SUPPLY CURVES SLOPE UP. To get a good job, consider the compensating differential.

For years, there’s been a rumor going around that Ralph Keller would like to see quashed: that you need a bachelor’s degree to get a good job.

“My own feeling is that a lot of kids would be better off going into a skilled training program and becoming a tool-and-die maker or a CNC machine operator than going to college and getting a degree in general studies and still not being sure what they want to do as a career,” he said.

“They get an entry-level job at $20,000 or $30,000 per year and have tens of thousands of dollars in educational loans,” he continued. “If they had gone into a training program instead, ... they could get a job making $50,000 to $60,000 per year as a base wage, plus overtime, as a skilled manufacturing person.”

Keller is the president of the Arlington Heights-based Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and he’s frustrated by what he calls the “college lock step,” in which vocational training is all but ignored as high school students are ushered off to pursue four-year degrees. Those who decide college is not for them too often end their education after high school, limiting their earning potential without even realizing that other options exist, he said.

Some of those options offer high pay, but they're not for the weak of mind.

Donna Larkin, human resources coordinator for Sycamore manufacturer Driv-Lok, said recruiting skilled workers is increasingly difficult.

“Typically, you may get 100 résumés, but only one or two of those people actually have the skills to do the job you’re trying to fill,” she said. “Some of our machines are very specialized. ... There seems to just be a shortage of people with the necessary skills.”

Lozeau attributed some of the workforce gap to the number of retiring baby boomers, who are not being replaced by new workers coming out of trade and technical schools, she said.

Employers regularly contact Kishwaukee College looking for skilled workers ready to graduate from one of its 25 occupational programs, which include manufacturing technology, nursing and automotive technology, said Sara Pohl, dean of the school’s career technologies division.

“I think we need to do a better job of helping parents understand there are some great opportunities you don’t really need a four-year degree to pursue,” she said. “And there are many points during a student’s time at Kish they can decide to go on and transfer (to a four-year school) if they want to do that.”

Perhaps it's the summer-camp aspect of college life that's missing from the apprenticeships?