EverFi, Inc., the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and The Manufacturing Institute have launched a national initiative to develop and market career opportunities in manufacturing to students across the United States. EverFi will work with the NAM’s more than 14,000 member companies and the Institute’s Dream It. Do It. network to bring digital learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and other critical skills areas into schools across the country.
This initiative will utilize EverFi’s interactive digital learning courses to introduce students to the technical skills needed to be competitive in a rapidly evolving global economy. Students with access to EverFi’s immersive digital learning platform will learn about exciting, high-growth careers in manufacturing and understand the pathways to get there. EverFi’s courses are deployed in 9,000 K-12 schools and 500 higher education institutions throughout all 50 states.
“Through this national partnership, EverFi will provide NAM members with the ability to significantly spotlight modern manufacturing as a high-tech industry,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “Inspiring an interest in STEM and manufacturing can create prosperous career opportunities for individuals, strengthen our communities and drive America’s economy forward.”
The collaboration among EverFi, the NAM and the Institute will contribute to the growth of the manufacturing sector. The initiative promotes good-paying, upwardly mobile and skilled manufacturing jobs that can create significant career opportunities for today’s students. Manufacturing is a major driver of the U.S. economy with the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector. For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.32 is added to the economy. In addition, manufacturing employs more than 12 million workers. Since the recession, manufacturing has been critical to the national economic recovery with 700,000 jobs created.
Despite this growth, 80 percent of manufacturers have difficulty finding skilled workers, and this challenge is expected to increase in the coming years. Industry leaders are working to meet the challenge through this initiative and others, such as the NAM Task Force on Competitiveness & the Workforce, to improve workforce capabilities; the #WeAreMFG social media campaign, to promote the manufacturing industry as a whole; and the most recent annual Manufacturing Day, when more than 1,500 manufacturers opened their facilities to the public to demonstrate the industry’s exciting career opportunities.
“Manufacturing has undergone a dramatic transformation and now includes some of the most technical and fastest-growing careers today,” said EverFi CEO Tom Davidson. “The NAM, the Institute and their thousands of innovative members have the opportunity to profoundly change the game on the future economic opportunity of an entire generation of students, and we’re excited to bring the power of our network to make that happen.”
“We are very enthusiastic about the partnership between EverFi and our Dream It. Do It. network,” said Institute President Jennifer McNelly. “We will work to address the skilled labor shortage employers face by building quality education pathways for the next generation of manufacturing leaders.”
