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While many people in the state are struggling to find jobs 鈥� approximately 165,000 Oregonians were unemployed in June 鈥� metal fabrication manufacturers are struggling to find workers 鈥� at least proficient ones.

Tami Tedford, owner of in Newberg, said that each time the local employment office sends her a job applicant, the same skill deficiencies are evident.

鈥淔or some people it’s even hard to read a tape measure,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have to train them on reading calipers, micrometers and anything that has to do with a hundredth of a thousandth of an inch as a measurement tool. They just don’t have those skills.鈥�

Precision Metal Products specializes in fabricating metal parts from blueprints; its creations range from tiny metal brackets that fit inside laptop computers to large panel walls used in manufacturers’ clean rooms. Tedford took over business operations after her husband died two years ago.

She quickly discovered that finding the right people for the job was difficult. At present, she needs to hire a new sales representative who knows the business. It’s not the lever-pulling, button-pushing manufacturing job of yore, but one that requires dexterity, math know-how and the ability to program large, computer-controlled punches 鈥� skills that are evidently in short supply.

According to a report released this month by , nearly one-third of 70 fabricated metal manufacturing companies in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties surveyed had trouble filling positions in 2011. Applicants often lacked skills, training and even a solid work ethic.

Brooke Jackson, a skills analyst for Worksource Oregon and the report’s author, said that employers may struggle to grow if they don’t have enough skilled workers.

鈥淚f a company is not growing, then they’re probably not investing in, say, research and development,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o they’re not developing new innovations and new ideas. So you have a lack of new technology and new creativity when companies aren’t growing.鈥�

That’s going to hurt Oregon, Jackson said, because it has continued to invest in high-skilled, technically-oriented production lines.

鈥淲hen we here in Oregon don’t grow those jobs that’s going to hurt us even a little bit more because that’s supposed to be one of our specialty areas,鈥� she said.

In the report, employers noted difficulty hiring in 18 different occupations. Those occupations represented 148 positions in the tri-county area, including 60 that were vacant. At the top of the list was welding.

Of the 55 welding positions reported in the study, 19 were vacant at some point in 2011. And Michael McAllister, operations manager for in Aumsville, said that even one hole can be a big blow for a small, highly specialized team.

鈥淲hat we do you just can’t throw any welder off the street at because we need welds that don’t leak because we build tanks,鈥� he said.

Those tanks range in size from 120 gallons to 35,000 gallons and are designed for everything from water to diesel fuel. They absolutely cannot leak, McAllister said. His team has dropped from 16 employees four years ago to seven today because he can’t find people able to do the job.

The job requires a lot of skill and training. McAllister said a welder with 12 to 15 years of experience may need three to four years on the job to become proficient at completing a tank with just a few leaks. New welders’ tanks may have 40 to 50 leaks that need to be touched up.

McAllister said his company typically pays welders $13 per hour to start, but soon increases that rate up to $17 per hour. The company also offers health insurance, life insurance, dental, vision and short-term disability. But the job requires commitment.

鈥淭ypically, finding someone that really wants to work and show up on time and have a good attendance record (is hard), so it really comes down to a work ethic 鈥� and boy, that’s tough to find,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s really tough.鈥�

More than one-quarter of the respondents in Worksource’s study agreed, and several reported that a lack of soft skills was preventing growth. McAllister isn’t sure why that is, but he believes it’s generational. Whereas older employees tend to hold good jobs until retirement, younger ones want to move on every couple of years.

鈥淭he job is more of a paycheck than a career it seems,鈥� McAllister said.

Other hard-to-find skills identified in the study were machine operability, software literacy, blueprint readability and math know-how.

Programs for technical skills training do exist. The state Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development, through the site , has a link to information about machine tool operators, which in turn has links to job vacancies and mentorships with local companies.

Jackson said employers don’t think there are enough training programs available for technical occupations. McAllister would like to see training in schools start at a younger age and Tedford said the effort needs to start with basic skills 鈥� like converting U.S. units of measurement into the metric system, which most people can’t do.

鈥淵ou need to know all this stuff,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t doesn’t come easy, and the older you get the harder it is to learn. So I really think it needs to start in school.鈥�