An August 19, 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal, titled “Skilled Trades Seeks Workers” has this to say about the shortage of manufacturing workers:

To highlight the benefits of a career in the skilled trades -- and, sometimes, the potential pitfalls of automatically opting for college -- unions and employers are turning to schools, the military, MySpace and even a 46-year-old former opera singer named Mike Rowe.

Mr. Rowe is the host of the Discovery Channel series "Dirty Jobs," which chronicles him tackling tasks ranging from alpaca shearing to steelworking. Mr. Rowe is in talks with Terex Corp., a Westport, Conn., maker of construction equipment, which has a two-year backlog of crane orders, thanks to strong overseas sales. Terex, which hired Mr. Rowe to appear at a trade show earlier this year, is hoping he can help it recruit young workers as the company's current work force ages.

Click here to read the whole article.