Both male and female are very close to each other when it comes to the labor force in the United Sates but there are still ESA industries where most of the jobs are occupied by male. Furthermore, women’s attainment of median earnings is still SIP as they still earn less than median earnings that men have. Future shifts in the available workforce could mean that more women are expected to work in occupations which are currently categorized as male-dominated like the manufacturing, the utilities, and the higher education staff who are involved in the skilled crafts division, or the faculties and service/maintenance.
At the present moment the majority of the participants in the project are women and their percentage equals to 46. 9% of the total number of employees while representing 29% of the total workforce, according to the survey conducted in the previous year. 2% of job position in manufacturing and 21. In utilities or electric/metered’ or in electricity generation/delivery or water/waste water management, 4% of the positions. Women and men are more equally represented in higher education staff, however salary differences between women and men in the industry increase the longer an employee holds their position. Salaries for men on higher education staff increase steadily based on years in position, while salaries stay mostly the same for women who have been in their positions for 8-22 years, creating a wage gap that increases with the number of years in a position, and is similar to that seen in the overall workforce, where women’s earnings are 83% of men’s.
Factors Affecting the Workforce
The total population of workers within the United States is aging; at present, 23% of the workforce are 55 years old and above, this figure was 12 percent in 1995. Mainly the Baby Boomers have been in the work age range of 1946 to 1964 and are now retiring from the workforce. The Generation X, ranged between 1965 to 1981, is actually 27% smaller in size than the baby boomers and hence there are less qualified workforce to fill the vacancies. Thus, as the largest generation with 30% more numerous than Generation X the set of Millennials born in between 1981 and 1996 will be entering many of the vacancies left by retiring Baby Boomer-era workers within the overall labor force. However, previous changes in the American educational system that has moved away from teaching trades and concentration on academics has led to fewer students being trained on vocational courses and being introduced to careers in trades’ craft skills.
Currently, the Millennials will become the most numerous generation surpassing, for example, the Baby Boomers, but executives cannot remain insensitive to the dramatically different approach toward education and work between the two groups. To be more precise, 52 percent of the manufacturing jobs could remain unfilled in 2028 due to skilled talent crunch. Similar to manufacturing, utilities and higher education staff industries statistics indicate that their employees are older than the average; hence these two industries are likely to be dramatically affected by these changes in the number of skilled workers willing to replace the retiring older workers.
Opportunities For Women
This is evident because challenges relating to an ageing and changing Manus offer a chance for women to get employed in the areas of work that have for long been reserved for men. Given the fact that employment rates remain high and positions vacated by retiring employees are still available, companies, especially in manufacturing, utilities, and higher ed staff are beginning to seek for ways and means to fill up vacancy gaps. Many organizations are seeing benefits from efforts to retain and recruit skilled women. A growing body of research shows that more gender-diverse companies often financially outperform competitors. Gender-diverse companies tend to raise more average revenue and perform better in average relative returns. These companies also have high employee satisfaction and retention rates, reducing the costs involved in recruiting and training new employees.
A majority of surveyed manufacturing executives stated that on-the-job training and in-house learning are the preferred learning methods for developing employee skills. Long-term employees have acquired valuable knowledge and skills, and can act as experienced mentors and trainers for other employees. Efforts to fill skilled job openings in manufacturing, utilities, and higher ed staff can also help close the wage gap between women and men, as employers recognize the opportunity to offer higher wages to both keep and attract talent.
Shifting Skill Sets
Further, new technologies, methods, and techniques are rapidly influencing the types of skills required for these industries. Core business competencies still dominate throughout the manufacturing, utilities industries and in higher education staff; however, the advanced technology implementations are eradicating the need for these competencies gradually. This is an imperative since to complete a task such as programming industrial machines or dealing with engineering software such as the CAD (computer aided drawing), one requires computer skills. However, ‘Hard’ technical skills or the digital skills are not the only skills in demand; there is a need for human skills, soft skills.
Some of the skills which are the current sought by employers include thinking critically and creatively along with having original ideas, solving problems, or managing personnel. These skills are less industry-specific, leading to efforts to attract women employed in other industries, especially to managerial roles. Having women visible in senior roles also attracts other skilled women to companies, helping to fill the talent gap. In the end, changes in the types of available employees as well as evolving technology may result in more women employed in traditionally male-dominated industries.
