Addressing shortage of skilled technical workers in the USA: A glimpse for training service providers

Abstract

Skilled technical workers are needed to make any country highly competitive and more productive globally. However, there are reports that the supply of skilled technical workers does not adequately meet the current and future demand in the US labor market, and this is expected to continue if proper efforts are not made to increase its supply. As a result, this study examines a relevant sample of the workforce (skilled technical workers) which is important to the USA but has been under-studied in management research by explaining the factors responsible for its sabotage and explaining how these factors should be considered by training service providers to educate and train their target audience to increase skilled technical workers in the country. The narrative literature review was utilized for the study. The study reveals that regulatory, demographic, environmental, educational, and occupational factors are responsible for the shortage of skilled technical workers in the USA. There is a need for training service providers to examine these factors to determine the kind of skilled technical workforce development programs to adopt, the target audience or people to benefit from them, and partner with one another to address the shortage of technical workers. Some of the ways to increase skilled technical workers are formulations of flexible policies backed by effective and efficient implementations, an increase in funding for education and training programs by the government, employers, and non-government organizations, and the motivation of existing workers to attract prospective workers.