The manufacturing workforce has been shaped by decades of industry transformation. Modern manufacturing requires workers with a diverse set of skills to perform functions such as research and development (R&D), product and production design, marketing and sales, and customer support. While workers with a high school diploma or less dominated…

From the Civil War until the 1970s, the United States was the world's most successful mass-production economy, the very best at producing standardized goods and services at least cost and selling them at the lowest price. These mass-production successes required rigorous discipline and narrow skill. Final products and services were broken down…