By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor
Union Pacific Railroad officials hope a new partnership with the Manufacturing Institute (MI) will help the railroad achieve its workforce development goals by inspiring more youth, especially young women, to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
UP last month announced its $3 million joint initiative with MI, the National Association of Manufacturers workforce development and education partner. Dubbed “Careers on Track,” the UP-MI effort is designed to raise awareness that learning about STEM is not only fun, it can lead to family-supporting jobs and lifelong careers.
For MI, the partnership marks the first time it has worked with a Class I. MI initiatives are designed to support U.S. workers, including emerging workers, women, veterans and students through skilled training programs, community building and career growth.
The nonprofit institute offers workforce development activities aimed at raising awareness of manufacturing jobs. With assistance from UP, activities will be adjusted to focus on freight railroading. Under development are a new digital STEM curriculum; virtual activities students can use to “explore their own adventure” involving interactive 3D models of a real rail facility and locomotives; and a digital campaign that will highlight freight-rail career opportunities for underserved women.
“We’re viewing this as an opportunity to increase our reach because of the work the institute has already done about how to make manufacturing and industrial jobs interesting for students of today,” says Beth Whited, UP executive vice president and chief human resource officer. “I view [the institute] as a big boost in my recruiting team.”
The Careers On Track STEM curriculum and activities will be made available to schools and after-school programs in various locations along UP’s national network.
Although activities will be open to youth as young as their early teens, the initiative will make an extra effort to reach out to young women and girls. Women now account for about 29% of workers in the manufacturing, and 24% of workers in the transportation and utilities industries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re trying to raise awareness of the skilled jobs that are available — not just in transportation but also in manufacturing — that women don’t traditionally think of themselves being in and that underserved populations don’t feel like they are available to them,” Whited says.
Careers on Track aims to inspire students in eighth grade and older to consider pursuing STEM education so that they’ll learn more about related career paths and the training they’ll need to get there.
The demand for attracting and retaining a younger workforce is as important to the manufacturing sector as it is to transportation, says MI Executive Director Carolyn Lee. Currently, about 515,000 manufacturing jobs are open in the United States, a number that is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade.
“A lot of our issues are that people don’t know those jobs are available to them,” says Lee. “And that’s especially true for women and girls. In manufacturing, about 29% of the labor force is women, but about 47% of the overall labor force is women. Obviously, we have a long way to go.”
Same is true in railroading: Many young women and youth aren’t aware of the opportunities. At UP, Careers on Track is the latest step toward its goal to double the representation of women in the railroad’s workforce over the next few years. Currently, women make up about 5.5% of the UP’s total workforce; the Class I is striving to increase that percentage to 11% by 2030.
“We had been talking to Union Pacific for several years about our programs,” says Lee. “Last spring, we started talking about engaging them more directly when they upped their goal to double their female workforce.”
Another UP-MI initiative involves women now working in freight rail serving as role models to younger women and girls.
“A lot of [MI’s] initiatives are about engaging women in the workforce today, empowering them to pay it forward and engage the next generation,” says Lee.
Lee expects MI and UP will be ready to start holding local events in the second half of the year.
Potentially, the best practices MI develops working with UP will be shared with other companies and other communities, Lee says.
“We’re optimistic about enlightening young women about the opportunities available in freight rail as well as in the broader [manufacturing] sector,” she says.
