Gary Forger, Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) senior vice president of professional development, writes in every issue of Hoist‘s sister publication Overhead Crane & Hoist (OCH), a title dedicated to the end user communities of the USA, Mexico and Canada.

Here are some facts that should get your attention, he says at the outset of his most recent column, a summary of which is below:

– There will be a 10 million worker shortfall just five years from now.

– Almost 40% of the people in corporate leadership positions today will retire by 2014.

– People 65 and older will increase 26% between 2005 and 2015.

– The working population will decline until 2025.

Welcome to the world of disruptive demographics. No one will be spared. It won’t matter what industry you work in. Or what stage of your career you are at. Disruptive demographics are about to change the workforce and how you work.

And it gets worse, because this is much more than just a numbers game. It’s a skills game too.

For the Boomers, half of their job/knowledge skills became obsolete in 12 to 15 years. For the Busters (born 65-84), that cycle is 30 to 36 months.

In fact, fewer than 50% of US jobs required skilled workers in 1991. By 2015, it’s estimated that 76% of US jobs will demand highly skilled workers.

All of this is coming 25 years after the National Commission on Excellence in Education gave America’s educational performance a “mediocre” score.

“It is clear to the nation’s manufacturers that America is still ‘a nation at risk’ when it comes to preparing young people for real life and real jobs,” says John Engler, president of The National Association of Manufacturers.

Where do we go from here? At this point, it’s tough to say. Most managers are just beginning to discover there’s a problem. Their next order of business is understanding the magnitude of the problem. And that’s not easy because it is so enormous. Engler, for one, is calling it “the most dramatic workforce crisis in US history.”

But we are moving ahead. At the MHIA, we are launching programmes that will better prepare the workforce of the future. And these programmes are at several levels – secondary education, technical and community college, undergraduate and post-graduate. We’re even training Marines to work in a warehouse or distribution centre after the military.

Ultimately, everyone has a role here. How work gets done will change as will the work itself. Skill sets will morph and responsibilities along with them. We’ve long heard how the supply chain needs to be agile and nimble. Now is the time for the workforce to be the same, if not more so.

Read more about the US market on the OCH website (link below).

Richard Howes, Editor