COLUMBUS, Ohio — The manufacturing industry is growing in Central Ohio and will only get bigger when Intel opens two semiconductor plants in Licking County.
There are thousands of open manufacturing jobs in the region every year and not enough workers to fill them. That’s why Columbus State Community College is working to fill what Assistant Dean Mark Mahoney calls a “hole” in the workforce.
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“These jobs are already here today, and they are looking for people,” Mahoney said. “There is such a vast hole in this market that a lot of individuals who would have retired already have maybe officially retired and have been brought back on to continue to work because they don’t have the people to fill the needs.”
The hole was already big in 2020, when estimates showed central Ohio’s manufacturing companies would be trying to fill more than 7,000 jobs a year. Mahoney said that number is likely to double in size as Big Tech moves into Boomtown.
“Intel is a big part of it, but they’re not the only company that’s coming into the area, and they won’t be the last on either,” Mahoney said.
Intel will bring 3,000 jobs into central Ohio and 70% of those jobs will be technicians. Right now, CSCC students can earn a certificate in semiconductor manufacturing, and Mahoney said by next fall they’ll be able to earn an associate's degree in the specialty.
Mahoney said countless other jobs will be created as Intel moves into the region. More than 350 suppliers are following the tech giant into central Ohio, and they’ll need to hire employees too.
“Intel makes the semiconductor chips, but they don’t make the machines that make them. So, that company will have a presence here as well. They’ll be hiring our students,” he said.