The Disappearing Industrial Career

Manufacturing operations have been struggling for decades to find talent in the technical skill sets (electricians, mechanics, etc). It seems this struggle has now shifted to the non-technical job classifications as well. With the unemployment rate at 4.1%, creativity and persistence are now required just to keep the shop floor at a manageable level of staffing. Have we pushed our youth away from industrial career paths or have we reached a point of full employment? The AI world filled with robots is not here and never will be for most organizations. We need to bring back the desire for industrial careers. Apprenticeships and job shadowing seem to help, but is this enough to rejuvenate the supply of future industrial employees?