Plastics News launches a new feature today, podcasts we're calling Plastics News Radio.
The opening episode looks at the gender gap in U.S. factories. That's how the Manufacturing Institute describes a situation where women make up 47 percent of the overall labor force but only 27 percent of employees in manufacturing.
It's a companion to our recent series of articles Breaking the Mold, profiling women business leaders in plastics. The full list of stories is here.
The podcast includes a conversation with the executive director of the institute, Jennifer McNelly, providing some best practices for companies and discussing the institute's research on how women in manufacturing see the issue. It also includes shorter interviews with some women profiled in our Breaking the Mold report.
The Manufacturing Institute, which is part of the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, makes a business case that women are an untapped talent pool for manufacturers, and can be an important tool in closing the skilled labor shortage that manufacturers face. They released a report with Deloitte last year.
Stay tuned for more podcasts on other topics. Enjoy.