Turning Factory Hands Into Skilled Workers

The housing-market bust made Mark Johnson a casualty of the recession, as the downturn drained away the professional mover's hours. Now, Johnson is counting on training in computerized machine operation to put him at the forefront of the manufacturing-led recovery. He's hungry for the work. "They aren't going to keep you if you aren't making them money," Johnson, 29, says of his potential employers.

Even with 1 in 10 manufacturing workers unemployed, U.S. companies can't find enough people to run the smart machines that now dominate the factory floor. On May 13, Johnson and a dozen others will be the first graduates in two years from a "boot camp" meant to match that need: a program offered by Gateway Technical College of Kenosha, Wisc., that trains students in computer numerical control operations —CNC, for short.