WASHINGTON – Northrop GrummanKathy Warden, CEO of American Defense Business said that America must address the persistent labor shortage.
Warden spoke out about “the challenges we might all face going into next years,” in an exclusive interview with Morgan Brennan of CNBC. Warden was speaking on the sidelines to the Reagan National Defense Forum, Simi Valley, California.
Warden explained that she has seen an increase of demand for certain skills necessary to help her work while also seeing labor participation rates drop. Warden added that 2022 was the year that workers would be her main focus.
Warden’s remarks follow a report on jobs that showed the U.S. economy. created far fewer jobs than expected in November. Friday’s address by President Joe Biden glossed over the nation’s weak jobs reportInstead of focusing on the high unemployment rate (which fell from 4.6% – 4.2%), we focused our attention instead on that.
Warden expressed concern about the ongoing disruptions in the global supply chain that are being triggered by the coronavirus epidemic.
Warden also mentioned that there were shipping delays and shortages in the third quarter of Defense giant, which Warden explained was because of rising infection rates caused by the Delta variant. Warden responded to questions regarding the Omicron variant by explaining that the defense sector will be following a plan developed in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
She said that “We will continue to navigate these COVID related impacts,” and that the industry had been able do so over 21 months. We expect that we can do this going forward.”
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