Some experts say cities are the answer to manufacturers’ workforce woes

Photo | contributed Martin Guay, Stanley Black & Decker's vice president of business development, said manufacturers could activate an untapped workforce by locating in cities like Hartford.

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By Sean Teehan

Martin Guay wants to bring Connecticut manufacturing back to its urban roots of the Industrial Revolution era, when city dwellers left their apartments each morning to put in work at companies like Hartford-based Royal Typewriter Co. or Pope Manufacturing Co.

The idea isn't just for the sake of economic development, although it could have that effect. It's also a way to combat the dire workforce shortages faced by Connecticut manufacturers, as aging Baby Boomer machinists flock toward retirement without the necessary young talent to replace them.

Locating in or near cities could unlock an untapped workforce in places like Hartford, where available jobs are mostly low paid or require four-year or advanced degrees.

Guay, vice president of business development for New Britain manufacturing giant Stanley Black & Decker, has already taken concrete steps toward a more urbanized Connecticut manufacturing sector. Stanley opened its Manufactory 4.0 advanced manufacturing center in Hartford's Constitution Plaza last year, and Guay wants to establish another manufacturing hub in the city's Parkville neighborhood.

"We think the cities have more access to bigger labor pools, but that labor pool has never really been activated for manufacturing," Guay said. "If somebody can locate manufacturing near cities or in cities, they're going to have access to a larger labor pool."

A 2020 survey by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) found that 11% of the state’s manufacturing workforce is expected to retire between 2021 and 2024. The COVID-19 pandemic might lead some workers to retire earlier than expected, said Colin Cooper, the state’s chief manufacturing officer.

But while Connecticut manufacturers, which are largely located in more rural areas or the suburbs, have struggled to attract a consistent pipeline of younger workers, cities like Hartford may offer some solutions.

Just consider the Capital City’s demographics, which trend much younger and poorer than the rest of the state.

Forty-eight percent of Hartford's residents are between the ages of 15 and 44, an age cohort that includes people in their teens and 20s looking for their first jobs, and people in their 30s and 40s looking for better-paying jobs.

Statewide, only about 38% of residents are between ages 15 and 44.

The poverty rate in Hartford, a city of more than 126,000 residents, is 30% — far above the statewide average of 10.1% — and just under a quarter of people living in Hartford have at least a bachelor's degree; statewide, 46% of residents hold bachelor's degrees or higher.

Manufacturing could offer Hartford residents a good-paying job, without the need to get a college degree. But there are significant challenges to overcome to make that happen.

"There's a lot of potential workforce in the city, in the urban core, that may not have access or pathways to good jobs," Guay said. "If you learn how to be a welder, you've got a really nice job with high pay and benefits. We're trying to connect people in the city with those jobs."

Creating momentum

Connecticut’s workforce crisis started to become acute in 2012, said CBIA President Chris DiPentima, who previously led Pegasus Manufacturing in Middletown. That's when manufacturers began hiring in earnest following a years-long slowdown caused by the 2008 global financial crisis.

Chris DiPentima

Companies have been hiring, but applicants aren't biting, a dynamic DiPentima attributes partly to the fact that manufacturing plants are located far outside cities where would-be recruits live.

"There's a lack of infrastructure and transportation in Connecticut, so it's very difficult to move people from cities out to the rural areas where the jobs are," DiPentima said. "Until we have that transportation system, ... we as a manufacturing [sector] need to do something different."

Stanley's 23,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing center in downtown Hartford has operated as an innovation hub since opening last year, hosting both startup companies and Stanley employees working on innovative projects. It serves as a working test lab in which Stanley engineers, metallurgists, data analysts and other technicians work on new products and innovations to current manufacturing processes.

It also makes the industry more visible to people in the city, Guay said, a cause he wants to further by opening an advanced manufacturing center in Hartford's diverse Parkville neighborhood, just a couple stops from downtown on the CTfastrak busway.

It’s a project that Guay has been working on for a few years with others, including landlord/developer Carlos Mouta.

Mouta said he's still in touch with Stanley about the idea of using a 280,000-square-foot building on Hamilton Street as a locus for advanced manufacturing, but the pandemic has stalled the project until at least 2022.

Carlos Mouta, Real Estate Developer

"We're still making progress and we hope to get further ahead," Mouta said.

A Parkville flush with advanced manufacturing jobs could turn the neighborhood into a mini-Brooklyn, Guay said. It already has plenty of restaurants, some hip loft-style apartment buildings and an arts scene. Guay thinks an injection of young people with disposable income from well-paid manufacturing jobs would be a huge lift to the state manufacturing sector; young employees who otherwise might work lower-paid service or gig economy jobs; and the city of Hartford, which would see previously underutilized space transformed into dynamic centers of industry and innovation.

"It's really about creating momentum," Guay said. "Parkville can be the seed of a big story."

More opportunities for well-paid manufacturing jobs in and around Hartford could have a huge impact on city residents, especially younger people who graduated high school, but lack other education or training, said Alex Johnson, president and CEO of Capital Workforce Partners (CWP), a Hartford-based regional workforce development board.

The need for jobs that pay middle class salaries is particularly acute now — and likely in the years ahead — as COVID-19 has demolished many of the service economy jobs held by Hartford residents.

"These are good jobs, these are jobs that are constantly advancing," Johnson said.

Bringing manufacturing jobs to Hartford, however, wouldn’t guarantee they get filled. Younger residents need to be interested in doing the work and get proper training.

That’s why Johnson said K-12 schools need to increasingly emphasize STEM skills and introduce students early on to manufacturing as a career option. CWP leads training programs like the Apprenticeship Connecticut initiative, which includes pre-apprenticeship and credential-based manufacturing training.

Ari Santiago, host of the “Made in America” podcast that focuses on Connecticut manufacturing, said promoting the industry to younger people is key.

They often prefer city life to the suburbs or rural areas, so companies recruiting them for jobs should keep that in mind.

"If we want to attract a young and talented workforce to get into manufacturing, [manufacturing companies] no longer being in cities, I think, is a challenge," Santiago said.

Need for public transportation

While creating more manufacturing jobs in Hartford is a laudable goal, most companies aren’t going to uproot their operations and move to the city.

However, they’d still love to tap into Hartford’s younger demographics. To do that, the state must focus on improving its public transportation options, said Kelli-Marie Vallieres, inaugural head of the Connecticut Workforce Unit, which Gov. Ned Lamont established over the summer to coordinate the state’s workforce ecosystem.

Kelli-Marie Vallieres

Manufacturing workforce issues persist across the country, but Connecticut's regional workforce boards have been providing a lot of training for people interested in entering the industry, and partnering with K-12 and higher-education institutions to increase offerings to students, Vallieres said. Connecticut's 12 community colleges also have hands-on manufacturing training programs.

"Those 12 colleges spread across the state really do give us a pretty good geographical spread across urban and rural areas," Vallieres said.

Additionally, the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board — for which Vallieres previously served as COO — matches job seekers who went through its training programs with companies hiring for entry-level jobs within easy commuting distance. Expanding that statewide could help city dwellers find manufacturing jobs closer to them.

CBIA’s DiPentima said that without better public transportation infrastructure, a more urbanized manufacturing workforce is among the best ways to ensure the state industry's health.

"Connecticut will only be as strong as our cities are, so we need to grow our cities and tap into that potential," DiPentima said. "If [Connecticut] doesn't fill those jobs, those positions will go elsewhere."

CT manufacturing jobs by industry

Motor vehicles & parts 2%

Plastic & rubber products 2%

Electrical equipment & appliances 5%

Food, beverage, tobacco products 6%

Machinery 7%

Computer & electronic parts 7%

Miscellaneous 9%

Fabricated metal products 15%

Chemicals 18%

Aerospace & transportation 29%

Source: 2020 CBIA Connecticut Manufacturing Report

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