Episode 13: MIT Researcher Anna Waldman-Brown on the welder skills gap vs. pay gap debate

Playing With Fire hosted by Josh & Darla Welton

Josh and Darla ARE BACK! This video interview originally appeared in two parts on TheFabricator.com's blog and the YouTube page. However, we love this interview and thought our listeners might also enjoy it as a long-form podcast episode. We’ve been on hiatus from this personal podcast space for a while now, but we will continue to pop in every now and then with solid gold episodes like this one!
This interview features Anna Waldman-Brown, a PhD graduate in industrial policy and political economy from MIT. Anna discusses her research on emerging technologies, manufacturing systems, and inclusive job creation, particularly focusing on the adoption of welding robots in SMEs in the Midwest and Germany. This conversation explores the German vs. U.S. systems of welding education, the wage gap vs. skills gap debate, welder pay, automation and AI risk, why we frequently see factory robots up for resale around the U.S., whether or not human life is improving alongside technology improvements, ethical economics, manufacturing turnover comparisons, and so much more.
Anna’s work is COMPELLING and reveals a shared passion for the future American workforce. Anna recently accepted a position at the White House Office of Management and Budget in the Made in America office. This new office works to strengthen the use of federal procurement to support American manufacturing.

We KNOW that you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as we did! Please also check it out with the video on TheFabricator.com (includes transcript) and give it a thumbs up on YouTube!
YouTube Part One
YouTube Part Two
OR
Part One with full transcript
Part Two with full transcript

https://www.thefabricator.com/author/josh-welton
https://www.thefabricator.com/author/darla-welton
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