(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- As employers across the country continue to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs, many manufacturers are facing an ironic dilemma. As they eliminate positions—mainly repetitive, assembly type jobs—they still have unfilled job openings for high-skilled workers.

According to a recent survey conducted by Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute, and Oracle, “almost one-third of responding companies report some level of shortages today.”

These shortages of high-skilled workers are particularly acute within “the most profitable companies, aerospace and defense, and life science sectors,” and among “skilled production workers, scientists, and engineers.”

“This is certainly an employer’s market, but not as much with manufacturers,” says Mark C. Tomlinson, executive director and general manager of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

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