employers who will hire lower-educated and lower-skilled workers will continue to decline. Therefore, CHAMP’s two-year colleges will work to streamline the credit transfer process to MSU Denver, CHAMP’s four-year university partner. Manufacturing employees earn high wages, relative to other industries. Research indicates that the main reason why manufacturing wages and benefits are higher than those outside of manufacturing is that manufacturers need to pay higher wages to ensure that their workers are appropriately skilled and motivated. Two dimensions of skill and motivation especially matter for manufacturers. First, manufacturers face higher costs of downtime, in part because they are more capital-intensive than other businesses. To obtain qualified, motivated workers who will work to avoid this downtime, employers pay higher wages. Second, factories on average are larger than most other business establishments. This makes it more difficult and costly for factory managers to control the work process. To induce workers to take responsibility for their work, manufacturers pay higher wages. The average annual wage for Colorado employees working in the manufacturing industry is $73,700. Occupations in manufacturing are also more likely to provide employee benefits. The following table includes Colorado LMI data and each consortium area’s respective department of labor data to depict the current and anticipated job openings in a of sample manufacturing occupations that will be targeted by the institutions participating in CHAMP. Job Title Employer Geographic Short-term % Region Demand Increase (2012-2014) Industrial engineering Miller-Coors Front Range 25 2.1% technicians Engineering JPM Prototype & Mfg. Co Central 53 1.9% technicians Woodward Front Range Electrical and Atlas Pacific South 159 2.0% Electronic Equipment Leprino Assemblers Quantum South-central Trane South Vestas
employers who will hire lower-educated and lower-skilled workers will continue to decline. Therefore, CHAMP’s two-year colleges will work to streamline the credit transfer process to MSU Denver, CHAMP’s four-year university partner. Manufacturing employees earn high wages, relative to other industries. Research indicates that the main reason why manufacturing wages and benefits are higher than those outside of manufacturing is that manufacturers need to pay higher wages to ensure that their workers are appropriately skilled and motivated. Two dimensions of skill and motivation especially matter for manufacturers. First, manufacturers face higher costs of downtime, in part because they are more capital-intensive than other businesses. To obtain qualified, motivated workers who will work to avoid this downtime, employers pay higher wages. Second, factories on average are larger than most other business establishments. This makes it more difficult and costly for factory managers to control the work process. To induce workers to take responsibility for their work, manufacturers pay higher wages. The average annual wage for Colorado employees working in the manufacturing industry is $73,700. Occupations in manufacturing are also more likely to provide employee benefits. The following table includes Colorado LMI data and each consortium area’s respective department of labor data to depict the current and anticipated job openings in a sample of manufacturing occupations that will be targeted by the institutions participating in CHAMP. Job Title Employer Geographic Region Short-term Demand (2012-2014) % Increase Industrial engineering technicians Miller-Coors Front Range 25 2.1% Engineering technicians JPM Prototype & Mfg. Co Woodward Central Front Range 53 1.9% Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers Atlas Pacific Leprino Quantum Trane Vestas South South-central South 159 2.0%