Feds Working to Grow Battery-Manufacturing Workforce

With the battery industry supporting electric vehicles just getting started across North America, a new study by the Center for Automotive Research indicates it already faces shortages of skilled, semi-skilled and adept less-skilled employees, challenging established automakers and suppliers.

“The high proportion of reported domestic workforce shortages and need for employee reskilling underscore a critical and urgent need for more aggressive education, training, workforce building and recruitment,” the study by the Ann Arbor, MI-based CAR notes.

The findings are not exactly a surprise. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic eased its grip on the U.S., suppliers across the industry have reported shortages of personnel required to maintain a steady pace of production.

General Motors is slowing the disbursement of special retirement payments that are part of the company’s new contract with the UAW to minimize disruptions to manufacturing operations.

“When I was hired two and a half years ago, I came in with 24 people. I’m the last one left,” Jessica Clay, a team member in die changes at the Toyota casting plant in Troy, MO, says in a video posted by the UAW. “The overtime we worked was too much.” 

The CAR report on the battery industry observes it is critical to build a workforce with specialized education and training: “Moreover, it is important to determine what training resources are currently available to employers and identify training gaps that need to be filled by future initiatives.”

The study says 82% of survey respondents reported skilled local labor shortages. The shortage includes 89% of upstream sector respondents, which includes companies in mining and refining, 85% in the downstream manufacturing-oriented sector and 80% within complementary industry sector respondents.

Job roles in shortest supply were found across all general, battery and maintenance technician roles and engineers, according to CAR’s survey.

Additional specialized training is essential in the areas of chemistry, encompassing materials and product development, chemical engineering and recycling, the survey says.

CAR says there is a need for “reskilling” current employees. For example, 37% of employers reported 25%-50% percent of their employees have outdated skills, while 15% reported 50%-75% percent of their employees have outdated skills.

Difficulties recruiting new employees due to relocation resistance were reported by 51% of respondents, suggesting that half of all employers have difficulty recruiting talent due to geographical limitations.

A larger proportion of upstream respondents in mining and refining reported difficulty in recruiting compared to downstream and complementary sectors.

Thirty-seven percent of upstream, 38% of downstream and 29% of complementary sectors reported challenges with retention of skilled employees. Issues with retention include a lack of veteran leaders and competition with other companies in the software and automotive industries. Compensation and shift work are other hurdles.

With an announcement in Lansing, MI, the U.S. departments of Energy and Labor are launching “Battery Workforce Initiative National Guideline Standards” for registered apprenticeships (pictured, above) for battery machine operators, which CAR reports are in short supply.

The federal guidelines, created in partnership with battery manufacturers, community colleges and unions, lay out training requirements to support the skilled workforce needed in the growing electrified-vehicle industry as EV sales have quadrupled from 2020 to 2023 and 300 new or expanded battery facilities have been announced.

“We have seen over 400 EV and battery manufacturing facilities announced in the U.S. in just three years, underscoring the need for a strong and supported skilled workforce,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm says.

“The Battery Workforce Initiative is part of our whole-of-government approach to revitalize industry and rebuild our economy from the bottom up and the middle out, providing American workers with good-paying, forward-looking careers,” Granholm adds.

“Good jobs have the power to change lives and today, we are expanding the pathways into those good jobs through registered apprenticeships in the fast-growing battery-manufacturing industry,” says Acting Labor Secretary Julie A. Su.