Intentional focus on inclusion needed to increase diversity in manufacturing – Crain’s Cleveland Business

Manufacturing has a long way to go in terms of workforce diversity, but there are tangible steps companies, communities and policymakers can take to help close the gap. That's the conclusion reached by a new report, Industry and Inclusion: A Blueprint for Action. The report is part of the Industry and Inclusion 4.0 project, an ongoing collaboration between The Century Foundation in New York, the national Urban Manufacturing Alliance and a number of workforce development and manufacturing organizations primarily across the Midwest.

Locally, this includes MAGNET in Cleveland, which was named as part of the coalition last summer. Other partners are located in Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Baltimore.

Manufacturing has long held a critical role in the U.S. economy and beyond, which the report describes.

"The linkage between manufacturing and inclusive economic development should come as no surprise, as communities of color have long looked to manufacturing as a source of well-paying jobs and a pathway into the middle class," the report stated. "During the first half of the twentieth century, the need for industrial workers helped fuel the Great Migration from the South to the North. Despite this history, many current media narratives link manufacturing with the experiences of the white working class, even though it was Black and Latinx urban communities that bore the brunt of late twentieth-century deindustrialization."

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the immediate need for medical and personal protective equipment it created, highlighted the importance of the U.S. having a strong industrial base. And manufacturing will be "central" to solving the climate crisis, the report stated.

There are jobs available in the industry, but work needs to be done toward racial and gender equity. Currently, almost 70% of people in manufacturing are white, non-Hispanic, the report noted, and about 70% are men. To create a more racially inclusive industry, which the report focused on, manufacturers will have to both recruit and promote more people of color.

"Such an effort will require manufacturers and their education and community partners to re-establish the bonds of trust between factories and communities burnt by previous waves of downsizing. To do so, they will need to take new approaches to recruiting, prepare and support youth and adults to succeed in manufacturing careers, and take action to make manufacturing workplaces more inclusive," according to the report.

Some major takeaways from the cohort partners, so far: industry-recognized credentials are helpful, but not enough. Education and training in manufacturing is changing, offering connections to degrees and moving away from a focus on skills to a "learning mindset," the report stated.

Some barriers to a more inclusive workplace include not only awareness, but childcare challenges and geographic distance, the report said, barriers of which industry partners should be aware. Being intentional about creating a welcoming environment is also critical.

The report also has a series of specific recommendations for companies and communities and for policymakers.

On the community and company side, those include pursuing credentials of use to local companies, committing to long-term racial equality and using trauma-informed approaches. For policymakers, the report suggests reforming the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, creating a National Manufacturing Reinvestment Corporation and expanding data collection around racial equity and federal training.

More here:

Intentional focus on inclusion needed to increase diversity in manufacturing - Crain's Cleveland Business