Last week, Sen. Franken spoke to the 2010 Manufacturing Summit and published an op-ed in the St. Cloud Times about the importance of manufacturing jobs in this economy. An excerpt from his remarks below the manufacturing summit is below.  

During tough economic times, summits like this one are critical–coming together to share ideas and innovations, so that the manufacturing industry can move forward, and lift our economy along with it. While times are tough, and many businesses are struggling, history has shown that some of our country's darkest moments produce some of our greatest innovations. Just as the manufacturing industry was in the decades following World War II, green manufacturing will be the main driver toward economic recovery today.

But as our nation begins the path to economic recovery, manufacturers in Minnesota are facing a surprising challenge-many good manufacturing jobs are going unfilled because there aren't enough qualified people to fill them.
There are almost 4,000 job openings in manufacturing in my state of Minnesota alone. And despite the highest unemployment in a generation, a survey last year of Minnesota employers found that less than half of manufacturing job vacancies were filled within a month.

These are good-paying jobs going unfilled. That worries me, and it should worry everyone else in Congress. Manufacturing built the U.S. economy, both literally and figuratively. We shouldn't be ignoring the needs of manufacturers or treating manufacturing like an outdated industry whose time has passed. We should be helping you innovate and expand. Earlier this year, I toured a Minnesota technical college, and I was amazed at the high-tech skills needed for today's manufacturing careers. The manufacturing sector has changed dramatically, and Congress needs to make sure that our investments in education and job training keep up with our country's workforce needs.

Our country's commitment to math and science education has lagged since I was a kid during the Sputnik era, and many high schools have cut their industrial arts programs. And that's led to a troubling result-fewer of today's high school graduates are ready for the technical training needed for good, high–skill jobs like those in modern manufacturing.

The good news is that there are good programs out there with a proven track record of preparing our students-and also older, unemployed Americans who need to be retrained-for jobs in your industry.

A great example of this is FIRST Robotics. It's a nationwide program that lets kids participate in robotics competitions-and build their so-called STEM skills: science, technology, engineering, and math.

It also lets young people engage directly with technology in a concrete way and get interested in careers in manufacturing.

Minnesota manufacturers and other companies have played a huge role in expanding the program in our state over the past four years–from two teams to 105 teams.  

We've got the Minnesota Center for Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence, which held the first "STEM Day" at the Minnesota State Fair this year. This is an amazing coalition of Minnesota businesses and educators focused on educating kids about careers in manufacturing. I was really proud to be a part of that event and see all of the kids engaged in science, technology, engineering, and math activities.

But even though there is some great work being done in Minnesota on workforce development, there are over 2,700 people across the state who are on waiting lists for job training.

Part of our problem is that we have a federal workforce law written in boom times that was supposed to be updated in 2003. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998-the law that is still directing our federal workforce investments-didn't anticipate today's economic realities.
We need a lot more people getting job training, and we need it now. Congress can't keep delaying this bill. There should be no more excuses, and no partisanship, so that we get it done.

My son Joe recently went back to school to study engineering and business. This is no surprise, since he's been taking apart car engines since eighth grade. And now, as an adult, he believes that we should keep making things here in America. And even though our economy is still lagging right now, I'm confident that Joe is going to have a successful career in manufacturing, and that all of our kids can, too. But for him to succeed, his generation and the generations to follow will need the core tools and training to prepare for the 21st century economy. And you and I can work together to make that happen.