The numbers are startling. The Labor Department estimates that at least 750,000 jobs are unfilled at industrial firms. One recent study calculated that open industrial positions could climb above 2 million by 2030. Construction firms face similar prospects. On top of normal hiring just to replace workers who leave the industry, firms need to fill about 600,000 positions. Pay isn’t the problem. Trained carpenters earn a median annual salary of $55,000; steelworkers take home more than $61,000. Graduates of manufacturing-apprentice programs typically begin employment at more than $50,000 annually, with some apprentices hired for as much as $75,000 annually.

Those unfilled jobs represent squandered opportunity. While politicians and policymakers talk about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America in an era of rising overseas costs and international tensions, it’s not clear whether organizations can find enough workers to fill those positions. Underlying the problem: a misguided emphasis on college-for-all, declining academic performance in public schools, and the short shrift that school districts give to technical training.