Ticket to the middle class

Forget outsourcing. A Michigan research group says the larger problem for manufacturing will be finding enough domestic workers
to navigate the complexities of modern factory floors.

The Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor contends in a recent report that while efficiencies will reduce the number
of workers employed in car making, those who fill shoes of retiring baby-boomers will need to be technologically literate.

Thatâ??s bad news for people who havenâ??t been through at least a community college, says the centerâ??s chairman, Dave Cole.

Itâ??s also worrisome for a society struggling to improve high school graduation rates. Manufacturing, which for decades has
elevated many a graduate to the middle class, is slipping out of reach as an option.

The study focused on Michigan, but it sounds as if it could have come out of Indiana.

Whatâ??s your take?