Lowell High School enhancing program offerings to include welding and advanced manufacturing
Find out how Lowell High School is working to meet the demand of employers in the skilled trades by adding welding and advanced manufacturing to its program. Read full article

Source: Northwest Indiana Times
Highest shares of manufacturing employment goes to Indiana
8.6 percent of all nonfarm workers in the United States work for a manufacturer, but manufacturing has played an outsized role in recent economic recovery. Some states are more closely tied to production than others, and in several states, a large percentage of overall employment is devoted to working for a manufacturer.

Manufacturing production unchanged, but progress is reflected

(As reported by the National Association of Manufacturing)
The Federal Reserve said that  manufacturing production  was unchanged in January for the second straight month. As such, output in the sector essentially has taken a pause at the beginning of 2018, but we would anticipate that breather to be short-lived. Indeed, we would expect manufacturing production to rise by 2.1 percent in 2018, up from 1.7 percent in 2017.   Read full article
Initiative reimburses up to $2500 for each new employee

 Have you checked out how the State's Next Level Jobs initiative can help support you with the cost of training new employees? This opportunity is for industries such as  advanced manufacturing, building and construction, health and life sciences, IT and business services, and transportation and logistics. 

Employers in the identified high demand business sectors can be  reimbursed up to $2,500 for each new employee  that is trained, hired and retained for 6 months. There is a $25,000 cap for each employer and the jobs must be middle skill, high-demand and high-wage jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than an associate degree.
Visit the NextLevelJobs.org for more information about applying for funds.  
For more information on the Manufacturing Consortium contact Sandra Alvarez at
219-462-2940, ext. 33, or salvarez@cwicorp.com
For more information on this newsletter contact Barbara Grimsgard at
219-462-2940, ext. 28, or bgrimsgard@cwicorp.com