SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. aircraft giant Boeing Company announced Monday that it will invest 11 million U.S. dollars in helping train a skilled modern manufacturing workforce to address a possible crisis of skilled workers in the future.
The latest Boeing investment is part of a 21-million-dollar partnership with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to accelerate training in critical skill areas and increase diversity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
The NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources, which will contribute 10 million dollars to complement Boeing's investment, will focus on reskilling and increasing the skill level of the U.S. STEM workforce.
In addition, Boeing will give an extra 1 million dollars in gift to the NSF INCLUDES initiative to help boost U.S. innovation leadership.
The funds from Boeing and the NSF will be used to train workers for skills in such areas as model-based engineering and systems engineering, mechatronics, robotics, data science and sensor analytics, program management and artificial intelligence.
Boeing said the first project is expected to be launched next year.
The new investment represents Boeing's fresh efforts to brace for a possible shortage of skilled manufacturing workforce in the future, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics under the U.S. Department of Labor reported a new all-time high in manufacturing job openings in July.
In that month, job openings in the manufacturing sector grew from 475,000 in June to 506,000, the highest level recorded since the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey was introduced in 2000.
Heidi Capozzi, senior vice president of Human Resources at Boeing said the company's partnership with the NSF "will help develop more technical workers and provide research opportunities for women and veterans seeking to join or return to the STEM workforce."
Last year, Boeing pledged to invest 300 million dollars in employees, infrastructure and local communities as a result of U.S. tax reform unveiled by the federal government, with 100 million dollars dedicated to workforce development.
