate
engineers annually through 1985.

Engineering colleges will need to step up

output immediately to meet the needs.
Causes of the Problem at the Undergraduate Level: The shortage of BS degrees
is primarily due to a lack of resources, especially faculty, of engineering
colleges to handle the oversupply of qualified students.
Degree of Undergraduate Problem:

Roughly, only 1 of every 3 qualified

applicants is admitted to undergraduate engineering programs because
of limited resources.

Enrollments, while up 7.2% from a year ago,

are straining educational capacity, threatening the quality of
education, and lessening the attractiveness of teaching as a career.
In response, many colleges are limiting or contracting enrollments,
raising admissions requirements, increasing class sizes, etc.
o

Laboratory equipment, now 20 to 30 years old, is outdated and
in short supply; little is available to teach "new technologies."

o

Lab and classroom facilities need upgrading and are in short
supply; increased numbers of students will create extra "wear
and tear."




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29
o

10%-to-l5% or 2,000 to 2,500 engineering faculty positions are
unfilled.

Faculty vacancies are nearly 50% in solid-state

electronics, computer engineering, and digital systems.

Faculty

shortages make teaching unattractive (larger classes, longer
hours) and affect educational quality.
Causes of the Problem at the Graduate Level:

The shortage of MS and Ph.D

degrees awarded to U.S. citizens is due to an undersupply of graduate
students.

After the BS degree students are attracted to jobs with high

starting salaries in industry.

Incentives to become faculty members

(requiring Ph.D) are poor.
Degree of Graduate Problem:

400 fewer MS/EE degrees were granted in

1980 (total of 3,740) than in 1970 (total of 4,150).

350 fewer Ph.D/EE

degrees were granted in 1980 (total of 532) than in 1970 (total of 873).
U.S. citizens received 76.5% or 2,859 MS/EEs awarded in 1980.
U.S. citizens received 67.4% or 352 Ph.D/EEs awarded in 1980.
o

Rising tuition costs, low graduate assistance salaries,
fewer graduate fellowships, and inadequate facilities make
BS-level industry salaries much more attractive than graduate
study.

o

There are actual disincentives to pursuing the education required
for a faculty career:

low academia salaries compared to industry's,

high student-to-faculty ratios, poor quality research and teach­
ing equipment, difficulty in gaining external research funding, etc.
What Needs To Be Done:
Short-term:

Add resources to immediately expand educational capacity.

Long-term:

Add resources to increase the number of Ph.Ds (to do ad­
vanced industry research and to become faculty for tomorrow's
students) and enhance the quality of engineering education.

-

90-376

0 - 8 2 - 3




2-

30
What AEA Can Do
1.

Expanded educational resources
A.

Increase faculty
o AEA adjunct and visiting professors
o AEA teaching "chairs"
o AEA industry consultancies (salary supplements for new
faculty)
o Legislative action to increase engineering and computer
science faculty salaries (public universities)

B.

Increase and upgrade equipment and facilities
o AEA grants
o AEA equipment transfers
o Legislative action to increase equipment/facilities
budgets (public universities)

II.

Increase graduate student supply (more Ph.Ds)
A.

AEA graduate student fellowships

B.

AEA co-op programs

How AEA Can Do It (Mechanisms):
1.

Set an industry-wide standard for giving resources to education:
2% of a company's R&D expenditures.
Such resources can be given directly by the company to the college
or through an AEA foundation.
ways:

They can be given in a variety of

equipment, industry facilities, adjunct/visiting professors,

teaching "chairs," graduate fellowships, general grants of money, etc.
2.

"Spotlight" model industry-university programs to encourage
companies to duplicate them.




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31

3.

Form regional task forces composed of AEA Council Engineering
Education (EE) Committees to work with companies and area colleges.
The engineering shortage is a national problem.

Engineering colleges

produce graduates who are employed all over the United States.

The

mobility question, however, is also focusing increased interest on
area or regionally-located engineering institutions.
AEA's 13 Councils provide a unique organizational structure for
addressing the problem from both a local and a national standpoint.
Ten states produce 58% of the BSEs (all categories).

Four of these

"top 10" have AEA Councils.
Council EE Committees can work with local companies to provide in­
dustry personnel as part-time and/or full-time faculty for area univer­
sities and encourage them to provide additional resources to univer­
sities (money to fund teaching "chairs," graduate fellowships, etc.).
4.

Provide assistance to the regional task forces with loaned industry
executives as "facilitators."
With assistance from AEA Engineering Education staff, loaned industry
executive facilitators can assist AEA Council EE Committees in
various ways, such as: (1) identify the specific needs of the univer­
sities for faculty (background, experience, specialty teaching areas,
etc.); (2) help AEA member companies identify and release qualified
persons to teach part-time or full-time as the need may be;

(3) set

up interviews for selection by the schools; (4) assist fund-raising
efforts to provide salary supplements/"chairs," graduate fellowships,
etc.

In states targeted by AEA for legislative activity during 1982,

loaned executives can assist AEA's Engineering Education and Govern­
ment Affairs staffs to identify issues and generate grass-roots
support as well as industry input to state governments.




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32
5.

Set up an AEA Electronics Education Foundation (EEF) to
publicize and promote the Engineering Education Program
(records of resources given to education, etc.); to advise
and assist companies opting to directly provide resources and
undertake programs (promote 1-to-l, company-to-school relation­
ships); and to accept and disburse resources as requested.

6.

Continue the Blue Ribbon Committee on Engineering Education into
1982 to complete present planning, make the federal government
and the Office of the President aware of the problem and the
need for supportive fiscal and tax policies to solve it, and to
provide "transition11 of program guidance to a Standing Committee.

7.

Establish an AEA Standing Committee to provide assistance to
Engineering Education staff and general guidance in achieving
program goals.

It will report periodically to the Board to make

recommendations as appropriate.
8.

Establish industry lobby-networks in major electronics states
to identify and support issues which will help meet program goals
(increase state budgets for equipment, etc.).

9.

Increase Engineering Education Department staff with 1 full-time
position to assist in program management.

Staffing and additional

travel to facilitate regional task force directions require
addition to current budget.




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an

33

ii

EXTENT OF THE ENGINEERING SHORTAGE
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The growing shortage of engineers on a national scale threatens to
limit the growth of high technology and negatively impact the
continued health and vitality of the United States on economical,
political, and social levels.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
The American Electronics Association's recent nation-wide survey, "Tech­
nical Employment Projections: 1981-83-85," brings hard data to certify the
existence of an engineer shortage (Figure 1

is based on the survey results

and indicates the severity of the problem).

Note that while the SUPPLY

figures are from all U.S. colleges, the DEMAND data is only from the
electronics industries.
The DEMAND figures were calculated by using the survey projections as a
baseline.

The 671 respondents represent $77.7 billion annual sales and

500,000 employees.

As this baseline represents approximately one-third

of the U.S. total, the figures were multiplied by 3 and compounded annually
by 4.98% to account for losses due to promotion into management.

4

The

DEMAND reflects new growth only and does not include replacements due to
retirement, turnover, or death.
The SUPPLY figures were made by using the number of BS degrees awarded in
1980 as baseline.
The BS/EE projections were made using a 2.6% annual compounded growth rate
(ACGR) projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor.
The BS/CS degree figures were reached using a 12.4% ACGR, duplicating a
pattern of 1977-to-1980 degree increases.

All degree projections were

reduced by 20% to account for graduates who do not take jobs in engineering.




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5

34
U.S. ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES
C O M P A R IS O N O F P R O J E C T E D S U P P L Y A N D D E M A N D
E L E C T R IC A L A N D C O M P U T E R E N G IN E E R S

DATA: AM ERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION ©

Figure 1

By 1^85 the electronic industries' total DEMAND for new BS/EE and CS people
projects to be approximately 199,000.
By 1985, total SUPPLY of BS/EE and CS graduates projects to be around
70,000.

Assuming electronics industries--to the exclusion of all other

engineering-intense industries--can aggressively capture all the graduates,
the SUPPLY shortfall by 1985 projects to be around 129,000 or 25,000 annually.
Just to meet the needs of electronics, education must triple its output
of EE and CS engineers each year for the next five years.
Strong demands are validated by other measures as well.
Evans show




Deutsch, Shea, and

no let-down in demand for more than three years:

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35
YEAR
1978

ENGINEERING RECRUITMENT INDEX
139

1979

144

1980

138

1981

140 (Average of Jan. & Feb.)

One Fox-Morris survey showed demand for EEs leaped 18.5% during 1980.^
Another survey by the same group indicated the need for experienced programmers
capable of writing applications software jumped 27.3% since mid-1980.^

The

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) estimates employers will com­
pete heavily for 1981 engineering graduates; by diploma time, 75% with BS
degrees, 73% with MS, and 92% with Ph.Ds will already have jobs.

O

COSTS TO INDUSTRY
In the wake of the shortage there is a scramble for technical talent which
escalates the cost-of-doing-business.

The price for search firm location of

a $30,000 engineer can be as high as $10,000.
finder's fees has increased.

And the practice of offering

Loral Electronics, for instance, pays $5,000

for referral of an engineer with four years experience.

Three Lockheed

divisions pay employees $1,000 for each engineer they refer.

g

Small companies, unable to offer perquisites such as tennis courts and jogging
tracks, and who cannot spend huge sums on media-splash advertising and re­
cruitment campaigns are severely disadvantaged.

Since innovation and accel­

erated job growth historically come from small companies, the effect of
long-term shortages on them is of special concern.
DEFENSE DOLLARS
Engineering shortages pose a dilemma for defense contractors.

President

Reagan was recently asked by the press where he thought companies would
find technical workers if his defense budget passed.

His optimistic reply

was to "give industry the money, and it will find the people."
Yet to win defense dollars, company proposals must demonstrate that competent
technical talent is already on board or "at hand."




-8-

A lack of engineers

36
prevents companies from bidding altogether.

Some companies "bet-on-the-come"

of a defense contract and unnecessarily stockpile people.

This practice

compounds the shortage problem.
Companies which now have defense contracts are experiencing difficulty in
staffing existing vacancies.

Rockwell, with 17,000 engineers on the payroll,

is looking to hire 900 more for 1981.

A company representative expressed

concerns about "losing___ advanced men to retirement," noting that "quality
field replacements are just about impossible to come b y . " ^

The Pentagon

just announced that "because of a shortage of engineers at Vandenberg Air
Force Base in California, there will be a 14-month delay in launching the
first military payloads aboard the space shuttle."^1
With high interest rates compounding some sky-priced rental and housing
markets, the old formula of moving in large numbers of people to fulfill
defense contracts is no longer a given.
mobility question quite serious.

States like California find the

AEA survey data from 313 of the state's

3,500 electronics facilities shows a need through 1985 for new EE/CS level
12
people of 20,557 or 4,111 per year.
A state agency's in-house analysis of
the new national defense budget's effect determined that 700,000 new jobs—
half in manufacturing--are likely to be created in California by 1986 (140,000
per yea r ).

Juxtapose these DEMAND figures against the 2,909 EE/CS graduate

degrees (all levels) awarded by all public and private colleges in the state
in 1980, add the mobility issue, and the problem's magnitude grows.
SOLUTION DOLLARS
Data analysis emphasizes the present shortage

of engineers is likely to be

exacerbated in the next few years unless industry intervenes.

A study of

the causes points strongly toward a money-solution.
Simply throwing a "few bucks" towards education in scattered directions
brings short-term returns
problem.

but may have negligible effects on the larger

Dollars given to colleges which lack understanding of the expanding

need for engineers, whose presidents may reduce the engineering departments'
budgets equal to the amount of industries' gifts, help shore up the educational
system, but do not affect the problem at hand.




-9-

37
ni
CAUSES OF THE ENGINEERING SHORTAGE
STATEMENT OF THE CAUSES
Currently, the shortage in BS graduates is caused by a lack of
resources--most seriously in faculty— of universities to educate the
oversupply of gualified engineering graduates.
The shortage in MS and Ph.Ds is caused by an undersupply of
graduate students resulting primarily from high BS-level in­
dustry salaries and disincentives to enter teaching careers, not
only limiting industry's progress in advanced research, but clearly
reducing the pool from which future faculty come.
ATTITUDES
Some industry people view the cause of undergraduate engineering shortages
as a misal location of resources by university presidents.

Why, they ask,

don't presidents shift money from declining disciplines like English and
move it to expanding ones like engineering?
Education responds to the query in several ways.
because they consider the shortages temporary.

Some oppose resource shifts
Some are unwilling to in­

crease engineering education budgets because of the industry's "fair-weatherfriend" behavior.

Some are unwilling to fight the institutional pressures

involved in terminating tenured professors.

And some fear increased engi­

neering budgets will unbalance curricula and jeopardize their status as
"comprehensive" universities, even when industry provides the additional monies.
Some educators look at the cause of the graduate student shortages--the
pool from which future faculty come--as a result of myopic behavior by in­
dustry.

Academicians compare industry's appetite for BSE graduates to that

of starving American Indians of long ago who, to survive the winter, ate
the seed corn needed to plant the next year's crops.




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38
DECLINING BIRTHRATES
If all these philosophical resistances reverse, one economic constraint
remains.

Declining birthrates predict a substantial decrease in post­

secondary enrollments by 1990 (See Addendum A).

In 1988 there will be

2,130,000 (14.3%) fewer high school students than in 1980.

A decrease in

college enrollments means no tuition revenue increase to pay for great
shifts of student career interests.
THE UNDERGRADUATE SUPPLY
A decade ago, engineers laid off due to space and defense program cut-backs
became a media cause-c'Cllbre.

Year-long reports emphasized job losses.

Rarely was the public's perspective balanced with information that the un­
employment rate for engineers reached only 3.2%, staying but "a brief time
before returning to its normal level of about 1%."

13

The public's long

memory of the engineering "bust" coupled with Vietnam's anti-technology
legacy, therefore, caused young people to avoid engineering careers for
several years.

This is no longer true.

Engineering is the second most

favored career choice of today's high school seniors (see Addendum B,
Figure 1).
Estimates of the applicant-to-admission rate is placed at about 3-to-l.

Dr.

Joseph Pettit, President of Georgia Institute of Technology and a member of
AEA's Blue Ribbon Committee on Engineering Education, states that his college
approves admission for about 1,700 of the approximately 7,000 applicants.
Dr. Richard Atkinson, Chancellor of UC San Diego and also a member of the
AEA Blue Ribbon group, notes the high quality of today's engineering appli­
cants and says his university, like most others, closes admissions doors the
day they open.

Dr. Jay Pinson, Dean of Engineering at San Jose State

University, states he has "a thousand students 'holding' in other departments,
waiting for engineering slots to open."
The schools have accommodated increased numbers of students.

Full-time

engineering undergraduate enrollments in the nation's 287 engineering colleges
and universities are up 7.2% in undergraduate and 7.1% in graduate classes
in fall of 1980 from a year ago.




Freshmen undergraduate engineering enrollments

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39
increased 6.2% from the previous year.

Females and blacks accounted for

14.1% and 5.1% respectively of the freshman class increase.
FOREIGN STUDENTS
Some concern over increased numbers of foreign students in U.S. schools may
be warranted in light of the numbers who return home after graduation and
the pressure their added numbers place on already strained educational
resources.

In 1979, 260,000 foreign students were enrolled in postsecondary

educaton (64% in public institutions). That number represents a 300% in14
crease since 1964
In 1980, 6.8% of the engineering undergraduates were
foreign students, while 46.3% of the engineering graduate students were foreign
students.

The increase of foreign students at the graduate level— from 38.7%

in 1974 to the present 46.3%— does signal a need to do two things: increase the
number of U.S. citizens who pursue graduate study and/or initiate federal
policies which allow foreign graduates to remain in the U.S.
The recent jump in engineering enrollments at all levels, however, comes
primarily from U.S. citizens— not foreign students.

From 1979 to 1980

foreign student undergraduate numbers increased only 0.3% and graduate en­
rollments only 2.4%.

Foreign students in all engineering education fields

in 1980 were 40,774 or 9.4% of the total 433,451.
ENGINEERING FULL-TIME ENROLLMENTS 1945-1980

1945




1950

1955

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

Source: Engineering Manpower Bulletin 58, May 1981
A merican Society of Engineering Education

-1 2 -

40
INCREASE IN UNDERGRADUATE EE AND CS DEGREES
Since 1977 when BS/EE degrees dropped to 9,837, the lowest number since
1970, there has been a steady increase in EE and CS degrees. (See Addendum B,
Figure 2 for EE and CS degrees awarded 1970-1980/all levels):
Year

BS/EEs Awarded

% of Chanqe

1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980

11,291
12,145
12,430
11,844
11,347
10,277
9,954
9,837
10,702
12,213
13,594

4.80%
1.88%
2.35%
-4.71%
-4.20%
-9.43%
-3.14%
-1.18%
8.79%
14.12%
11.31%

BS/CSs Awarded

% of Chanqe
167.31%
25.18%
106.32%
58.22%
27.99%
-17.61%
32.89%
60.80%
20.78%
-2.33%
20.26%

139
174
359
568
727
599
796
1,280
1,546
1,510
1,816

2,303 more BS/EEs were awarded in 1980 than in 1970, an increase of 20.4%
DECREASE IN GRADUATE EE AND CS DEGREES
At the graduate level the data reflects a reverse trend.

490 fewer MS/EEs

were awarded in 1980 (3,660), or 11.8% less than the 4,150 in 1970.

350

fewer Ph.D/EEs were awarded in 1980, (523) or 40% less than 873 in 1970.
Comparing EE graduates of all levels in 1977 with those in 1970 on a per
capita basis, a decrease is evident.
1970

88 EE graduates per one million U.S. population

1977

66 EE graduates per one million U.S. population.^

The sales of electronics products over the last 20 years has increased
six times.

The number of EE graduates has only doubled.

An increase of

only 5% more EE degrees at all levels has taken place during the last decade:
16,944 in 1970 versus 17,777 in 1980.

LIMITATIONS OF EDUCATION'S CAPACITY
Some people point to the recent engineering enrollments as a sign the
shortage is easing.

Indeed the percentage of degreed BS/EEs has been rising

for the last three years.

In 1980, for example, 13,594 BS/EE degrees were

awarded--an 11.3% increase over the previous year.




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41
Assuming the 11.3% degree-growth pattern holds steady for the next five
years, 94,793 BS/EE degrees would be awarded between 1981-1985.

Since only

80% (75,834) is likely to enter the workforce as engineers, these numbers
are still a considerable shortfall to the projected DEMAND for 199,000.
(See Figure 3.)
It takes four-to-five years for an engineering student to receive a
bachelor's degree.

To determine the relationship between total engineering

enrollments (all fields) and the number of BS/EE degrees granted requires
that current degrees awarded be compared with enrollments at least four
years previously.

The 13,594 BS/EE degrees awarded in 1980, for example,

represents 1 degree recipient to every 25 enrol lees or 4.0% of the total
337,801 enrollments four years ago.
BS/EE DEGREES IN RELATION TO ENGINEERING ENROLLMENTS ALL FIELDS

School
Y ear

Engineering
Enrollments
All Fields

Enrollment Increases
Over Previous Year
All Fields

Engineering Enro l l ­
ments in All Fields
Four Years Previously

BS/EE
Degrees
A warded/Year

% of BS/EE Degrees
to Enrollments Four
Years Previously

1975/76

309,553

31,566

9,954-1976

270,153

3.7%

1976/77

337,801

28,248

9,837-1977

263,003

3.7%

1977/78

374,182

36,381

1 0,702— 1978

277,987

3.8%

1978/79

3 96,594

22,412

12,213-1979

309,553

3.9%

1979/80

433,451

36,857

13,594-1980

337,801

4.0%

36,478

[15,130-1981*]

374,182

see note A

1981/82

[580,450**]

[110,521**]

[16,840-1982*]

396,594

see note B

1982/83

[646,050**]

[65,600**]

[18,743-1983*]

433,451

see note C

[20,861-1984*]

469,929

see note D

1980/81

469,929

1983/84
1984/85

........

........

[23,218-1985*]

[580,450**]

[4.0%**]

Notes:
Brackets [ ] indicate projections.
* Degree-projections are based on 11.3% annual growth.
**Engineering enrollment projections assume continuation of the 4% relationship of BS/EE degrees to enrollments
four years previously.
Note A: 15,130 degrees at a 4% relationship of degrees-to-enrollments
have been 378,250. The actual enrollment of 374,182 leaves a
Note B: 16,840 degrees at 4% requires enrollment of 421,000. 396,594
Note C: 18,743 degrees at 4% requires enrollment of 468,575. 433,451
Note D: 20,861 degrees at 4% requires enrollment of 521,525. 469,929




-1 4 -

requires enrollment four years previously to
4,068 student shortfall already.
actual enrollment leaves 24,406 shortfall.
actual enrollment leaves 35,124 shortfall.
actual enrollment leaves 51,596 shortfall.

42
Assuming that the relationship of BS/EE degrees as a percentage of
engineering enrollments in all fields continues as it has in the past few
years, and taking the high point as 4.0%, enrollment will need to reach
580,450 in the coming school year in order to award 23,218 BS/EE degrees
in 1985 (at 11.3% annual BS/EE growth).
110,521 students.

This will require an increase of

(See Figure 3.)

Unless substantially more engineering students choose electrical engineering
majors or unless more who now major in it get

degrees, maintaining an 11.3%

annual increase of BS/EE degrees will require annual enrollment increases
ranging from 65,000 to 110,000.
These increases are unlikely for two reasons.

One is history.

The largest

enrollment increase in the past five years occurred between school years
1978/79 and 1979/80 —

36,857.

As a recent article in the Wall Street Journal

notes, engineering schools are "already at capacity" and "crowded schools
can't increase enrollment further___ some are even cutting b a c k . " ^
The second is demographics.

Declining numbers of high school students over

the next decade (see Addendum D) will reduce college enrollments, making
even the present 36,000+ increase a challenge to maintain.
The strain placed on educational resources by extra numbers of students
sets up a "capacity" factor.

This "educational bottom line," combined with

a diminishing high school population, makes the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
2.6% projection for EE degree-growth understandable and calls for caution
in thinking enrollment increases alone are going to provide an answer.
Increasingly educators voice concern as the extra students push resources
beyond capacity.

They warn that a decline in quality may result.

A 1980 University of New Orleans (UNO) study of 100 engineering schools
provides insight into the enrollment-quality relationship (see Addendum C,
Figure 1).

66% of the respondent schools felt enrollment was so high that

it posed an immediate problem and handled it in a variety of ways.
*

45% (23 out of 51) increased the GPA requirements for transfer
students




-15-

43
*

37% (21 out of 56) increased the GPA required of new students
•(
entering engineering

*

13% (6 out of 44) increased the prerequisite classes - upper or

*

71% (28 out of 39) reported taking no steps to limit enrollment.

lower division

(

A Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) survey of 15
western engineering schools recently revealed that "most will have to limit
enrollments within the next few years; a few of the larger universities are al­
ready operating under legislatively imposed university-wide enrollment ceilings."^
The present situation in engineering undergraduate education is characterized
by plenty of students, but too few resources to educate them without risking
a loss in quality.
OUTDATED EQUIPMENT
John Fluke, President of John Fluke Manufacturing and a member of AEA's
Blue Ribbon Committee, recently commented that on a visit to his alma mater
he found some of the lab equipment he had trained on fifty years ago still
in use.
According to an ASEE assessment, the engineering teaching equipment found
in most university labs is 20-30 years old and equipment to teach new
18 •
New technological pro­

"growth technologies" is almost non-existent.

cesses, demanding sophisticated and costly equipment, have sky-rocketed the
cost of teaching laboratories.

Ohio State estimates installation of modern

design equipment at $3 million plus 15% annual maintenance.
The Association of Independent Colleges estimated in 1978 that calculating
6.5 years as the useful life of instructional equipment, $1,500 per year
per engineering baccalaurate degree would be needed to keep equipment upto-date.

19 Applying this formula to last year's BS/EE graduates brings the

annual price tag for electrical engineering teaching equipment alone to
$20 million.
A distinction should be noted between research and teaching equipment
money sources.




Grants and contracts largely pay for research equipment.

-16-

44
Academic budgets and industry gifts are a primary source for instructional
equipment.

Few colleges can afford expensive CAD/CAM and integrated circuit

technology teaching equipment and students will graduate without training
in these important areas.
Industry requires modern equipment to compete in the marketplace with stateof-the-art technology.

As a result, the "ivory research towers" are on

industry land today and attract students who might formerly have chosen
graduate study and even teaching careers.
OUTDATED FACILITIES
Like equipment, most engineering labs and classrooms are now 30 years old.
Federal money to build facilities has come in pennies over the last 20 years.
Inflation, OSHA regulations, and laws requiring building accommodations for
the handicapped have compounded universities' inability to provide money
for upgrade, repair, or expansion of their teaching plants.
STATE ACTION
A few states are awakening to the resource shortage within their public
postsecondary schools.

They have begun funneling. state funds into engineer­

ing education.
*

University of Wyoming is spending $18 million on engineering
facilities expansion.

*

New Mexico recently funded a new engineering building at New
Mexico State University and allocated $5 million a year for up­
grading science and engineering at all state universities.

*

At Arizona State University a five-year $32 million dollar
program to establish an electronic and computer "center of
excellence" by adding new facilities, equipment and a 63% faculty

.

.

increase is in process.
*

21

The North Carolina General Assembly just allocated $24.4 million
for the construction of a micro-electronics center.

The North

Carolina center will draw resources from five universities, a
community college system, and the Research Triangle's private
industries.




22

-17-

20

45
*

C a lifo rn ia
H a ll

N atio n ally ,
about

however,

$40 m i l l i o n

much

throughput"

of

the

shortage.

Of the
to

are

c lo se r

Why a r e

p eop le

(13

of

out

160)

an e s t i m a t e

of

to

to

to

im prove

be d o n e .

update

la b

UC B e r k e l e y ' s

Cory

ASEE

equ ip m e nt

e stim a te s

it

and m o d e rn iz e

w ill

take

c la ssro o m s.

23

F A C U L TY SH O R T A G ES

students,

some 2 0 , 0 0 0

p resen tly

com puter e n g in e e r in g ,
shortage

m illio n

equ ip m e nt and

e ngin ee rin g

n a t io n 's

2,500

to

P RO B L EM -

to o -1 ittle -to o -o ld

fa cu lty

$2.6

rem a in s

per ye ar

THE MOST C R I T I C A L
Though

budgeted

fo r m icro -e le ctro n ics, in s t r u c t io n .

e ngin ee rin g

u n fille d .

In

and d i g i t a l
24

fa c ilitie s

the

m ost

fa cu lty

fie ld s

system s,

are

se rio u s

jobs,

such

as

N S F 's

b lo ck in g
current

10 % t o

an

15% o r

so lid -sta te

Stephen

"in cre ase d

b ottle ne ck

Kahne

is

2,000

e le c tro n ic s,
p la ce s

the

50%.

tu rn in g
of

aw ay f r o m

te a ch in g ?

the

new S t a n f o r d
25
50 % t e n y e a r s a g o ?

Ph.Ds

Why,

for

choose

in sta n c e ,

tea ch in g

d id

la st

year

only

8%

versus

THE DO CTORAL R E C R U IT M E N T POOL
Th e
O nly

student
very

h ig h e r

degrees

graduate
Fo re ign
Of the

doctoral

d e d ic a te d
to

pool
U.S.

from w hich
students

compete w i t h

fa cu lty

and

tra d itio n a lly

fo re ign

c itiz e n s

for

students

the

comes

who kno w

sh rin k in g .

same j o b s " ^ 6 g o on

need

to

study.
stu de n ts

523

Of th e se ,

are

Ph.D/EE
66% were

an

increa sing

degrees
on

awarded

student

v isa s

percentage
in

1980,

and

ENGINEERING

of

171

lik e ly

the

EE d o c t o r a l

(33%)
to

went

return

to

home.

ST U D E N T S

1964 = 19 .8%

1977

1974 = 38 .7 %

1978 = 45 .0%

1975

= 41.3%

1979 = 45 .6%

1976

= 42.3%

-18-




= 41.5%

1980 = 46 .3%
Source:

0 - 8 2 - 4

pool.

fo re ign

Ph.Ds

P E R CE N TA GE OF F O R E IG N

90-376

is

"th ey

N ational

Sc ie nc e

Foundation

students.

46
The m a j o r i t y
th e ir

of

country

fo re ign

has,

and

t h o s e who w i s h

to

tio n

C ultural

for

process.
those

students
graduate

rem ain

who e n t e r

in

p la ys

BS g r a d u a t e s
a ssista n t
h ou sin g
budget

and
a ll

graduate

la ck

food

can

A 19 80-81

average

costs,

start

ro le
to

face

h igh

fifth
a six

of

c a lib e r,
th e ir

m o nt h

d iffe re n c e s

and

to

amon g t h e

c la ss."

27

tw o y e a r

best
Yet

im m igra ­

p o s e an a d d i t i o n a l

c h a lle n g e

S a la ry

than

of

h is

$20,000

Survey

e d u ca tio n.

$5,000

com bine w it h

of

shortages.

th e ir

to

sc a rc ity

$ 5 , 0 0 0 more

Faculty

fa cu lty

$4,500

the

sa la rie s

in

con tin ue

only

t he m o u t )

at

sta rting
ASEE

very

top

IN EQ U IT IE S

incen tive s

but w ipes

in d u s t r y 's

U.S.

la nguage

a sig n ifica n t

sa la rie s

of

the

te a ch in g .

IN DU ST R Y -A C A DE M IA SALARY
Econom ics

the

and

"are
in

to

shows

today.

fe llo w sh ip
the
o ld

G raduate
R isin g

m onies

tu itio n ,

( N S F 's

1982

knowledge t h a t "a yo u ng
"28
teachers.
Few c a n r e s i s t

$24,000.
the

fo llo w in g

average

n in e

m o nt h

sa la rie s:
Professors

$33,295

A ssociate

Professors

$25,793

A ssista n t

Professors

$21,758

In stru c to rs
The

UNO s t u d y

sa lary
of

pattern

(see

$15,903

A d d e n du m C ,

and f u r t h e r

Figure

shows

2)

reveals

a re lation sh ip

e sse n tia lly
between

the

salary

same

and

size

sc h o o l.

Several years of doctoral study and five or more years of teaching must
occur before academia's salaries become economically interesting--and then
rarely more so than industry's.

NON-FINANCIAL
Money has
tu n itie s
in

TEACHING

n e v e r been
to

do

research

a c om p ara tiv e ly

sole
and

relaxed

Research

contracts

have

research

contracts

can




IN CEN TIVES

the

reason

promote

p eo p le
growth

atm osphere

a lw a ys
provide

have

choose
of

been

fa cu lty

up to

of

-19-

teach.

strong

been a p rim e
2/9ths

to

knowledge

in

The o p p o r ­

students

a ttractio n s.

p erq uisite.

a sa lary

N SF

su p p le m en t.

For

47
m ost o t h e r
up

to

types

o n e -th ird

of
of

research

contracts

the annual

grants,

salary.

ma ny u n i v e r s i t i e s
G rants

are

allow

becom ing

in ­

cre a sin gly

d iffic u lt

As

a

to

1.6%

o f GNP, i n d u s t r i a l R&D s p e n d i n g d e c r e a s e d f r o m 2 . 1 % i n 1 9 6 4
29
1979.
I n s p i t e o f t h e i n v e s t m e n t d o w n t r e n d , R&D s p e n d i n g a t

in

u n iv e rsitie s

ment.

of

it,

and

was

sp e n t m e etin g

the

center

for

governm ent
in

loa ds,

The U n i v e r s i t y
relation sh ip

1974

to

Study

reduced

teach

9-to-ll

teach

1 2 - t o - 14

reduced

hours

lo a d s

hours

46%

4-to-6

hours

A c a d e m ia 's

in

research,

A d de n du m C ,
lo a ds.

are

research

to

do

sm all

sc h oo ls
as

high

1,500

to

2,000

2,000

o r m o re

not

a b a sis

con sid ered

500 o r

the

le ss

l-to -1 1 8 ;

student

optim al

has

for

range.

students,

a lso

a reduced

been

supercharged

a ratio

of

show t h a t

( S e e A d de n du m C,

the

lo a d .

1,500

student

in stitu tio n s

up t o

l-to -4 8 ;

sc h oo ls
and

as

la rge

only

Figu re

fa cu lty -to -stu d e n t

500 to

by

1 fa cu lty
a
3

ratio

h igh

as

sc h o o ls

1 - t o - 51;
of

l-to -3 9 .

Outdated

and

te a ch in g

la o d s

fin a n c ia l

of
as

the

re d u ctio n
was

For q u a lit y edu ca tio n,
31
id e a l.
T h e UNO s t u d y

reaches

heavy.

shows

research

atm osphere"

is

2)

re d u ctio n

relaxed

rem ain w i t h i n

e ffe ct
from

UNO r e s p o n d e n t s :

ratios.

students

becom ing

Figu re

"m ore

few c l a s s e s

the
rose

1979.^

stu d e n t-to -fa cu lty

20-25

form er

that

a we ek

te a ch in g

that

re g u latio n s.

show s

cost-o f-d o in g -b u sin e ss

perm it
(See

B u sin e ss

1979.

d eve lo p ­

a w eek

hours

l-to -3

receive

the

during

or product

and e n v ir o n m e n t a l

te a ch in g

52% r e c e i v e

responded

on

to

data
and

ge ne ratio n

o f Am erican

$4,823 m i l l io n

research

31%

19 72 -co nsta n t-d olla rs
idea

governm ental

New O r l e a n s

between

in
in

re g u la tio n s

36%

22%

u p 3%
spent

the

commonly
of

77% h ave

fin a l

was
not

It

Teaching

In

was

from

$2,240 m illio n

to

colle ges

however,

in c re a se d

h igh

o bta in .

percent

M u ch o f

Data

to

and

n in e -m o n th

scarce
and

fa c ilitie s
h ig h

incen tive s.

and e q u ip m e n t,

stu d e n t-to -fa cu lty
A c lim ate

now e x i s t s

d iffe re n ce .




-20-

in su fficie n t

ratios
where

have
pay

R&D,

in c re a se d

d im inish e d
in e q u itie s

the

non-

mak e t h e

48
S E V E R I T Y OF FA C U L T Y SH O R T A G ES
A lm o st 94% o r
"Yes"
n ew ,

In

to

the

75 o f

q u a lifie d

June

1980 Dr.

shortages.

19 81

to

Dr.

for

need

for

you

Kemper,

1,800

current

is

q uantify

fa cu lty
for

Figu re

d iffic u ltie s
c le a rly

E n gin e e rin g

to

new v a c a n c i e s
7,525

A d de n du m C ,

fa cu lty

De a n o f

sc h o o ls

retirem ent

(see

e xp e rie n c in g

E n gin e e rin g

therefore,

just

K em p e r a d d s

annual

John

and 380

1990,

"A re

e n gin ee rin g

He f o u n d

retirem ent

be n e e d e d

UNO r e s p o n d e n t s

fa c u lty ?"

A B ET -accre d ited

to

the

que stion :

at

va ca n c ie s

new o p e n i n g s - - a n

a scarce

and

and

answ ered

com m odity.

surveyed

projected

241

fa cu lty

3 3 5 new o p e n i n g s

e xpansion

average

1)

re c ru itin g

UC D a v i s ,

present

projected

in

of

per ye ar.
750

d ue

From

per y e a r - - w ill

and e x p a n s i o n .

180 each y e a r

to

new e n g i n e e r i n g

"w ork

off"

fa cu lty

to

current
be 9 8 0

va ca n c ie s
32

and

fin d s

the

per year.

P R O J E C T E D S H O R T F A L L OF F AC U L TY
Based

on

present

trends,

what

is

the

projected

annual

sh o rtfa ll

of

the

teacher

su p p ly?

Approxim ately
1.300

of

2,700

Ph.Ds

in

e ngin ee rin g

are

awarded a n n u a l l y .

re sid e n t

go t o f o r e i g n s t u d e n t s .
33% o f t h e s e
33
status
and a re l i k e l y , b e c a u s e o f g r o w in g

Am erican

"b ra in

The

of

pool

about

2/3

1 9 6 0 's
this

Dr.

these

d rain ,"

U.S.

of

students

the

total

l-o u t-o f-3

25% f o r m u l a

D a nie l

Drucker,

upper
the

th ird

(or

sh o rtfa ll

A ssu m in g
U.S.

that

to

of

h igh e r)

2/3 o f

the

we w i l l

1.300

each y e a r

1,000

fa c u lty .




need
(to

to

or

tea ch in g,

suggests

C olle ge
su p p ly

to

the

after

p eop le.

today o nly

a su p p ly

of

is

1,800

of

E ngin ee rin g

a ctu a lly

1 in

only

at

sm a lle r,

450

gra du ation

c om e s

W hereas

the

4 does.

than

of

to

Applying

new f a c u l t y

U n iv e rsity
le ss

in
34

each y e a r .

Illin o is,

300,

sin ce

undergraduates
of

needed

em ploym ent and t h a t

form ula,

of

the

tem porary

se n sitiv ity

o n e s who r e m a i n

re c ip ie n ts,
into

G en era lly,

have

home.

fo re ign

1,800

D e an

says

the

and

went

the

in stru ctio n

return

degree

Ph.Ds
to

U rbana-Cham paign,
"q u a lity

to

Ph.Ds

a ll

r e q u i r e s s e l e c t i o n f r o m a mo ng t h e
35
Ph.Ds."
Whether 300 o r 450 a re a v a i l a b l e ,

1,000

total
they

still

la rge .

Ph.D e n g in e e rin g
return

in c re a se

a total

is

the

of 4,000

to

the

su p p ly
doctoral

-2 1-

graduates

continue

to

enter

1-out-of-3-w ho-ch oose-to-teach
of

d octora l-le ve l

graduates)

to

e ngin ee rs

receive

the

by
needed

49
IV

E F F E C T OF C O N T I N U E D SH O RT AG ES

E C O N O M I C , P O L I T I C A L , AND S O C I A L

The U n it e d
w h ile

d rop p in g

J a p a n 's
m ile .

States

others

IMPACT

is

still

the m ost

p rod u ctive

im prove

th e ir

ratio

output-per-w orker,

f r o m a WW II

2.9%

p ro d u ctiv ity

the

accountants,

The

So v ie t

but

U n io n 's

in c re a se

makes

On a p e r c a p i t a

U.S.

b a sis,

5 tim e s

d oub le

of

to

in d u strie s

Japan
as

tim e

a m inus

has

country

0.9%

jog

fewer

reach

as

the w o rld .

to

run

1/2 0th
the

"sc ie n tific

does

U nited

and

the

the

econom ic

law yers,

trip le

to

the

a 1977

real

NSF

growth,

study,
six

m o r e e m p l o y m e n t wh en c o m p a r e d
in

p a rtic u la r

so c ia l

h old s

fro n ts--if

"T he

la ck

be t h e
and

the

the

of

sin g le

continued

high

tim e s
to

prom ise

engineer

e le ctron ic
m ost

p ric e

tech n o lo gica l

has

shortages

and

of

on

are

the

the

econom ic,

scien ce
lim itin g




p o litic a l,

e le c tro n ic s

engineers
the

growth

in d u strie s."

D r. W i l l i a m P e r r y , P a r t n e r , Hambrecht & Q u i s t
Former U .S. U n d e r s e c r e ta r y o f D e fen se f o r
R e s e a r c h and E n g i n e e r i n g

-22-

p ro d u ctiv ity ,

and n i n e t im e s
38
in d u strie s.
E le ctro n ic s

reversed.

com puter
factor

tw ice

the

in c re a se s,

low t e c h n o l o g y
of w inning

im portant

v ita lity

te c hn o lo gy

fewer

1/7th

States.^

s u p r e m a c y " - - g r a d u a t i n g 6 t i m e s a s ma ny u n d e r g r a d u a t e e n g i n e e r s a s
37
U.S.
- - c a u s e s d is c o m f o rt in A m e r ic a 's n a t io n a l defe nse a re n as.

Acco rding

Yet
not--

1979.

faster
than

ma ny e n g i n e e r s

to

in

in

Am erica

may

and

50
v
V I E W S ON THE SHORT AG E

A v a riety

of

vie w s

p rofe ssio n a l

on

Stephen

Kahne,

System s

E n g in e e rin g

m atter

into
It

the

a sso c ia tio n s
D irecto r
at

shortages

of

and

jou rna ls.

of
the

trade

the

engin ee rs

D iv isio n

N ational

of

h a s been

E le c tric a l,

S c ie nce

expressed

A consensus

Foundation

is

Com puter,
(NSF)

in

fo rm in g.
and

puts

the

p erspe ctive:
is

no

lo n ge r

e le c tric a l
crisis.

It

d e n t upon
a r e more

an open

e ngin ee rs
is.

even

d isco v e re d

the

va lu e

system s

th e ir

in

in

any

of

hard

sp e cia lists
p lo ye d

t hem .




in

to

m arket

of

the

-23-

ind ustry

com panies,

a

depen­
there

have

processes.

unaffected
are

hid d en

of

future

grow ing

Ind e ed ,

by e l e c t r i c a l

the

need

economy t h a t

39

of

not

and c o m p u t e r - b a s e d

surveys

the

is

Toy and a u t o m o b il e

and c l o t h i n g

way,

shortage
or

be a f f e c t e d - - a n d

o r m anufacturing

p re d ic t

sectors

is

U.S.

ever.

e le ctro n ic s

sig n ific a n t

tra d itio n a l

is

w ill

p reviou sly

in v a lid a te s

the

States

every

now t h a n

products

EEs.

It

la te r

te x tile

new i n d u s t r i e s ,

gine ering

whether

U nited

e n gin ee rin g

in d u strie s

m anufacturers,

these

the

Sooner or

e le ctric a l
such

question

in

for

factor
needs

en­

that
for

e le ctro n ic s

never before

em-

51
R EF ERE NCE S

P la n

^Ray S t a t a , P r e s i d e n t and C h a irm a n , A n a l o g D e v i c e s , I n c . , "N e e d e d :
f o r Edu ca tin g E n g in e e r s."
E l e c t r o n i c s , A p r i l 2 4 , 1 9 8 0 , p. 2 6 .

A

2
"The

E le c tro n ic

B u sin e ss

100."

E le c tro n ic

B u s in e s s , February

1981,

p.

64.

^ R o b e r t G. G i l l e s p i e , V i c e P r o v o s t f o r C o m p u t i n g w i t h D e b o r a h A. D i c a r o ,
R e se arc h A s s o c i a t e , U n i v e r s i t y o f W a sh in gto n .
C o m p u tin g and H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n :
a n A c c i d e n t a l R e v o l u t i o n , 1 9 8 1 , p. 5.

in to

^ E l e c t r o n i c s i n d u s t r i e s ' ann ua l p e r c e n t a g e o f p ro m o tio n o f exempt em ploy ee s
management e s t a b l i s h e d by s u r v e y o f AEA I n d u s t r i a l R e l a t i o n s C o m m itte e , 19 80 .

5
ing

Estim a te d
E d u ca tio n.

by N a t io n a l

^ Q u o t e b y W a l t e r V.
s u l t a n t s , San F r a n c i s c o .

^ "B rie fs:

Sc ie nc e

Foundation

and A m e rica n

Society

N ic h o l s , V ic e P r e s id e n t o f F o x -M o rr is
E l e c t r o n i c D e s i g n , Septem ber 1980.

Info rm ation

P rocessing."

B u sin e ss

Week, A u g u s t

for

Personnel

3,

1981,

E ngin ee r­

Con­

p.

68F.

Q
S c i e n t i f i c , E n g i n e e r i n g , and T e c h n i c a l
D . C . , J u n e 1 9 8 1 , p. 5.

Manpower Com m ents, W a s h i n g t o n ,

9
W all

Street

J o u rn a l, July

14,

1981,

p.

for

Scarce

1.

10
June

John R a d ic k , "F ir m s
1 5 , 1 9 8 1 , p. 4 0 .

Vying

Engin ee rin g

T a le n t,"

E le ctro n ic

N e w s,

11
G e r a l d F. S e i b a n d R o y J . H a r r i s , J r . , " D e f e n s e T a c t i c s :
In M i l i t a r y
B u i l d u p , B i g C o n t r a c t o r s Fa c e S u p p l i e r B o t t l e n e c k s ; Where A r e t h e E n g i n e e r s ? "
W a l l S t r e e t J o u r n a l , A u g u s t 2 1 , 1 9 8 1 , p. 11 .

12

Technical Employment Projections Survey:
A sso cia tio n ,

Palo

A lto ,

C a lifo rn ia ,

June

1981,

1981-83-85.
p. 7 6 .

American Electronics

13
J . D. K e m p e r , D e a n o f E n g i n e e r i n g , UC D a v i s , " G r a d u a t e E n r o l l m e n t s i n
E n g i n e e r in g ; M e e t in g N a t io n a l Needs f o r P r o d u c t i v i t y , "
J u l y 1 9 8 0 , p. 9.
Source
reference:
Q u a r t e r l y Unemployment R a t e s f o r E n g i n e e r s R e l e a s e d , E n g i n e e r i n g
M a n p o w e r H i g h l i g h t s , P u b . N o . 2 2 5 , E n g i n e e r s J o i n t C o u n c i l , New Y o r k , N o v e m b e r 1 9 7 2 .




iv

52
14
Stephen Kahne, NSF Presentation, May 7, 1981.

Slide No. ECS 81-1756,

4-1-81.
15
The International Microelectronic Challenge. The Semiconductor In­
dustry Association, Cupertino, California, May 1981, p. 29.
16
Roger Lowenstein, "Two-Edged Sword: Surge in Engineering Enrollment
Begins to Ease Industry's Shortages but Stirs Trouble at Colleges." Wal1
Street Journal, August 20, 1981, p. 48.
17
"Can Higher Education Meet the Need for Technical Manpower?"
Reports. Summer, 1981, p. 11.

WICHE

18
Ward Worthy, "Chemical Education Falls on Hard Times."
ruary 9, 1981, p. 45.

C & EN, Feb­

19
Task Force Chaired by Robert H. Page, Texas A&M University, "Data
Related to the Crisis in Engineering Education." March 1981, AAES, ASME,
ASEE, p. 11.

20
Issues in Engineering Education, a^ Framework for Analysis, Task Force
on Engineering Education of the National Academy of Engineering. Washington,
D.C., April 1980, p. 13.
21

WICHE, p. 12.
22
"Micro Center Gets $24.4 Million From Legislature." Future State, Mark
Ernsberger, ed., First Union National Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina,
August 1981.
23
Worthy.

C & E N , p. 45.

24
Stephen Kahne, National Science Foundation, "A Crisis in Electrical
Engineering Manpower." IEEE Spectrum, June 1981, p. 50.
25
Summary, Meeting of the Engineering Manpower Task Force, BusinessHigher Education Forum, St. Louis, Missouri, April 7, 1981, p. 3. American
Council on Education, Washington, D.C.
26
"Wanted: U.S.-born Graduate Students."
27
Ibid., p. 46.




v

Chemical Week, June 24, 1981, p. 45.

53
28

Trends:

"The Vanishing Professor."

Forbes, July 20, 1981, p. 8.

29
"The Problem: The Decline in U.S. Productivity."
1980, p. 60.

Business Week, June 30,

30
Kahne, Slide Presentation, 4-1-81.

ECSE81-1049, 12-18-80.

31
Wm. S. Janna, University of New Orleans, "The Enrollment Crunch:
National Survey." Engineering Education, April 1981, p. 706.

A

32
Kemper, "Graduate Enrollments In Engineering," p. 8.
33
NSF and NRC, Summary Report, "Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities."
1979.
34
"National Crisis: A Severe Engineering Faculty Shortage," Shakertown
Conference, December 3 and 4, 1980, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Shakertown at
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, Inc., Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 40330, p. 1.
35
Daniel C. Drucker, Dean, College of Engineering, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, Statement before Subcommittee on Science Research and
Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of
Representatives, March 3, 1981, p. 5.
36
Claudia Deutsch.

Business Wee k , July 6, 1981, p. 105.

37
Catherine P. Ailes and Frances W. Rushing, "A Summary Report on the
Educational Systems of the U.S. and the Soviet Union: Comparative Analysis."
Prepared for NSF, SRI International, Final Report, March 1980, p. iii.
38
"Revitalizing the U.S. Economy."
39Kahne.

Business W e e k, June 30, 1980, p. 103.

IEEE, Spectrum, p. 50.




vi

54
ADDENDUM A

Summary of enrollment in educational institutions', with projections, by level of institution:
Fail 1970 to fall 1988




Elementary
Fall of year

Institutions

Total

schools

High schools

of higher

enrollment

(Grades K -8 )

(Grades 9 -12 )

education

(In thousands)
19 70 ....................................
19 71

....................................

19 72 ....................................
19 73 ....................................
19 74 ....................................
19 75

.................................

19 76 ....................................
19 7 7 ....................................
19 78 ....................................

59,199
60,152
60,000
59.982
60,340
61,063
60,507
59,955
51,941

36,686
36,088
35,569
34,999
34,584
34,174
33,768
32,951
32,061

58,129
57,382
56,602
55,695
55,381
55,122
55,111
55,292
55,576
55,938

31.376
30,974
30,614
30,217
30,273
30,208
30.257
30,675
31,369
32,223

14,632
15,116
15,216
15,380
15,532
15,704
15,727
15,720
15,628

8,581
8,948
9,215
9,603
10,224
11,185
11,012
11,284
11,259

15,245
14,797
14,298
13,808
13,495
13,422
13.496
13,402
13.103
12,667

11,508
11,611
11,690
11,670
11,613
11,492
11,358
11,215
11,104
11,048

Projection
19 79 ...........................................
1980 ...........................................
1981 ...........................................
1982 ...........................................
1983 ...........................................
1984 ...........................................
1985

....................................

1986

....................................

1987

.......................................

1988 .......................................

1Includes public and private institutions.
NOTE: Details may not add to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department ot Health, Education and Welfare, National Center for Education
Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics to 1988-89, 1980.

vii

55
ADDENDUM B
FIELD OF COLLEGE STUDY PLANNED
BY HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

Figure 1
Source: National Opinion
Research Center
Reported in Manpower Comments,
May, 1981, p. 26.

I960

1972

22
10

13%
5%
%

%
Business ..........................
%
Engineering ....................
8%
Health services ...............
8%
Preprotessional
%
Education ........................
Computer and information science 5%
8%
Social sciences ...............
4%
Art
.................................
4%
Communications .............
3%
Vocational or technical
3%
Biological sciences .......
%
....................
Agriculture
%
Architecture ..................
%
%
Home economics .........
%
%
Physical science ...........
%
Foreign language .........
%
Mathematics ..................
Philosophy or religion
*
4%
Other fields ....................

6

2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1

Figure 2

12
—
12%
2%

17%
3%
%
3%
%
3%
%
3%
%
3%
3%
%
%
%
0.5%

2
10
2
2

1
2
1

U.S. ENGINEERING GRADUATES
ANNUAL % GROWTH

NUMBER OF DEGREES

ELECTRICAL ENGRS
---- — — -- — -— — — — —
M.S. PH.D. TOTAL
B.S.

ELECTRICAL ENGRS
YEAR

B.S.

M.S.

1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
19R0

11921
12145
12430
11844
11347
10277
9954
9837
10702
12213
13745*

4150
4359
4352
4151
3702
3587
3782
3674
3475
3335
3740 *

PH.D.
873
899
850
820
700
673
644
574
524
545
523

TOTAL
16944
17403
17632
16815
15749
14537
14380
14085
14701
16093
18008*

4.80
2.49
1.75
1.88
5.04
2.98
2.35 -0. 16 -5.45
-4.71 -4.62 -3.53
-4.20 -10.82 -14.63
-9.43 -3.11 -3.86
-3. 14
5.44 -4.31
-1 .18 -2.86 -10.87
8.79 -5.42 -8.71
14. 12 -4.0 3
4.01
12.54 12.14 -4.04

4.07
2.71
1 .32
-4.63
-6.34
-7.70
-1 .08
-2.05
4.37
9.47
11.90

★ Errata sheet from Engineering Manpower Commi ssion
corrects 1980 B S/EE degrees to 13,594, MS/EE to
3,660, total all degrees to 17,777.

COMPUTER ENGRS

COMPUTER ENGRS
YEAR

B.S.

M.S.

1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980

139
174
359
568
727
599
796
1280
1546
1510
1816

185
250
627
589
723
678
718
802
986
1074
1262

PH.D.
34
44
83
96
83
107
90
136
123
190
159

B.S.

TOTAL
358
468
1069
1253
1533
1384
1604
2218
2655
2774
3237

M.S.

PH. D.

TOTAL

167.31 54. 17 54«.55 84. 54
25. 18 35. 14 29.,41 30. 73
106.32 150.80 88,,64 128. 42
58.22 -6.06 15,►66 17. 21
27.99 22.75 -13..54 22. 35
-17.61 -6.22 28..92 -9. 72
32.89
5.90 -15,.89 15. 90
60.80 11.70 51,.11 38. 28
20.78 22.94 ’-9..56 19. 70
-2.33
8.92 54..47
4.,48
20.26 17.50 -16,.32 16.,69

SOURCE: ENGINEERING MANPOWER COMMISSION




The Rosen E lectronics L e tte r , December 31,
v m

1 9 8 0

56
ADDENDUM C

Engineering C o lle y Limit» on Enrollment and C last Site. 1980.

Figure 1

Enrollment
Increases

Average Class Site Limn

«sSSIÎ

College
Enrollment
Range

o «

< 500

3 9 2

~ -

«I «

1 2

1

500-1500

3 9 6

3 3

1500-2000

3 6 6 4

1

> 2000

1 7

2

1

Y
N
Y
N
Y
N
Y
N

Enrollment
Limitation— C
a b c d

A

B

D

E

13
8
18
8
11
5
7
6

12
2 1 1 14 16
7 7
10 8 2 5
15
8 9 2 6 15
11 10 10 14 5 11
15
7 5 3 4 15
5
7 1 1 9 4
7
9 6 6 0 4
3
3
4 4 7 0
7

18
3
22
1
21
1
14
0

Type «) P y
ot
» «i J
Course

Service
Non
Service
Non
; Service
1 Non
I Service
1 Non

S «
S s S ?
J T
« t

12 8 2 2
3
1 8 2 2 4 1 2
6 5 3
3
2 4 5 1 2
2
12 5 1 2 3
3 7 2 2 1 4 3
2 2 1 1 2
1 1 4 1 2 2

o
3
6
5
6

A — I* this (the enrollment increases m the college) unusually high?
B — It appropriate, has the enrollment increase presented a problem which needed immediate attention'’
C— Several questions on whether or not steps were taken to limit enrollment
a) Increasing the GPA requirement ot transfer students.
b) Increasing the GPA requirement ol Students entering engineering
c) Raising the prerequisites of lower and/or upper level courses
d) No steps were taker to limit enrollment
0 — As necessary, have new engineering positions oeen provioed at you' institution 10 maintain a ' manageaoie" student faculty ratio7
E — Are you experiencing difficulties in recruiting new. ouaiined faculty7
Engineering Faculty Salarie». 1980.

Figure 2

Salary ot
Graduate Assistant
9-Month Contract

Average
Teaching
Load

Salary of
Assist Prof.
9-Month Contract

Salary ot

I Assoc. Prof
I 9-Mcnih Contract
* * * * * *

College
Enrollment
Range

‘

— c\j C\j C\*

w

iisa$jjg;i5|S2i55QS5|
¡ 1 6 3 6 3

23

¡6 7 2 2 2

j1

63

|4 9 4 2 2 3

3

7

2 5

3

2

4

4 10

3

2

2

3

5 5 3

4 2

3

A— la research a basis for reduction in teaching load?
B— If so. how much of a reduction?
Note: Aasistant and associate professor salariea are average starting salaries for an individual starting work m
Departm ents of Electrical Engineering, 1980.

Figure 3




CoUege
Enrollment
Range

SOURCE: William S. Janna,
University of New Orleans,
"The Enrollment Crunch: A
National Survey."
Engineering Education,

Student/
Faculty
___ Ratio

515
23 2

39 9
13 7
24 0

ix

57
ADDENDUM D

"EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHICS ON ENGINEERING ENROLLMENTS"

Chart 1-Total Bachelor's degrees in engineering

The projected increase in engineering degrees to 1985 reflects
dramatic increases in engineering enrollments as documented
by N C E S 2 and the Engineering M anpower Com m ission.3 The
decline in 1990 reflects demographic changes — decreases in the
college*age population — which are expected to impact at that
•time. The decline should result in degree outcom es that are lower
than the 1985 projections for total engineering.

Source: National Center for
Education Statistics
February 13, 1981

20,000
Electrical

Bulletin NCES 81-406




10,000

1969

x

79

85

58
ADDENDUM E

AEA BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ON ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Committee Chairman
Dr. William J. Perry, Partner
Hambrecht and Quist
Dr. Richard Atkinson, Chancellor
University of California, San Diego
Dr. Joseph A. Boyd, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Harris Corporation
John M. Fluke, Chairman
John Fluke Manufacturing Company, Inc.
Dr. C. Lester Hogan, Director and Consultant
Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation
Dr. Robert N. Noyce, Vice Chairman
Intel Corporation
Dr. Joseph Pettit, President
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Allen E. Puckett, Chairman
Hughes Aircraft
Ray Stata, Chairman and President
Analog Devices, Inc.
Dr. Dean A. Watkins, Chairman
Watkins-Johnson Company
Dr. Karl Willenbrock, Green Professor of Engineering
Southern Methodist University
John A. Young, President and Chief Executive Officer
Hewlett-Packard Company




xi

59
ADDENDUM F

TOP 10 STATES AWARDING EE/CS DEGREES
1979 - 1980

S tate

B a ch elor's

M aster's

D o cto r 's

TOTAL

1.

C a lifo rn ia

1,626

1,123

160

2,909

2.

New York

1,621

609

73

2,303

3.

Massachusetts

881

307

49

1,237

4.

Pennsylvania

887

198

34

1,119

5.

I llin o is

750

289

64

1,103

6.

Michigan

843

197

15

1,055

7.

Texas

680

274

37

991

8.

Ohio

640

279

33

952

9.

Indiana

488

101

29

618

10.

M issouri

507

82

21

610

Top 10 Total
U.S., Total
Top 10 Share o f Total




8,923

3,459

515

12,897

15,410

4,914

682

21,006

58%

70%

76%

61%

60
SCHOOLS AWARDING THE MOST ENGINEERING DEGREES
1979 - 1980

from Engineering
Manpower Commission, 1980

ALL ENGINEERING DEGREES COMBINED
Bachelor's
Purdue

Doctor's

Master's
1442

Stanford
MIT
Cal Berkeley
Poly Inst. NY
U Michigan(Ann Arbor)
U Illinois (Urbana)
USC
Geo. Washington U
Purdue
Georgia Tech

770
673
571
512
415
406
397
317
295
294

MIT
U Illinois (Urbana)
Cal Berkeley
Stanford
Purdue
Cornell
Ohio State
USC
UCLA
Northwestern

293
275
270
254
237
204
199
188
176
171

Stanford
USC
MIT
Georgia Tech
Purdue
Poly Inst NY
U Illinois
Rensselaer Poly
Ohio State

216
158
151
109
96
91
90
80
71

MIT
Stanford

48
33

USC
U Illinois

32
32

Purdue
UC Santa Barbara
Cornell
U Texas
Ohio State

25
21
15
11
10

U Mo. (Columbia)
U Syracuse

9
9

256
118
106
87
78
73
61
58
52

Cal Berkeley
Poly Inst NY
Northwestern
U Michigan
USC
U Pennsylvania
Ohio State
UCLA

U Illinois (Urbana)
1257
Penn State
1136
Texas A & M
1081
Georgia Tech
985
U Michigan (Ann Arbor) 917
U Missouri (Columbia)
794
U Missouri (Rolla)
768
U Washington
766
Virginia Tech
762

162
156
131
110
91
82
63
62
58
53

EE DEGREES
U Illinois
Purdue
MIT
U Missouri (Col.)
Georgia Tech
U Washington
Penn State
U Minnesota
U Texas
Virginia PI

Cornell

68

CS DEGREES
Cal Berkeley
U Illinois
Oregon State
Texas A & M
II Michigan
Michigan State
UC San Diego
Connecticut U
Rensselaer Poly

147
94
70
61
56
51
45
44

U Illinois

49

U Illinois
S. Clara U

41
40

CC New York

49

U Oklahoma

40




Cal Berkeley
MIT
U Illinois
Purdue
Northwestern
UCLA
Princeton
Ohio State

31
17
15
12
12
11
11
10

U Washington (Mo.)

7

Cornel 1

7

61

Senator B e n t s e n . Mr. Weinig, we’re very pleased to have you
here this morning. I look forward to hearing your testimony.
STATEMENT OF SHELDON WEINIG, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECU­
TIVE OFFICER, MATERIALS RESEARCH CORP., ORANGEBURG, N.Y.

Mr. W e i n i g . Thank you, Senator, I have a prepared statement
for the record, and with your permission, I will try to summarize it
in the interest of brevity.
I would like to, of course, thank the subcommittee and the Joint
Economic Committee for inviting me to appear here today to testify
on the Nation’s skilled labor shortage. I’m testifying on behalf of
my firm, Materials Research Corp. of Orangeburg, N.Y., and the
American Business Conference, which is a coalition of high growth,
midrange companies.
I am the president and chief executive officer of Materials Research,
a company I founded in 1957 after a brief, successful, and unprofitable
career as a professor. [Laughter.]
My company’s business, interestingly enough, is to supply the
needs of Professor Willenbrock’s organization, AEA. We are suppliers
to the electronics industry throughout the world and manufacture
in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Our customers are their
members, so I thoroughly understand and am sympathetic with the
problems of that industry.
Senator B e n t s e n . Well, Mr. Willenbrock may be profiting from
you, and I had a closer shave this morning, thanks to you, as well.
Mr. W e i n i g . That’s true, sir. The thin film that’s used in the
integrated circuit, which is the industry that we are in, is also the
Platinum Plus that you have used and something I invented about
12 years ago. I’m sorry to admit that it really doesn’t make the
blade sharper; it just keeps it dull forever. [Laughter.]
Senator B e n t s e n . At least I thought I felt better. [Laughter.]
Mr. W e i n i g . Your decision to focus on the Nation’s skilled labor
shortage is extraordinarily timely. I certainly hope it generates greater
public awareness and that some support is forthcoming from these
hearings, because the challenge is equal to if not greater than the
capital formation one.
Now I am going to move through some of these areas that Mr.
Willenbrock has touched on, but I would like to make very clear
my own feelings about this very peculiar problem of having an
insufficient number of U.S. citizens involved in high technology
education and in the actual teaching.
Just to add some more fuel to the fire, I believe you did say that
about 50 percent of all of the graduate students in the technical schools
of the United States are foreign, and a real eye-opener, if I understood
you, in a number of colleges, about 80 percent of all new faculty are
foreign. That’s an astounding number. Across the board, I guess it’s
about one-third of all junior faculty in the United States, engineering
schools, have their first degree from a foreign university.
Now I ’m not going to get deeply into this because this has already
been covered, but frankly I would urge this committee to give very
serious consideration to this particular aspect. Again to repeat what
was said, it is not a problem of too many foreign students; it’s just a
problem of too few U.S. citizens who want to become involved in this
particular route of engineering science and academia thereafter.
90-376

0 - 8 2 - 5




62

I would like to now move on and discuss the actual engineering as­
pect of the program. I will not get involved in the age-old question of,
do we have too many engineers or too few engineers doing engineering?
The real problem is very simply that engineering is a profession that
produces people, and upon graduation, the first thing they do is try
to get out of engineering. I’m not really sure I thoroughly understand
that, but there are some reasons that we can discuss later, if you will,
sir.
More engineers go into business schools than any other under­
graduate curriculum in the United States. The numbers are
astounding.
It’s interesting because one wTould consider the combination of an
engineering degree and an MBA would make a very potent human
being. The truth of the matter, sir, is it doesn’t. It makes what I
sometimes call a misfit, and after two drinks. I call a gelding, because
there’s very little creativity left after those two degrees. [Laughter.]
The combination just hasn’t worked, and yet it hasn’t stopped the
sheer number of engineering students studying for their MBA’s.
Another aspect of this lack of hands-on engineering can be under­
stood from the following data. Japan, which is our major competition
in the electronics area as well as others, produces about 20,000
bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering per year. Ten percent of
them go on to graduate school. But what nobody discusses is that a
large portion of that 10 percent goes to graduate school in the United
States.
In the United States, we produce about 12,500 electrical engineers
per year and about a third of them go to graduate schools. So again we
see this phenomenon of not getting working engineers. We’re not
getting the engineer who wants to put his hands directly on the project
and therein lies a serious part of this problem.
Perhaps the most compelling treatise is in a recent book by Tracy
Kidder called “ The Soul of a New Machine.” In this book, they
describe a group of 30 to 40 engineers who devote 18 months of their
life to the development of a new computer. They do this 7 days a
week, multiple shifts. They sacrifice family and health. At the end
of 18 months, they produce this fantastic new computer. The sad
and bottom line, sir, is that the payoff is literally zero, that is, they
get neither monetary or other recompense for their great effort.
In other words, ladies and gentlemen, if I may put it in very bold
type, real engineering does not pay in our society. Nor is it highly
recognized in our society. And I think therein lies a serious problem,
because you’re not going to attract super-bright kids into a profession
that doesn’t have a payoff.
There are some who ridicule being an engineer. One girl says to
another, “ If he’s wearing brown shoes, white socks, and a blue suit,
he’s probably an engineer.” Well, what they’re really doing is re­
jecting the recognition of this particular profession. Therein lies
part of the problem. You’ve got to make it attractive: then people
will go into it.
Well, now to my main thesis-----Senator B e n t s e n . Well, also part of the profile is that engineers
do not have a sense of humor. You obviously are refuting that.
Mr. W e i n i g . Sir, after 2 0 years in business, I no longer consider
myself an engineer. I use the doctorate title to get me into places,
they all think I’m an obstetrician. [Laughter.]




63
M y main thesis today has to deal with the area of technical paraprofessionals. This is one of great personal and, I think, countrywide
concern.
In August 1981, the U .S. Department of Labor published a report
in which they attempted to predict those areas in which we would
have personnel shortages b y 1990 against a base of 1978. T hey have
various economic scenarios, but let’s take the most conservative
scenario. The six areas of greatest shortage are data processing,
machine mechanics, paralegal personnel, computer systems analysts,
computer operators, office machine and cash register maintainers or
servicers, and computer programers.
In other words, of the first six categories, five are directly computer
related. These are all paraprofessional jobs. It is this type of person—
and you can add to that technicians, drafters, and assemblers of
complex machines— these are the people that are in short supply
and constitute our skilled labor shortage, and I would like to discuss
this area.
It is interesting that most of them are a derivation of what I call
the fourth computer revolution. The first, you will recall, was the
main frame; then we had the miniframe; then we had the micro­
processor or computer on a chip. W ell, the fourth computer revolution
is the terminal revolution, and I certainly hope that’s not prophetic.
B u t the reality here is that the terminal within the 20th century
within our lifetime is going to be total; it’s going to be in our homes,
our cars, offices, on the factory floor. The terminal is going to be
the site of instruction, of information exchange; it’s going to be the
totality of our communication with the world.

The first thing one notes is that half of the people in industry,
including trained engineers, are completely scared to death of this
phenomenon. Perhaps they’re afraid of interfacing with the terminal;
maybe they’re afraid of using it, or maybe they’re afraid of being
used by it.
If y ou ’ve been involved in any form of conversion in industry
where terminals are put on line whether for order processing or
inventory, whatever, there’s tremendous trepidation manifested
b y the people. I suspect the answer to this problem will probably
occur in the home when each homekeeper will have a terminal which
they will use to buy, pay their bills, and maybe even reconcile their
bank accounts. For some reason or other, new technology is more
acceptable in the home than it is in the factory. Perhaps it is less
threatening.

Nevertheless, the problem is, are we producing technical paraprofessionals? Well, we really are not, certainly not in the numbers
that are required.
What do we do in a company like our own? Let’s take MRC.
My company has a no-layoft policy. That means, I’ve never layed
off anyone for lack of work. So it means on occasion I have to move
people and they have to learn new job skills. This becomes a little
disconcerting for them and you might expect that perhaps they would
therefore pursue some greater training to become a technical para­
professional, and that’s easy because we also have a 100 percent
educational reimbursement program. You can literally take anything
but cooking and dancing. But the reality is, very few people take
advantage of it. The only people who pursue these programs are




64

those seeking baccalaureates or graduate work for some of my engi­
neering staff. We don’t produce the paraprofessional.
Finally, we have a New York State job incentive program, but
this is fundamentally an apprentice program. I must make a very
critical point about paraprofessional training. And that is, sir, that an
apprentice style program will not train and develop the parapro­
fessional.
The paraprofessional must be trained by full-time trainers. There
is significant equipment required, and there is significant time. Despite
a number of company programs and local government programs we
really have nothing directed at this specific area of training skilled
p araprofessionals.
Therefore, what are we to do about this critical shortage of paraprofessionals? These are special skills. I repeat, they will not be learned
on the job. They must be trained. And the problem fundamentally
begins in the high school.
We have high schools, sir, that are totally college oriented. Any kid
that is not college oriented is put into other schools that we used to
call trade schools. They’ve become nothing more than holding pens
in many instances, to hold the young people for the requisite number
of years until they can be turned free.
Our first job is to identify, inspire and train these young people.
We want the people who are ready to learn, because the teaching of
technological skills requires a commitment on the part of the student
and a willingness to adapt to the workplace.
And so I am recommending today a combination-----Senator B e n t s e n . Let me interrupt at that point. When you talk
about these holding pens, how effective has been the matching up of
job availabilities and the growth in areas where you’re going to
have the jobs with what is actually being taught in some of these vo­
cational schools?
Mr. W e i n i g . Well, the problem, sir, is that there are very few high
school student that enter these vocational programs in areas that are
contiguous to where the jobs are.
Senator B e n t s e n . H o w good a job is being done in our high school
vocational programs?
Mr. W e i n i g . It’s inadequate, sir. In my area, which is Rockland
County, N. Y., 15 miles north of the city, there is an industrial BOCES,
type of organization; they turn out between six and eight students
while IBM, who is in the general area, could use 300, and we could
probably use 50 to 100. So it just isn’t happening. The contiguousness
of the job and the training is not there, and the young people are just
not getting into these industrial training programs. They are not in­
spired to go into them.
We have a problem in this country in that the high school student
that is not college oriented comes out without a skill. But more
importantly he comes out without any expectation. He just comes
out—it’s as sad as that—he just comes out; he has no expectation,
and he has no skill. And that’s the problem we really have to address.
I hope perhaps with the program I would like to describe, that there
may be some seed of help here.
Senator B e n t s e n . All right.
Mr. W e i n i g . What I should like to recommend is a combination
program which is aimed essentially at the mid-range growth com­
panies. The real fact is that these companies are the ones that have




65

been growing over the last 10 years, and these are the companies
that will continue to grow. It is not superbig America that has been
growing in the last few years.
This program will provide training tax incentives to the companies
for only training people in special skills leading to careers in technicalparaprofessional types of positions. These are not job incentives.
The jobs exist, sir. What doesn’t exist is the training.
The program may function on-site at the company, or it could
be in cooperation with other companies in which they might utilize
the bricks and mortar that is either government-owned or schoolowned but is available. These centers can be located near the potential
candidates. They can be moved closer to where the source of the
students might be or the potential jobholders.
As the people are trained, it’s even conceivable that satellites
will be set up around this training center that might be computer
terminal centers or equipment repair depots where one could then
utilize these skills very quickly.
In order to attract the people—and that is a real, fundamental
aspect of it—we have to really attract these young people, and they
have to make a commitment. We’re going to need a nationally
advertised campaign which is going to identify this program, identify
it as a joint industry-and-government endeavor, and the bottom
line is simple—jobs.
I do not want this program to be government managed under any
circumstances. And I want the teaching personnel to come out of
industry, because what we have to do is functionally have an industrial
environment.
We have community colleges but the problem with community
colleges is that they are— an emulation of college, not an emulation
of industry. This has got to be an industry-related phenomenon.
The people must be taught in a blue collar environment, if I can
use that phrase, and they will then learn at the same time good
habits as well as the skills to become technical paraprofessionals.
The midrange companies, sir, are ready to make a commitment
to this type of program. They have little in the way of alternatives
because their future cannot be without the availability of these tech­
nical paraprofessionals. And frankly the work force of the future is
not going to be muscle and sweat.
The work force of the future will be the application of knowledge,
and therefore the commitment of a company will not be to hire edu­
cated people, but to educate people throughout their entire work
career, because there is no end, sir. Otherwise nothing will move
ahead.
That, sir, is my suggestion. That, sir, is my report, and I thank you.
Senator B e n t s e n . Your proposals are provided in detail in your
prepared statement to be entered in the hearing record?
Mr. W e i n i g . Yes, sir, and much better written than spoken.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Senator B e n t s e n . Thank you, Mr. Weinig.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Weinig follows:]




66
Pr e p a r e d St a t e m e n t o f Sh eld o n We i n i g

I would like to thank you, Senator Bentsen, and the Joint Economic Committee
for inviting me to appear today to testify on our Nation’ s skilled labor
shortage.
I am testifying today on behalf of my firm, Materials Research Corporation
of Orangeburg, New York, and on behalf of the American Business Conference,
a coalition of high-growth, mid-range companies.
I am the President and Chief Executive Officer of Materials Research
Corporation, a firm which I founded in 1957.

Materials Research Corporation

pioneered the basic materials technology used in the production of
integrated circuits.

We manufacture and sell high purity metals and ceramics

to the electronics and telecommunications industries worldwide.

We also

produce the equipment required for the deposition of the thin films in
the manufacture of integrated circuits.
I t is appropriate that the Joint Economic Committee venture into the
uncharted waters of our Nation's skilled labor shortage as I believe the
Committee in the past focused effectively on ignored, but significantly
important, problem areas of our economic system.
For example, in hearings you chaired, Senator Bentsen, in the mid-1970s,
the Joint Economic Committee identified the productivity problem and urged
an increase in capital formation.

These issues later became the focal point

of the present Administration's economic program.




67
Your decision to focus on our nation's skilled labor shortage is very timely.
I sincerely hope that public awareness and support are forthcoming.

To my

mind, the challenge posed to our economic health by our skilled labor
crisis is as great as that posed by inadequate capital formation.
As I travel in the United States and read the local newspapers, I am always
struck by the number of job openings advertised and announcements of
rising unemployment in the same issues of business news.

This dichotomy

goes to the heart, I believe, of our skilled labor c risis.

The manpower

is available in this country to f i l l all the jobs we have.

What is not

available are the training resources to prepare people for these jobs or
the willingness by workers to u tilize these training resources.
Let me back up fi r s t .

Senator Bentsen, you estimated last week that at

least 250,000 skilled labor jobs annually go unfilled.

I believe the

term "at least" is appropriate because your estimate was based on only
thirteen occupations —

the largest ones in terms of skilled labor

shortage, such as computer operators.

I f we open that door a l i t t l e wider,

we will find lite r a lly hundreds of other occupations of lesser magnitude,
occupations most of us have never heard of ----- that face acute labor
shortages today as well..
I therefore support what you said in your opening remarks regarding the need
to develop a much better data base in this entire area.

We cannot

reasonably expect to develop the necessary programs for ameliorating this
skilled labor crisis until we understand the magnitude of the c r isis.




The

68
only thing we know with certainty now is that i t is a serious problem
which is going to get worse before i t gets better.
I would fir s t like to make some observations regarding the shortages of
skilled labor in the United States, both presently and perhaps more
importantly relative to the future.

I will direct my major remarks and

recommendations to technical areas of shortage despite the fact that there
may be other critical occupations of a non-technical nature which are
similarly affected.
l)

There is one very special area of skilled people crying for applicants;

this, strangely enough, is the extraordinary shortage of U.S. citizens
working toward graduate degrees in engineering and science.

It is commendable

and certainly desirable to provide advanced technical education to young
people from other countries, but unfortunately we are simultaneously
producing an insufficient number of technically-trained U.S. citizens
who are needed to f i l l the academic and industrial openings in this country.
I repeat, the problem is not the number of foreign students, but rather
the insufficient number of U.S. students.
Let*s put some numbers to this situation.

Approximately 50 percent of all

graduate students in our technical graduate student body are foreign.

But,

a real eye opener is that a number of universities have reported that nearly
80 percent of a ll new faculty in engineering disciplines are foreign.
To further exacerbate the problem, industry is fillin g some portion of i t s
shortage of technical personnel by luring professors out of the universities;
so we see the age-old phenomenon of courting disaster by eating the "seed
com ".

This in turn has resulted in a situation where university engineering

departments actually lag industry technically, hence producing graduates who
are not really up to date in their chosen discipline.




69
I urge this Committee to consider the entire matter of graduate students and
faculty as an extremely serious aspect of the skilled labor shortage.

It

may well constitute the foundation block for other recommended solutions.
2)

Let me now address the specific engineering aspect of the technical

labor shortage.
engineers.

This country has an extraordinary shortage of "hands on"

What I am talking about are engineers who are practicing

engineering.

I do not want to become involved in the controversy as to

whether we have too few engineers numerically or too many under-utilized
engineers.

The fact remains that an extremely large percentage of engineers

seek employment upon graduation in areas other than engineering.

For

example, more engineers go into business schools for MBA degrees than any
other category of undergraduate discipline.

Interestingly enough, one

might expect that this combination of engineering and' business would produce
a very special talent, but alas, in reality i t has not; in fact, i t has
produced "m isfits".

The combination simply hasn't worked.

This is an

area in which it is d ifficu lt to produce sta tistic s, but I can assure you
i t is an opinion held by every CEO I know.
In the specific area of electrical engineering, le t us review data relative
to the Japanese which will amplify another aspect of the engineering problem.
ANNUAL GRADUATES IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Japan
United States

BSEE

KSEE

PhD

20,000
12,500

1,700

200
500

3,400

In general, Japanese engineering graduates do not go on to advanced training
and those who do are specifically studying to become professors.
who study for anything even resembling an MBA are negligible.

The number

So again

we see that the United States is not producing a sufficient number of
engineers prepared to work in engineering.




70
However,

as I said earlier,

the r e a l l y i m p o r t a n t

a r e a is the

"hands

phenomenon? that i s , the critical shortage of practicing engineers.
shortage has been discussed at every level imaginable.

on"
This

Perhaps the most

compelling treatise is found in the recent book, THE SOUL OF A HEW MACHIKE,
by Tracy Kidder, which describes the extraordinary dedication of an
engineering team in developing a new computer over an eighteen month period
at sacrifice of family, personal li f e and health.
The bottom lin e, however, is the lite r a lly zero payoff to them at the end
of their project, both monetarily and otherwise.

In other words, ladies

and gentlemen, real engineering doesn't pay in our society; and without
the promise of rewards, we cannot expect young people to be attracted into
the profession.
3)

The most serious area of my concern and what I believe to be the real

core problem, both today and for the future, is in the area of "technical
paraprofessionals" .
A recent U.S. Department of Labor study which considered three assumptions
about the growth of the economy predicts areas in which there w ill be
significant skilled labor shortages.

These categories were arranged in

order of percent change anticipated between the 1978 base and 1990.

The

thtee economic scenarios presented each naturally resulted in different
growth rates, but fundamentally, the occupational shortage composition
remained the same.

Shown below are the top six categories for the most

conservative growth scenario.




7 1

:.:OII?KLT L A B O R R E V I E W
August 1931
U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics

Percent Growth
in Employment
1978-1990

Occupation
Data Processing Machine Mechanics

147.6

Paralegal Personnel

132.4

Computer Systems Analysts

107.8

Computer Operators

87.9

Office Machine and Cash Register Servicers

80.8

Computer Programmers

73.6

Of the fir s t six categories, ranging in percent growth from 147.6 percent
down to 73.6 percent, five are directly computer-related.
of person who is a technical paraprofessional.

I t is this type

We can also include technicians,

inspectors, assemblers of complex equipment, drafters, etc.
Many of these jobs are a result of what I have termed the fourth computer
revolution.

You will recall that the fir s t revoltuion was the main frame;

the second was the mini-computer; and the third, the microprocessor, or
computer on a chip.

Each of these had a significant impact on industry

and to some extent on our personal lives, but the fourth revolution,
which is the Terminal Revolution (and I hope that is n 't prophetic), will
place terminals or information gathering and input stations everyplace ----home, o ffice, even car.

The combination keyboard and CRT (cathode ray tube)

readout will truly be an extension of our brains.

Printers will be connected

only for creating permanent records since voice synthesis can be used to
replace the printout.

Within the twentieth century, our entire society will

deal with a keyboard and a cathode ray tube for a ll communications.

Our

daily newspaper will come direct upon command on the CRT or can be printed
i f we wish to retain a specific a rticle.




72
At least 50 percent of our existing workforce, including trained engineers,
have great difficu lty in making the mental transition required by the fourth
computer revolution.

They are fundamentally afraid of using and/or of

being used by the terminal.

Anyone who has been involved in a conversion

to a terminal base operation knows the trepidation manifested by the
personnel involved.

Perhaps the real breakthrough will occur in the home

when the terminal is used for shopping, paying b ills , and even reconciling
bank balances.

In the home environment, adoption of new technology is far

less threatening than in the workplace.
I can't avoid some brief comment on the second largest growth, namely paralegal
personnel.

This stuns me.

The United States already has the highest density

of lawyers and legal personnel in the world.
even more is horrifying.

The thought that i t will grow

In Japan, one in ten thousand is a lawyer.

the United States, one in four hundred and fif t y is a lawyer.
and New York, every other person is a lawyer.

In

In Washington

Enough is enough!

Ladies and gentlemen, what are we to do about this present and even greater
future shortage of technical paraprofessionals?

These are "hands on"

people with specialized sk ills that are not simply learned on the job.
They must be trained.

I believe the problem begins in the high schools.

Our secondary schools are college oriented.

The special high school that

is not college oriented has, for the most part, become a holding pen for
those students being forced to put in the requisite number of years of
secondary education.
The non-college bound youngster coming out of our school system has no sk ills,
and more importantly, has no expectations.

It is this group that must be

addressed relative to developing the large number of technical paraprofessionals.
Fundamentally, our job is to identify, inspire and train these young people.




73
What ve don't want is for the Government to manage these training programs.
Furthermore, these programs should be used for youngsters who are ready
to learn.

The teaching of technological sk ills requires a student's

commitment a^d a willingness to adapt to the workplace requirements.
The significant growth and demand for technical paraprofessionals has
occurred in the mid-range companies, those represented by the American
Business Conference.
growth.

Large companies have not experienced meaningful

Government assistance for these training programs should be geared

to these mid-range companies and their unique requirements.
Training tax incentives are required, while allowing industry to manage
the programs.

For example, many mid-range companies do not have the

"bricks and mortar" of large companies or even academia.

Therefore, one

possibility might be a coalition of companies in a geographic area
u tilizing a fa c ility owned by government or a local school.

The teaching

equipment should be "state of the a rt", and some form of assistance would
be meaningful.

Teaching personnel could best be supplied by the

participating companies.
This type of "coalition of companies" training should be patterned after
industry, not academia.

One failure of community colleges is that they

attempt to emulate colleges; they created "poor man's two-year colleges".
A good example of the industry-related approach is The Rochester Institute
of Technology in Rochester, New York, which was set up with an EDA $3*5 million
matching grant.

They began teaching machine tool trades and have now

expanded to drafting.




74
Their students "punch in" in the morning, have a 40-minute lunch,
and "punch out" at the end of the day.

They are closely supervised

during the training day and develop work habits.
conducted in a blue-collar environment.

RIT's program is

Every graduate of HIT has been

placed in a job; in fact, even the failouts have gotten jobs.
A second approach to using private sector incentives for training technical
paraprofessionals would be on actual company premises.

The argument that

i t interferes with production is real, but the benefits derived from
direct involvement and the smooth transition into the company programs is
a positive factor.

However, mid-range companies require help in

establishing and maintaining programs of this type on their own premises.
We are not speaking about apprentice-style programs, but rather the
training of significant numbers of people with fu ll time dedicated
instructors.
At MRC we have a "no layoff" policy and this necessitates that people be
moved from job to job, possibly requiring different s k ills .

We also have

complete educational reimbursement; however, i t doesn't f i l l the need of
the former since the educational program is used primarily by employees
involved in undergraduate or graduate college level programs.
We also have a New York State job incentive program funded in the form of
tax credits.

It was initiated when we built a new building.

We selected

machine tool training from a State-developed curriculum for 42 occupations.
It is essentially an apprentice program.

It is simple and effective, but

does not train technical paraprofessionals.




75
Therefore, despite a number of company and local government programs,
there remains a significant need that could and should be fille d at the
Federal level.

I believe the investment will be modest compared to the

potential results.
What I am recommending is a combination program that will provide tax
incentives to companies for training people in special sk ills leading to
careers as technical paraprofessionals.

The programs may function

on-site or in cooperation with other companies at o ff-site coalition
training centers.

These centers can be located near areas of potential

job candidates or even within c itie s.

As people are trained, sa tellite

operations could be established at inner-city sites that will utilize
these special s k ills.

The sa tellites could be storefront terminal centers

for data processing, equipment repair depots, etc.

In order to attract

the young people to the program, a nationally advertised campaign is necessary,
identifying the program as a joint industry and Government endeavor.
The mid-range companies are ready to make a commitment to the program
as they really have li t t l e in the way of alternatives.

Their planned

futures cannot be without a continuing supply of technical paraprofessionals.
With assistance in the form of tax incentives to overcome the in itia l setup
costs and some form of ongoing training assistance, I believe that the
program can make serious headway toward eliminating a major portion of the
skilled labor shortage.




mm

76

Senator B e n t s e n . Let me make one comment. You talk about
terminals at the office and at home, and how you think becoming
familiar with them will be easier in the home. I suppose part of that is
related to the fear of failure by a person at the office, where it is so
apparent. You can blow it at home and finally wrork it out without
embarrassment.
Mr. W e i n i g . That’s absolutely true.
Senator B e n t s e n . Our next witness is W . Paul Cooper. M r. Cooper,
proceed, sir, please. W e are pleased to have you.

STATEMENT OF W. PAUL COOPER, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD,
ACME-CLEVELAND CORP., CHAIRMAN, GOVERNMENT RELA­
TIONS COMMITTEE, AND VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL
MACHINE TOOL BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION, McLEAN, VA., ACCOM­
PANIED BY JOHN MANDL, TRAINING DIRECTOR

Mr. C o o p e r . Thank you. I am Paul Cooper, chairman of the board
of Acme-Cleveland Corp., and not an engineer. [Laughter.]
With me is John Mandl, training director, of the National Machine
Tool Builders’ Association.
NMTBA is a trade association representing about 400 manufac­
turers of machine tools in 33 States that account for approximately
90 percent of U.S. production.
Employment in the industry is presently around 100,000 people. A
major portion of the machine tool industry’s work force consists of
highly skilled machinists, assemblers, and maintenance personnel.
These occupations do not require a college degree but require about
the same amount of time as a college education to achieve the required
skills and be proficient on the job.
Teaching these skills through formal apprenticeship programs,
cooperative education programs, and on-the-job training programs are
desirable methods of creating the qualified people needed for the
future.
But disruptions occur in that process. Due to the cyclical nature of
our industry, many young workers are subject to occasional layoffs as
dictated by seniority rules. Some don’t return but pursue other occu­
pations. As a result, the kind of skilled work force we need is in short
supply during expansion years. Obviously, smoothing the peaks and
valleys of business cycles would do much to maintain a stable work
force.
But that’s not the only problem that affects us. Other factors
include:
The shift to white collar and service jobs.

The statistical projections of the declining number of workers age
18-25, and declining school enrollments will have an impact on the
work force in general, not just in metalworking.
A perception by too many people that working in a factory is a low
rung on the occupational choice ladder and that industrial work is in
conflict with occupations which help people.
Also, I believe there is a lack of effective career guidance in public
schools toward industrial work.
Another factor tending to divert students from potential industrial
work has been excessive emphasis on students to enter college, just




7 7

for the sake of going to college. Believe me, we need college-trained
engineers in electronics, manufacturing, and design as desperately
as we need anyone else. But in terms of sheer numbers, we need
proportionately more people in the skilled trades.
Many of us in our industry are working to encourage more people,
young people to go into manufacturing engineering. That’s the art
of how do you make it, because here again is a current shortage.
Our schools have yet to produce finished products, that is, graduates,
who can become productive without extensive on-the-job training
at considerable cost to the employer. Most large employers accept
this responsibility as the cost of doing business. Indeed, much state
of the art technical training must be done by the employer. Many
small employers either cannot, or do not, provide this training be­
cause of the financial overhead involved and the drain on skilled
workers who have to do the teaching.
Temporary measures used by many companies to overcome short­
ages of skilled people include, one, maintaining the current work force
and stretching out delivery time with a resultant flow of imports
to fill the gap; two, simplifying jobs by breaking the task into com­
ponents that can be handled by relatively less skilled people; three,
hiring foreign skilled workers; four, utilizing skilled people through
more overtime work; and five, pirating skilled people from other
companies.
The practice of crash hiring of skilled workers to fulfill a contract
within a specified timeframe obviously drives up wage costs and
causes problems for the companies that lose skilled people.
None of these measures builds up or insures a skilled work force
for the future or significantly contributes to the pool of craftsmen
needed by the Nation. It exacerbates our competitive disadvantage
with other countries.
The House Armed Services Committee report of December 30,
1980, on the defense industrial base has estimated that the Nation
would be short 250,000 skilled machinists by 1985. The Department
of Labor’s projections from 1979 emphasized the need for 23,000
new skilled machinists each year for the next 10 years.
In a period of economic slowdown or stagnation as some segments
of industry are experiencing right now, it is easy to ignore or minimize
future needs. But considering that it takes 3 or 4 years to train
skilled people we cannot afford to reduce our technical and apprentice­
ship programs in slow times and expect to have enough craftsmen in
the future. And yet we do this in many cases, all too often, because
of the significant costs involved.
Each trainee involves the cost of lost productivity during the
early learning stages; trainee wage costs and costs of support person­
nel doing the training, and facility and equipment costs which add
up to a substantial investment. This investment is typically in the
range of $25,000 to $40,000 for each 4-year apprenticeship program.
And if we do not have the people, or pay the training costs, who
will operate, maintain and support the reindustrialization process
in the future? What would happen if we had to expand our productive
capacity immediately because of a national emergency?
The industrial might of America, for those of us not directly engaged
in those activities, is largely taken for granted. It’s thought to be
“ just there.”

90-376

0 - 8 2 - 6




78
But it won’t be there forever unless we pay attention to our in­
dustrial base.
We are all familiar with the loss of jobs and technical superiority
in the manufacture of radios, television sets, watches, automobiles,
tires, and other products. This could also happen to the machine
tool industry— an industry vital to national defense—if we do not do
everything possible to improve our competitiveness in world markets.
Positive actions taken by the association to improve its human
resources position in the face of these negative factors include working
closely with the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America in supporting
their goals and activities. VICA is a youth organization of over a
quarter of a million members in high schools and technical schools
across the country. This organization represents a successful effort
to instill in their members the twin goals of pride in work and good
citizenship.
VICA sponsors State and regional competitions each year to
determine the best students in a variety of occupational pursuits
such as auto mechanics, bricklaying, electronics, welding, metal­
working, and 30 other occupations. The winners of State and regional
contests then compete in a national competition called the U.S. Skill
Olympics, which will be held in Louisville, Ky. next June. Over 7,000
students and visitors attended the last Skill Olympics held this
year in Atlanta, Ga.
Additionally, the VICA organization sponsors an International
Skill Olympics which was held in conjunction with the U.S. Skill
Olympics this year.
This year the three top winners in the machinist competition in the
international event were from Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
Perhaps that is an indication of the emphasis those countries are
placing on training youth for industry, and perhaps a warning to us
that we don’t want our sons and daughters to be skilled machinists
that there are plenty of foreign workers willing and able to take over
these jobs for us.
We are making a continuing effort to accelerate programs that make
people aware of the challenging career opportunities available in
manufacturing. The association has increased its effort in this area
by expanding the scope of our promotional efforts on the industry’s
behalf.
These activities are a part, albeit small, of the long-term solution
to the chronic skills shortage. Many other things have to be done, and
there is no single program or policy that will be a cure-all.
For example, the efforts that the military establishment is making
in introducing apprenticeship programs is supported by everyone I
know involved with industrial training.
Senator B e n t s e n . Let me interrupt a minute. What kind of budget
does the association have for this promotional effort on behalf of the
industry—for the films showing career opportunities transmitted
over cable TV? How much money are we talking about being dedi­
cated to that effort?
Mr. C o o p e r . John, what would you estimate?
M r . M a n d l . Yes, sir, if I may answer that. The current film budget
is $186,000.
Senator B e n t s e n . Gentlemen, one media campaign for one Con­
gressman is more than that. That is not much money in this day and
time. B u t it is certainly needed.




7 9

Mr. C o o p e r . I should point out we’re a relatively small industry.
Mr. M a n d l . Senator, let me point out that the funds we are talking
about are for production costs only. In that light, this compares
favorably with the production cost budgets of most congressional
campaigns. Media costs, as you know, are a different and more expen­
sive budget item. The film will be available to schools and cable
television, as well as for the use of our own members. Our association’s
distribution costs will average about $35,000 per year. In addition,
our members will make a significant contribution to the distribution of
this film.
Mr. C o o p e r . The Department of Defense has long had a program
directed toward improving skills training by loaning machinery to
Schools through its ^Tools for Schools” program. More emphasis on
this program, and updating of the equipment made available to schools
should be explored as one additional step toward assuring a skilled
work force. In addition, bureaucratic regulations make it fairly diffi­
cult to transfer equipment to qualified training institutions. I had
indications in discussions before the meeting that they now are being
eased.
The U.S. Department of Labor had supported skills training activi­
ties for many years, first through the Manpower Development and
Training Act and then through the Comprehensive Employment and
Training Act, CETA. NMTBA has participated in these programs
as a contractor with the Department of Labor. About 15,000 people
have been trained through on-the-job training programs over the years
at an average cost to the taxpayer of less than $1,000 per trainee.
These programs have helped to alleviate what has proven to be a
persistent skills shortage problem, the discrepancy between the skilled
jobs available to be filled and the lack of qualified persons to fill those
jobs, but the program has not solved it.
If there is a rationale for Federal involvement in private sector
training activities it is to make up for the shortfall in the quantity
and educational quality of students, who, having been processed
through the public educational system still do not, in the needed
numbers, possess sufficient educational skills to take advantage of the
on-the-job training offered by employers in skilled occupations.
I fully appreciate that the public school system does not exist merely
to provide candidates for industry. But whether industry should be
expected to perform functions which could have been accomplished
through our publicly financed schools is a matter for serious public
discussion. Basic education is currently being supplied by industry at a
considerable expense, not the least of which is a loss of productivity
and competitiveness during this remedial training period.
Some policy options which might be considered m the resolution of
these problems include one, improving quality control in our publicly
financed educational system to the point that the finished products
of that system, the students, can be absorbed into private industry
without remedial education; two, during the time this improvement
in the educational system is taking place, private industry should
be supported in providing technical education through appropriations
or training tax credits, especially for critical occupation skills areas
anticipated to be in short supply during the 1980’s; and three, industry
should be expected to provide all postsecondary technical education
on its own. This is a most laudable position, but one made most




8 0

difficult in light of the negative factors previously cited. To do nothing
is to exercise their option.
In conclusion, I would point out that in order to stay competitive
in maintaining a viable industrial base, we must provide support
for training in the private industrial sector.
A priority should be established to emphasize occupational oppor­
tunities in the Nation’s defense/industrial base, in order to influence
and direct more students into the technical fields that support
industrial growth, and would provide a pool of technically trained
people needed in any emergency. While I am not suggesting a World
War II campaign in which we make a heroine of 11Rosy the Riveter”
or introduce slogans like “ Keep’em Flying,” some emphasis along
this line is needed.
Every student who graduates from high school should have a
solid mathematics and science background. This is knowledge that
will allow them to be more rapidly absorbed into the work force and
enable an employer to train and make its employees more productive
sooner.
Indeed, the exposure to mathematics and the sciences in high
school may be the spark that ignites the student’s interest toward
careers in manufacturing, where all these skills are used daily on
a practical basis.
We must improve the image of vocational education and place
more emphasis on occupational training where people can work
both with their hands and their minds. Legislation affecting vocational
education is being considered now under the reauthorization of the
Vocational Education Act. All of us are concerned with the future
education of youngsters in occupational training and should take an
interest in the specifics of that reauthorization bill to be sure that
it supports the kinds of activities that will insure a steady flow of
well-rounded students into industry.
Thank you very much. I too will be happy to answer questions.
Senator B e n t s e n . Thank you, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Mandl.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Cooper follows:]




81
P r e p a r e d St a t e m e n t

1-

of

W,

Pa u l Co o p e r

INTRODUCTION
NMTBA is a Trade Association representing about 400

manufacturers of machine tools in 33 states that account for
approximately 90% of U. S. production.

The industry contains a

large number of very small businesses.

There are only 9

establishments with 1,000 or more employees, and 36 with 500 or
more employees.

Most of the remaining machine tool

manufacturers throughout the country can be classified as truly
small businesses.

Employment in the industry is presently around
100,000 people.

A major portion of the machine tool industry's

workforce consists of highly skilled machinists, assemblers,
and maintenance personnel.

These occupations do not require a

college degree but require about the same amount of time as a
college education to achieve the required skills and be
proficient on the job.




82
II.

THE DECLINING WORKFORCE

Teaching these skills through formal apprenticeship
programs, cooperative education programs and on-the-job
training programs are desirable methods of creating the
qualified people needed for the future.
in that process.

But disruptions occur

Due to the cyclical nature of our industry,

many young workers are subject to occasional layoffs as
dictated by seniority rules.

Some don't return, but pursue

other occupations; as a result, the kind of skilled workforce
we need is in short supply during expansion years.

Obviously,

smoothing the peaks and valleys of business cycles would do
much to maintain a stable workforce.

As an example, the recession of 1970-1971 was a
depression for our industry beoause we lost 25% of our
workforce in that time period.

Some companies eliminated their

training completely - others reduced the number of apprentice
trainees hired.

The rebuilding of our reserves of skilled

craftsmen has been improving since that time despite additional
cyclical changes in the economy which affect our industry.

But that's not the only problem that affects us.
Other factors include:




83
The shift to white collar and service jobs.

These

jobs are more widely available, they exist where
manufacturing is located and where it is not
located, providing easy accessibility to the job
market and attracting many potential employees away
from industry.

The statistical projections of the declining number
of workers age 18-24, and declining school
enrollments will have an impact on the workforce in
general, not just in metalworking.

We cannot ignore

this important fact in workforce planning in the
near future, as it will compound an already serious
problem.

A perception by too many people that working in a
"factory" is a low rung on the occupational choice
ladder and that industrial work is in conflict with
occupations which "help" people.

These perceptions are real in the minds of many
people and are perpetuated by the attitude, "I don't want my
children to work in a factory", or, "If you are not a good
student you can always transfer to the vocational education
program."




84
I don't know any slow-witted tool and die makers or
machine repair technicians, or people in a dozen other "factory"
jobs I could mention.

They are highly skilled, intelligent

people who may or may not have a college background.
are well educated.

But they

Their education includes public school and

training through apprenticeship programs or some other
combination of on-the-job training and related instruction
provided by private industry.

HI.

ROLE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
Also, I believe there is a lack of effective career

guidance in public schools toward industrial work.

Can one

entirely blame counselors for not guiding enough students to
industrial occupations?

I think not.

It is expecting too much

of school counselors to have an in-depth knowledge of hundreds of
occupations and to effectively match the "right" student with the
"right" job.

Therefore, it behooves industry to be even more

active in career day activities, promoting occupational
opportunities through films, brochures, providing speakers, and
arranging plant tours in order to expose students and counselors
to the real world of occupational career choices.

Another factor tending to divert students from
potential industrial work has been excessive emphasis on students
to enter college, just for the sake of going to college.




85
A factor perhaps in decline as the cost of a college education
increases and the perception spreads that other avenues toward a
rewarding life style exist through other occupations where you
can “
earn as you learn."

Believe me, we need college trained

engineers in electronics, manufacturing, and design as
desperately as we need anyone else.

But in terms of sheer

numbers, we need proportionately more people in the skilled
trades.

Our schools have yet to produce finished products,
i.e., graduates, who can become productive without extensive
on-the-job training at considerable cost to the employer.

Most

large employers accept this responsibility as "the cost of doing
business."

Indeed much "state of the art" technical training

must be done by the employer.

Many small employers either

cannot, or do not, provide this training because of the
financial overhead involved and the drain on skilled workers who
have to do the teaching.

IV.

TEMPORARY MEASURES
Temporary measures used by many companies to overcome

shortages of skilled people include:

(1)

Maintaining the

current workforce and delaying delivery time with a resultant
flow of imports to fill the gap?

(2)

Simplifying jobs by

breaking tasks into components that can be handled by relatively
unskilled people;




(3)

Hiring foreign skilled workers;

86
(4)

Utilizing skilled people through more overtime work? and

(5)

Pirating skilled people from other companies.

The practice

of crash hiring of skilled workers to fulfill a contract within a
specified time frame obviously drives up wage costs and causes
problems for the companies that lost skilled people.

None of these measures builds or insures a skilled
workforce for the future or significantly contributes to the pool
of craftsmen needed by the nation.

It exacerbates our

competitive disadvantage with other countries.

V.

SHORTAGE PROJECTIONS
The House Armed Services Committee Report of December

30, 1980, on the defense industrial base has estimated that the
Nation would be short 250,000 skilled machinists by 1985.

The

Department of Labor's projections from 1979 emphasized the need
for 23,000 skilled machinists each year for the next 10 years.

During the past when military requirements
necessitated, we were able to build machine tools virtually in
any type of manufacturing plant with people whose mechanical
skills could be quickly converted to the industry's requirements;
but today, given the complexity, sophistication and high
precision of today's machinery, that is almost impossible.




87
Our current industry projections based on labor force
growth of above 4% per year to 1985 would cause an increase in
production workers in metalcutting from 47,500 to 55,500 (a net
increase of 8,000).

This does not take into account

extraordinary production needs such as those that might be
required by prime contractors under the increased defense
budget.

Nor do these figures take into account additional

workers needed in the metalforming segment of our industry.

During the Korean War build-up (1949-1952) the
metalcutting production workforce in our industry doubled from
38,500 to 79,000.

The sustained economic growth in the 1960's

and our Vietnam involvement again almost doubled the production
workforce in metalcutting.

If we were expected to again double

our workforce or even substantially increase production, the
negative factors affecting our industry would come into full play.

In a period of economic slow-down or stagnation, as
some segments of industry are experiencing right now, it is easy
to ignore or minimize future needs.

But considering that it

takes 3 or 4 years to train skilled people we cannot afford to
reduce our technical and apprenticeship programs in slow times
and expect to have enough craftsmen in the future.

And yet we do

this in many cases, all too often, because of the significant
costs involved.




88
Each trainee involves the cost of lost productivity
during the early learning stages; trainee wage costs and costs of
support personnel doing the training, and facility and equipment
costs which add up to a substantial investment.

This investment

is typically in the range of $25,000 to $40,000 for a 4 year
apprenticeship program.

And if we do not have the people, or pay the training
costs, who will operate, maintain and support the re-industrialization process in the future?

What would happen if we had to

expand our productive capacity immediately because of a national
emergency?

The industrial might of America, for those of us not
directly engaged in those activities, is largely taken for
granted.

It's just there.

But it won't be there forever unless we pay attention
to our industrial base.

We are all familiar with the loss of jobs and
technical superiority in the manufacture of radios, television
sets, watches, automobiles, tires and other products.

This could

also happen to the machine tool industry - an industry vital to
national defense - if we do not do everything possible to improve
our competitiveness in world markets.




89
When jobs are lost, some skilled people do pack up.
and move to where work is available, but obviously this doesn't
happen often enough or fast enough to keep the labor force in
equilibrium.

People are more apt to stay where they are while

waiting for job prospects to improve.

Breaking family ties,

coupled with housing problems and the uncertainties of starting
a career over again in a new environment, mitigates against a
migratory skilled workforce.

VI-

ATTRACTING NEW TRAINEES
Positive actions taken by the Association to improve

its human resources position in the face of these negative
factors include working closely with th§ Vocational Industrial
Clubs of America (VICA) in supporting their goals and
activities.

VICA is a youth organization of over a quarter of

a million members in high schools and technical schools across
the country.

This organization represents a successful effort

to instill in their members the twin goals of pride in work,
and good citizenship.

V II.

VOCATIONAL TR AIN IN G

VICA sponsors state and regional competitions each
year to determine the best students in a variety of
occupational pursuits such as auto-mechanics, bricklaying,
electronics, welding, metalworking, and 30 other occupations.




90
The winners of state and regional contests then compete in a
national competition called the United States Skill Olympics,
which will be held in Louisville, Kentucky next June.

Over 7,000

students and visitors attended the last Skill Olympics held this
year in Atlanta, Georgia.

Through involvement with VICA, we have

established liaison with hundreds of vocational educators.

This

has had a positive impact on improving metalworking education.

Additionally, the VICA organization sponsors an
International Skill Olympics which was held in conjunction with
the United States Skill Olympics this year.

This year the three top winners in the machinist
competition in the international event were from Korea, Japan and
Taiwan.

Perhaps that is an indication of the emphasis those

countries are placing on training youth for industry, and perhaps
a warning to us that if we don't want our sons and daughters to beskilled machinists that there are plenty of foreign workers
willing and able to take over these jobs for us.

We are making a continuing effort to accelerate
programs that make people aware of the challenging career
opportunities available in manufacturing.

The Association has

increased its effort in this area by expanding the scope of our
promotional efforts on the industry's behalf.

A new film on

career opportunities in the industry is being developed.




91
This film will be used by Association staff and individual member
companies in employee recruitment efforts.

It will also be

available for presentation on cable television to reach adult
viewers, especially parents who can influence their children's
perception of industrial work.

These activities are a part,

albeit small, of the long term solution to the chronic skills
shortage.

Many other things have to be done, and there is no

single program or policy that will be a cure-all.

The adoption of a variety of programs and policies
that will have an impact on the educational system, the minds of
parents, and the interests of potential employees in
manufacturing must be developed over a broad base.

VIII.

MILITARY TRAINING PROGRAMS
For example, the efforts that the military

establishment is making in introducing apprenticeship programs is
supported by everyone I know involved with industrial training.
They should be expanded.

Information from the Bureau of

Apprenticeship and Training, U. S. Department of Labor, shows
that 26,883 apprentices are enrolled in the Army program, 416 in
the Navy and 712 in the Marine Corps.

The military

apprenticeships cover 72 occupations, many of which have direct
private sector industrial application such as machinists,
welders, sheet metal workers and electronic technicians.




92
The written standards or occupational task training outlines that
are carried by apprentices were developed with private sector
industrial input so that they would be easily translated and
comparable to civilian terminology.

As the military apprentices

are trained and receive experience in the various tasks within
their occupation, the successful completion of these tasks is
recorded in the apprentices' log book.

Because of other military

duties, most apprentices will not complete the full apprenticeship
program in a 3 or 4 year enlistment.

This fact serves as an additional inducement for
re-enlistment.

For those apprentices who do not re-enlist, their

log book is a permanent record of their experiences and helps them
in obtaining employment in the private sector.

This documentation of skills learned in the service is
valuable information for employers.

The fact that the person was

enrolled in a specific skills program shows that person's interest
in the field and encourages them to seek further training in that
field after separation.

Recognition of skills achieved while in

the service has the effect of substantially reducing the training
expense of the employing company, because it eliminates
duplication of training.




93
Additionally, the Department of Defense has long had
a program directed toward improving skills training by loaning
machinery to schools through its Tools for Schools program.
More emphasis on this program, and updating of the equipment
made available to schools should be explored as one additional
step toward assuring a skilled workforce.

In addition,

bureaucratic regulations make it fairly difficult to transfer
equipment to qualified training institutions.

These

regulations should be eased.

IX -

FEDERAL INVOLVEMENT IN TRAINING PROGRAMS
The U. S. Department of Labor has supported skills

training activities for many years, first through the Manpower
Development and Training Act and then through the Comprehensive
Employment and Training Act (CETA).

NMTBA has participated in

these programs as a contractor with the Department of Labor.
About 15,000 people have been trained through on-the-job
training programs over the years at an average cost to the
taxpayer of less than $1,000 per trainee.

These programs have

helped to alleviate what has proven to be a persistent skills
shortage problem (the discrepancy between the skilled jobs
available to be filled and the lack of qualified persons to
fill those j o b s ) , but has not solved it.

90-376

0 - 8 2




-

7

94
If there is a rationale for federal involvement in
private sector training activities it is to make up for the
shortfall in the quantity and educational quality of students,
who, having been processed through the public educational system
still do not, in the needed numbers, possess sufficient
educational skills to take advantage of the on-the-job training
offered by employers in skilled occupations.

I fully appreciate

that the public school system does not exist merely to provide
candidates for industry.

But whether industry should be expected

to perform functions which could have been accomplished through
our publicly financed schools is a matter for serious public
discussion.

Basic education is currently being supplied by

industry at a considerable expense, not the least of which is a
loss of productivity and competitiveness during this training
pe r i o d .

X.

POLICY OPTIONS
Some policy options which might be considered in the

resolution of these problems include:

(1)

Improving quality

control in our publicly financed educational system to the point
that the finished products of that system, the students, can be
absorbed into private industry without remedial education;

(2)

During the time this improvement in the educational system is
taking place, private industry should be supported in providing
technical education through appropriations or training tax
credits, especially for critical occupational skills areas
anticipated to be in short supply during the 1980's;




95
and (3)

Industry should be expected to provide all p o s t ­

secondary technical education on its own.

This is a most

laudable position, but one made most difficult in light of the
negative factors previously cited.

To do nothing is to

excercise the third option.

XI.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I would point out that in order to

stay competitive in maintaining a viable industrial base we must
provide support for training in the private industrial sector.
A priority should be established to emphasize occupational
opportunities in the nation's defense industrial base in order
to influence and direct more students into the technical fields
that support industrial growth and would provide a pool of
technically trained people needed in any emergency.

While I am

not suggesting a World War II campaign in which we make a
heroine of "Rosy the Riveter" or introduce slogans like "Keep
'em Flying", some emphasis along this line is needed.

Every student who graduates from high school should
have a solid mathematics and science background.

This is

knowledge that will allow them to be more readily absorbed into
the workforce and enable an employer to train and make its
employees more productive, sooner.




96
Indeed, the exposure to mathematics and the sciences
in high school may be the spark that ignites the student's
interest toward careers in manufacturing, where all these skills
are used daily on a practical basis.

We must improve the image of vocational education and
place more emphasis on occupational training where people can
work both with their hands and their minds.

Legislation

affecting vocational education is being considered now under the
re-authorization of the Vocational Education Act.

All of us who

are concerned with the future education of youngsters in
occupational training should take an interest in the specifics
of that re-authorization bill to be sure that it supports the
kinds of activities that will insure a steady flow of
well-rounded students into industry.




9 7

Senator B e n t s e n . Mr. Cooper, m y problem is I have a critical
markup in the Public Works Committee on the Clean Air bill taking
place right now. And, I am going to have to leave shortly for that.
I think what you gentlemen have brought to us has been extremely
helpful. There seems to be a common theme running through each
of your statements that technical and craft occupations have a
public image such that people going to high school do not look forward
to hands-on work. Somehow we have to turn that around.
I think what you are trying to do Mr. Cooper, is fine. I think the
amount of commitment could be larger. You have to get much
more involved than that. Y ou and Mr. Weinig noted that the bulk
of our high school graduates have few, if any, marketable skills
upon graduation. At the same time we see parents spending thousands
of dollars on college educations, which are extremely expensive these
days. Yet, once they graduate, many have few marketable skills
either. That is in direct contrast with the educational systems of
other countries, such as the earlier cited Japanese and German
systems.
M r. C o o p e r . Senator, I might point out that individual companies
in our association are working at the local level. We, for example,
have contributed thousands of dollars of machine tools to the v o ­
cational education schools in the city of Cleveland, provided supplies,
instructors, and helped with curriculum development. But we can’ t
expect the association to carry the whole ball.
Senator B e n t s e n . I understand, and compliment your program.
Mr. C o o p e r . I know other companies in the association are working
at the local level.
Senator B e n t s e n . I think one point the public has to understand
is that when we talk about career-oriented programs today, the skills
we are talking about are not the kind of skills we were talking about
30 years ago.
Mr. Weinig, in particular has pointed that out. The sophistication
and challenge required today is far above that required of youths in
the past. I know that from m y own experience on terminals. I think
I have had a reasonable education. But, it was very time consuming
trying to fully understand all the techniques and skills needed to put
a terminal to effective use.
What we are talking about today is something that is a real test
of ones knowledge. The skill is not just being able to turn a wrench.
Yet, I think the rewards are much higher, as well— a message we
must try to get across.
I am particularly appreciative of your suggestions which I will
study further. Your testimony has been very informative and per­
suasive. This is not a problem to be solved just by government,
although I think Government can be helpful.
I think the primary responsibility is with industry and our exist­
ing educational system. The Federal Government can efficiently
complement these other two sectors, and I want to see that we do it.
But it is not a problem to be solved just by throwing tax dollars at
it.
Mr. W i l l e n b r o c k . If I may interject. Mr. Vice Chairman, the
recent activity you had with regard to the R. & D. tax credit, for
example, is a perfect example of how the Government can take an
action to facilitate a university-industry connection.




9 8

Senator B e n t s e n . We put an incentive in there specifically to
assist universities. It will be helpful, and we will see how much in­
dustry takes advantage of that carrot. I hope they really go after
it.
Gentlemen, thank you very much for your contribution. It has
been very helpful to us. The subcommittee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:15 a.m., the subcommittee adjourned, subject
to the call of the Chair.]
[The following information was subsequently supplied for the
record:]




99
St a t e m e n t

of

Na t i o n a l T o o l i n g & M a c h i n i n g A s s o c i a t i o n

the

Wa s h i n g t o n ,

D.C.

The N a t i o n a l T o o l i n g a n d M a c h i n i n g A s s o c i a t i o n r e p r e s e n t s

12,503 c o m p a n i e s a n d 250,000 w o r k e r s in the U n i t e d St ates.

F or

the m os t part, N T M A m e m b e r s ar e s m a l l .businesses, y e t th e in du s t r y
gene ra t es sales in e x c e s s of

$19 b i l l i o n a year,

O ur m e m b e r s d e s i g n

A ND M A N U F A C T U R E TO OLS, DIES, JIGS, FIXTUR ES , GAGE S, S P E C I A L M AC H I N E S ,
AN D P R EC IS IO N P R O D U C T I O N PARTS,

SOM E FIR MS S P E C I A L I Z E IN E X P E R I ­

M E N TA L RE S E A R C H A N D D E V E L O P M E N T WORK.
The

tooling

and

machining

industry

is

critical

to

our

c o u n t r y 's

H EA LT H AS IT M A K E S P O S S I B L E TH E E X I S T E N C E OF V I R T U A L L Y E V E R Y O T H E R
M A N U F A C T U R I N G INDUSTRY,
MEANS OF PRODUC TI ON .

T O O L I N G IS, IN ITS S I M P L E S T SE NSE, THE

IN ITS C U R R E N T M O D E R N

I N D U S T R I A L U SA G E, T O O L ­

ING REFERS TO T HE SPE CI AL , OFT EN O N E - O F - A - K I N D D E S I R E D L E V E L S OF
U NIFORMITY, A C C U R A C Y ,

I N T E R - C H A N G E A B I L I T Y , A N D QU ALITY,

It INCLU D ES

S E V E RA L M A C H I N E T O O L S OR M A C H I N I N G S Y S T E M S W H I C H SERV E A S P E C I F I C
F UNCTION OR S E R I E S OF F U N C T I O N S R E L A T E D TO THE M A N U F A C T U R E OF S P E C I F I C
END PRODUCTS.

M A C H I N I N G I N VOLVES T HE USE OF M E C H A N I C A L ,

CHEMICAL, A ND P H O T O - O P T I C A L T E C H N I Q U E S TO FORM M AT E R I A L ,

ELECTRICAL,
USUALLY

MET AL, UNDER P R E C I S E L Y C O N T R O L L E D C ON DITIONS.
A T THE C OR E OF THE I N DU ST RY A RE THE M OS T H I G H L Y S K I L L E D W O R K E R S
IN THE COUNTRY.
SHIP RE Q U I R I N G

A J O U R N E Y M A N M U S T CO M P L E T E A F O U R - Y E A R A P P R E N T I C E ­

576 H OU RS IN T HE C L A S S R O O M AN D 8,000 H O U R S OF ON-

T HE - J O B TR AINING.
O u r I ND US T RY S U P P L I E S THE N E C E S S A R Y P RE C I S I O N T O O L I N G A N D
M A C H I N I N G FOR S U C H V I T A L I N D U S T R I E S AS DE FE N SE , A U T O M O T I V E ,
A EROSP AC E , A P P L I A N C E , B U S I N E S S M A C H IN E S, E LE C T R O N I C S , A G R I C U L T U R A L
IMPLEMENTS, OR DN A N C E , T R A N S P O R T A T I O N ,
EQUIPMENT, N U CL EA R, A N D M A N Y MORE.

ENVIRONMENTAL, CONSTRUCTION

In POIN T OF FACT, N E A R L Y

EV ERY M A N U F A C T U R E R D OE S B U S I N E S S AT ONE TIME OR A N O T H E R W I T H
THE CO N T R A C T T O O L I N G A N D M A C H I N I N G INDUSTRY.
Approximately

20 p e r c e n t of o ur m e m b e r s do w o r k for t he

D e p a r t m e n t of De f e n s e , m o s t l y on p a rt s a t the s u b c o n t r a c t o r level.




100
Other members produce t o o l i n g for prime contractors.

An ac ute

P R O B L E M FOR T H E D E F E N S E S U B C O N T R A C T O R , AS W E L L A S T H E P R I V A T E
I ND US T R Y C O N T R A C T O R S IN O U R IN DU S T R Y ,

IS A N A C U T E S H O R T A G E OF

S K I L L E D LABOR, B O T H F O R T O O L I N G A N D PARTS.

T H E I M P L I C A T I O N S OF

TH I S S H O R T A G E A R E D I R E, B O T H F O R D E F E N S E P R O C U R E M E N T , A S W E L L
A S T HE O V E R A L L

In a

U. S,

I N D U S T R I A L BASE.

1980 r e p o r t o f t h e D e f e n s e I n d u s t r i a l B a s e P a n e l of t h e

H o u s e C o m m i t t e e on A r m e d S e r v i c e s , C h a i r m a n M e l P r i c e c o n c l u d e d
that, "In t h e e v e n t o f a w a r , t h e U.S. d e f e n s e i n d u s t r y w o u l d f i n d
it a l m o s t i m p o s s i b l e t o e x p a n d its w e a p o n s p r o d u c t i o n s u d d e n l y a n d
D R A M A T I C A L L Y IN T H E N U M B E R S N E C E S S A R Y T O S U S T A I N A P R O L O N G E D C O N F L IC T .

I n T H E SAM E R EP O R T , T H E D E F E N S E S C I E N C E B O A R D T A S K F O R C E C O N C L U D E D
T H A T A M A J O R C O N T R I B U T O R T O T H E I N C R E A S I N G L E A D T I M E A N D C OS T
C U R R E N T L Y A F F E C T I N G T H E D E F E N S E S U B - C O M M U N I T Y IS A C O N T I N U I N G
S H O R T A G E OF S K I L L E D L A B O R A M O N G S M A L L B U S I N E S S S U B C O N T R A C T O R S .

" IT IS C L E A R T H A T T H E S H O R T A G E S OF M A C H I N I S T S A N D O T H E R S K I L L E D
LABORERS ARE C O N T R I B U T I N G FACTORS WHICH ADV E R S E L Y AF F E C T THE ABILITY
OF T HE S U B - T I E R B A S E T O R E S P O N D R A P I D L Y T O S I G N I F I C A N T I N C R E A S E S
IN D E F E N S E P R O D U C T I O N D E M A N D S . "

IF A N Y T H I N G ,

T H I S R E P O R T M A Y BE U N D E R S T A T I N G T H E P R OB LE M .

A n i n d u st ry b a s e s u r v e y c o n d u c t e d b y NTMA in 1980 s h o w e d a s h o r t a g e
of

60,000 s k i l l e d w o r k e r s r i g h t n o w w i t h a d e m a n d e x p e c t e d t o cl i m b

to

250,000 a d d i t i o n a l w o r k e r s b y 1985.

Unless this critical skilled

l a b o r s h o r t a g e is a d d r e s s e d , w e w i l l f i n d t h a t m a j o r w e a p o n s s y s t e m s
W I L L FA CE C O S T L Y A N D T I M E - C O N S U M I N G D E L A Y S A S T H E Y M U S T W A I T IN T U R N




101
FO R T H E S P E C I A L I Z E D , H I G H L Y - S K I L L E D S E R V I C E S OF O N E OF O U R S U B ­
CONTRACTORS.

IN A P E A C E T I M E

ECONOMY, THEY WIL L BE COMPETING AGAINST

P R I V A T E IN D USTRY, W H I C H ’W I L L B E B U I L D I N G N E W A S S E M B L Y L I N E S A S A
R E S U L T OF T H E I N C E N T I V E S FO R B U S I N E S S I N V E S T M E N T P R O V I D E D IN T H E
P r e s i d e n t 's

tax

,

package

We b e l i e v e t h e

s h o r t a g e of s k i l l e d l a b o r is n o t r e l a t e d to

WAGES PAID TO WORKERS.
and

$¿10,000.

A SKILLED JOURNEYMAN EARNS BETWEEN $25,000

In s t e a d ,

we

feel

the

shortage

is

caused

by

other

E C O N O M I C F A C T O R S W H I C H M A K E T H E C O S T OF T R A I N I N G T H E H I G H L Y S K I L L E D
INCREASINGLY UNAFFORDABLE TO SMALL COMPANIES:
1.

The

c o s t of

THIS

training

INDUSTRY

the

highly

skilled

IS E X T R E M E L Y HIGH.

workers

for

THE COST INCLUDES

A C A P I T A L I N V E S T M E N T OF B E T W E E N $ 4 0 , 0 0 0 A N D $ 6 0 , 0 0 0
PER W O R K E R A N D 4 Y E A R S O F T I M E W H I L E T H E W O R K E R C O M P L E T E S
THE APPRENTICESHIP.
2.

Mo s t

companies

competitive

.

in

The

small

business

relatively

industries

modest

are

highly

profits, small

size

,

A N D L A C K OF S P E C I A L I Z A T I O N DO N O T A F F O R D T H E L U X U R Y OF
FORMAL TRAINING PROGRAMS.
APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING

THEY ARE EFFECTIVE AT ONE-ON-ONE

IN T H E O L D A N D T R A D I T I O N A L

C O N C E P T OF S K I L L S T R A I N I N G .
3.

Where

shortages

of

skilled

labor

already

exist

,

there

are

U S U A L L Y S E R I O U S B A C K L O G S A N D C O N C U R R E N T P R E S S U R E S ON
production

.

Sm a l l

manufacturers

are

reluctant

to

take

JOURNEYMEN OFF THEIR REGULAR DUTIES TO TRAIN NEW EMPLOYEES
BECAUSE THIS SLOWS PRODUCTION AND LOWERS PRODUCTIVITY.




102
The

present

skills

shortage

is

living

proof

that

existing

P R O G R A M S D E S I G N E D T O E N C O U R A G E T R A I N I N G H A V E F A I L E D T O D O T H E JOB.
1*

Pr o g r a m s

funded

through

Department

the

of

La b o r ,

such

as

CETA, H A V E G R A D U A L L Y B E C O M E S O C I A L U P L I F T IN O R I E N T A T I O N .
o

They
for

are
jobs

designed

to

train

that

or

may

may

the

not

economically

exist

,

rather

disadvantaged
than

designed

T O I D E N T I F Y A N D T R A I N T H O S E Q U A L I F I E D FOR T H E H I G H - P A Y I N G ,
B U T E Q U A L L Y D E M A N D I N G , A V A I L A B L E S K I L L E D JOBS.

THE

FO R M E R M A Y H A V E S O C I O L O G I C A L V A L U E , B U T T H E L A T T E R M A K E S
E C O N O M I C SENSE.

A S K I L L E D W O R K E R IN T H E T O O L I N G A N D

M A C H I N I N G I N D U ST RY , T H E H I G H T E C H N O L O G Y E L E C T R O N I C S
IN D US TR Y, A N D O T H E R S N E E D C E R T A I N M A T H E M A T I C A L S K I L L S
AND LOGICAL APTITUDES,
DETERMINATION,

P HYSICAL DEXTERITY,

PATIENCE,

P E R S E V E R A N C E , A N D IM AG I N A T I O N .

THEY ARE

P E R H A P S T H E M O S T H I G H L Y S K I L L E D W O R K E R S IN A M E R I C A TODA Y.

Our i n d u s t r y ha s r u n a C E T A - f u n d e d p r e - e m p l o y m e n t p r o g r a m
FOR

18 years.

I t h as l o n g b e e n C O N S I D E R E D O N E OF T HE

BEST JOINT EFFORTS BETWEEN

INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT.

If IT H AD B E E N A D E Q U A T E L Y F U N D E D A N D C O N T I N U E D O P E R A T I N G
U N D E R T H E O R I G I N A L M A N P O W E R D E V E L O P M E N T A N D T R A I N I N G ACT,
IT C O U L D H A V E D O N E A T R E M E N D O U S A M O U N T T O A L L E V I A T E
THE S H O R T A G E T H A T N O W E XI S T S .

HOWEVER,

WERE FUNDED AT HIGHER RATES UNDER THE




E V E N IF W E

CETA C R I T E R I A , T H E

103
E F F E C T I V E N E S S A N D A C C E P T A N C E OF T H I S P R O G R A M W O U L D C O N T I N U E
TO D E T E R I O R A T E U N T I L T H E G O V E R N M E N T R E C O G N I Z E S T H A T B A S I C
APTITUDE,

RATHER THAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND,

IS T H E

S I N G L E M O S T I M P O R T A N T D E T E R M I N A N T OF P O T E N T I A L S U C C E S S
FOR H I G H L Y S K I L L E D JOBS.

B U S I N E S S M U S T BE P E R M I T T E D T O

RECRUIT PEOPLE WITH PROPER QUALIFICATIONS RATHER THAN
B E F O R C E D T O R E C R U I T P E R S O N S W H O A R E IN M A N Y C A S E S U N T R A I N ABLE FOR HIGH L Y SK I L L E D PROFESSIONS.
2.

Ta x

credit

programs

,

such

as

the

targeted

SUFFER FROM THE SAME MISDIRECTION.

jobs

tax

credit

,

I n NO W A Y A R E T H E Y

A I M E D A T I D E N T I F Y I N G A N D T R A I N I N G . T H E R I G H T K I N D OF
INDIVIDUALS FOR THE A VAILABLE COMPATIBLE JOBS T H A T EXIST
today

.

Le g i s l a t o r s

have

not

faced

a

central

truth

.

No t

E V E R Y O N E F R O M A N Y P O P U L A T I O N H AS TH E A P T I T U D E R E Q U I R E D
TO B E C O M E A H I G H L Y S K I L L E D M A C H I N I S T .

MANY OF THE

ECONOMICALLY D ISADVANTAGED ARE ALSO OFTEN EDUCATIONALLY
DISADVANTAGED.

As A R E S U L T , A S M A L L E R P R O P O R T I O N OF

T HI S P O P U L A T I O N P O S S E S S

THE

APTITUDES TO BE EFFECTIVE

IN T H I S A N D O T H E R H I G H L Y S K I L L E D P R O F E S S I O N S .

ANY PRO­

G R A M W H I C H I M P O S E S I N F L E X I B L E R E S T R I C T I O N S ON T H E
P O P U L A T I O N W H I C H C A N B E T R A I N E D OR R E S T R I C T I O N S ON T E C H N I Q U E S
U SE D T O I D E N T I F Y T H O S E W H O CAN B E T R A I N E D , W I L L U L T I M A T E L Y
F A I L A S A S O L U T I O N T O T H E S K I L L S S H O R T A G E IN T H I S C O U NT R Y.

3.

Vo c a t i o n a l

education

S AM E T E N D E N C I E S .




programs

I n ADDITION,

have

suffered

from

some

of

T H E R E HAS B E E N A L A C K OF

the

104
COMMUNICATION B E T W E E N THE VOCATIONAL COMMUNITY AN D THE
EMPLOYER GROUPS.

PRESENTLY, THERE SEEMS TO B E A TREND

TOWARD B E TTER COOP E R A T I O N BETWEEN THE 2 GROUPS

AND

V OCATIONAL E D U C A T I O N PROGR A M S SHOULD BE S U P P O R T E D TO
E N C O U R A G E T H I S D E S I R E D C H AN G E,

HO W EVER, T H I S W I L L T A K E

MANY, M A N Y Y E A R S A N D S O L U T I O N S T O T HE P R O B L E M A R E
N E E D E D NOW.

4.

A n E V E N B R O A D E R P R O B L E M IS T H E F A I L U R E OF P R I M A R Y A N D
SECONDARY S CHOOL SYSTEMS TO PROVIDE THE B ASIC C O R N E RSTONE
IN M A T H E M A T I C S A N D E N G L I S H W H I C H A R E T H E B A S I C T O O L S OF
ALL BUSINESSES,
W OR SE ,

E S P E C I A L L Y OURS.

RESULTING

T H E P R O B L E M IS G E T T I N G

IN A S M A L L E R P O O L OF Q U A L I F I E D C A N D I D A T E S

EACH YEAR.

O u r I N D U S T R Y H A S B E E N V I E W I N G T H E P R O B L E M FO R S O M E T I M E ,
S E E K I N G SOME E F F I C I E N T ,

LOGICAL,

PRACTICAL, AND SIMPLE A P P R O A C H

U. S.

T O T H E S H O R T A G E OF S K I L L E D L A B O R IN T H E

We C O N C L U D E A N D

R E C O M M E N D T H E F O L L O W I N G T W O C O U R S E S T O S O LV E T H E S K I L L S S H O R T A G E :
1.

Jo i n t

industry/government

training

programs

should

be

CONTINUED AN D SHO U L D BE EXPANDED, BUT THE GOAL A ND
O P E R A T I O N S H O U L D B E R E T U R N E D T O T H O S E OF T H E O R I G I N A L
Ma n p o w e r D e v e l o p m e n t
Sp e c i f i c

purpose

and

programs

fund

QUICKLY AS

of

and

MDTA

which

Training Act
was
would

to

of

identify

train

1962.

The

manpower

qualified

shortages

people

, "a s

IS R E A S O N A B L Y P O S S I B L E IN O R D E R T H A T T H E N A T I O N

M A Y M E E T T H E S T A F F I N G R E Q U I R E M E N T S OF T H E S T R U G G L E F OR
FREEDOM."




This

IS A C O N S I D E R A B L Y D I F F E R E N T A P P R O A C H T H A N

105
IS PRESENTLY e m b o d ie d u n d e r e x i s t i n g

CETA

I t MAY BE THAT THE ORIGINAL PHILOSOPHY OF
APPLIED TO
the

MQTA

BY A D M INISTRATIVE ACTION.

COULD BE

We ARE SURE

S e c r e t a r y o f L a b o r w o uld a p p r e c ia t e s u g g e s t io n s

from t h i s
l a t io n

2.

CETA

pr o g r a m s.

Co m m i t t e e .

It

m ay b e ,

how ever,

that

l e g is

­

WOULD BE NECESSARY. .

A S P E C I A L I Z E D S K I L L S T R A I N I N G T A X C RE D I T , A V A I L A B L E T O
THOSE CRITICAL INDUSTRIES WITH A DEMONSTRABLE SHORTAGE
OF H I G H L Y S K I L L E D L A BO R ,

S H O U L D B E ENAC TE D .

THE AMOUNT

OF T H E T A X C R E D I T S H O U L D BE C L O S E T O T H E T R U E C O S T OF
TRAINING, W H I C H

IS Q U I T E HIGH,

IN O R D E R T O O F F S E T T H O S E

C O S T S A N D T H E L O S S OF P R O D U C T I V I T Y W H I C H O C C U R S D U R I N G
TH E T R A I N I N G P R O C E S S .

TH E TAX CREDIT SHOULD B E APPLIED

O N L Y T O N E W A P P R E N T I C E S A N D O N L Y TO I N D U S T R I E S OR
PROFESSIONS HAVING A CERTIFIABLE SHORTAGE SHOULD BE
E L I G IB LE .
TWO PIECES OF LEGISLATION HAVE BEEN OFFERED WHICH ADDRESS
TH IS PROBLEM.

THE JOB CREATION TAX Ac t OF 1981,

INTRODUCED BY

Co n g res sm an Nowak a n d c o s p o n s o r e d b y Co n g r e s s m a n Ma r r i o t t , vwould
ADD A "BONUS CREDIT" TO A "BASE CREDIT" TO ENCOURAGE THE H IR IN G
OF EMPLOYEES IN

labor,

INDUSTRIES EXPERIENCING A SHORTAGE OF SKILLED

U n d e r t h e b i l l , a l l e m p l o y e r s w o u l d b e a l l o w e d a cr e d i t ,

W H I C H C O U L D A M O U N T T O A S M U C H A S $ 3 , 9 0 0 D U R I N G T H E F I R S T Y E A R OF
£ M P L O Y M E N T PE R E M P L O Y E E .

I n A D D I T I O N TO T H A T A M O U N T ,

A BONUS

C R E D I T OF A S M U C H A S $ 2 , 4 0 0 W O U L D B E A D D E D FOR E A C H OF T W O Y E A R S
IF T H E E M P L O Y E E




IS R E C E I V I N G S K I L L S T R A I N I N G A N D IN A N

106
INDUSTRY WITH LABOR SHORTAGES.

A SIM ILA R BONUS CREDIT APPLIES TO

EMPLOYERS IN DISTRESSED AREAS.

THUS, A COMPANY COULD RECOVER A

S IG N IFIC A N T PORTION OF THE COST OF TRAINING A SKILLED WORKER.
IT WOULD TOTAL
year.

$5,400

IN THE FIR S T YEAR AND

T he Nowak /M a r r io t t b i l l ,

H. R. 3726,

$2,400

IN THE SECOND

is o n e o f t h e f i r s t

B ILLS TO RECOGNIZE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE SKILLED LABOR SHORTAGE
IN TH IS COUNTRY AND THE“ ECONOMIC DIFFERENTIALS

INVOLVED IN TRAINING

THE HIGHLY S K IL L tD .
Su b s e q u e n t l y ,

Co n g r e s s m a n Don Ba i l e y

I n d u s t r y Re i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n T a x Ac t o f
PROVIDES A

50

in t r o d u c e d

198 1.

Th is

Cr i t i c a l

the

l e g is l a t io n

PERCENT CREDIT OF FIRST YEAR WAGES AND A

30

PERCENT

CREDIT OF SECOND YEAR WAGES PROVIDED TO THE EMPLOYER OF ANY.
IN D IV ID U AL IN A SKILLS TRA IN IN G PROGRAM IN AN INDUSTRY WITH A
SHORTAGE OF SKILLED LABOR.

THE ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGE OF TH IS

APPROACH IS THAT IT AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTS FOR INFLATION
RATES.

T hank y o u .




IN WAGE