Pratt & Whitney pipeline gets a push

East Hartford partners with manufacturer to train new workforce members

Interest in a recruiting program for entry-level, no-experience-required jobs at Pratt & Whitney is “off the charts,” an East Hartford official said Friday.

The town’s workforce and economic development program — East Hartford Works! — is partnering with the company and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology to attract people interested in the $34-an-hour jobs at the jet engine maker.

The program comes at a time when almost 90 percent of the state’s manufacturing companies report difficulties finding and keeping workers to meet the sector’s growing demands.

No manufacturing experience or specialized education is required for the “Pratt & Whitney initiative, only a high school diploma or equivalent, according to East Hartford Works! Director Amy Peltier, who said notices for ongoing informational sessions attracted about 1,100 calls and emails just this week.

“We had close to 500 emails and calls to register 70 people for an (in-person) informational session on Wednesday,” Peltier said.

The pay for the parts inspection jobs is attractive, she said, and there’s a long history of East Hartford residents aspiring to work at Pratt & Whitney, which has facilities in East Hartford and Middletown. A company representative did not respond to a request for comment.

In the end, about 15 people who pass a mechanical aptitude test will be selected for a six- to eightweek unpaid training program at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Peltier said. The town of East Hartford offers a small weekly stipend to residents who go through the training.

The Pratt Pipeline has been going since 2018, she said. In that year, 16 candidates trained for jobs as airfoil cell operators/machinists. All started with little to no manufacturing experience. A CCAT blog on the initiative said the East Hartford-based nonprofPipeline”

it center helped screen candidates for several manufacturers, and many applicants come from groups typically underrepresented in manufacturing. The process included assessments for math, reading and mechanical aptitude and one-on-one interviews, according to the center. Candidates for the airfoil positions attended a seven-week-long accelerated training course at Asnuntuck funded by Pratt & Whitney

The town promotes the effort, East Hartford Mayor Mike Walsh said, with local young people in mind.

“The idea is straightforward — take our graduating students and create opportunities to allow them to secure good paying jobs locally,” Walsh said. “That stabilizes the community as our own children can afford homes, have lifelong medical care and can save toward retirement, all things that benefit them and strengthen our community.”

Companies and government economic development officials have been touting the good pay and benefits of manufacturing jobs in the state, but Connecticut has a long way to go to fill the demand. The Governor’s Workforce Council estimated that the state’s manufacturing training programs could produce about 3,000 new employees a year at best — only half the projected annual demand for the next several years.

“Lack of awareness among young people regarding the attractiveness of manufacturing careers continues to constrain the number of people participating in education and training programs,” the council’s manufacturing committee found.

In the 1950s, half of all jobs in the state were in the manufacturing sector (while nationally the figure stood at 34 percent), Erica E. Phillips of The Connecticut Mirror reported earlier this year. Connecticut’s manufacturing workforce peaked in 1967 at nearly 480,000 jobs. Today, about 160,000 people work in manufacturing in the state, less than 10 percent of the workforce, but still a bit higher than the national figure of 8.4 percent.

The Connecticut Business and Industry Association reported in its 2022 Connecticut Manufacturing Report that 87 percent of companies surveyed reported difficulty finding and/or retaining employees, 27 percent cited applicants’ lack of a work ethic and 44 percent said a shortage of skilled applicants was the greatest obstacle to growth.

“The skilled worker shortage is not new for Connecticut manufacturers,” CBIA reported. “The sector’s aging workforce and a lack of cohesive collaboration around talent development has challenged manufacturers for much of the past decade. Post pandemic demand has exacerbated the issue, however.”

Applicants for the Pratt & Whitney Pipeline must attend an informational session hosted by CCAT. Virtual sessions are scheduled for Mondays at 10 a.m. and Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. through Dec. 22.