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Jacksonville Manufacturing Industry Promising for Young Workers

TheLeadSA/Creative Commons

Jacksonville has been part of a recent national growth in manufacturing jobs. 

Florida State College at Jacksonville hosted a manufacturing job fair Tuesday to invite workers to join the field.

FSCJ Advanced Technology Center bustled with folks looking for jobs. One of them was BilalAbduljaber, who recently earned an associate’s degree, making him qualified for many manufacturing jobs. He has been looking for work in Jacksonville for two months.

“It’s been quite difficult, but at least there’s a lot more companies ... for me to look for and sign up for online. I’ve noticed that Jacksonville has a lot more industrial companies,” Abduljaber said.

June was the fourth consecutive month of manufacturing growth nationwide, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The First Coast is home to 1,500 manufacturing companies, and many are expanding, according to the First Coast Manufacturers Association.

Matt Jeffs, workforce education director with the association, said those jobs are also changing: A college education is increasingly important, even for workers below the management level.

“There’s a whole bell curve of B and C students that still need some level of (science technology, engineering and math) training so that they can come in on the operation's floor and work their way up,” Jeffs said.