U.S. manufacturers, frustrated by a shortage of skilled American factory workers, are going abroad to find them, CNNMoney reported.

Business for factories has surged recently, creating a huge demand for machinists, tool and die makers, computer-controlled machine programmers and operators.

“These jobs are the backbone of manufacturing,” said Gardner Carrick, senior director with the Manufacturing Institute. “These are good -quality middle-class jobs that Americans should be training for.”

The United States is experiencing a shrinking pipeline of manufacturing talent, said James Wall, deputy director of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills.

“It’s been in the making for years,” he said. Factories didn’t feel the labor pinch as much when manufacturing was in a slump. But the latest “Made in USA” resurgence has them scrambling.

Wall said some manufacturers have been relying on foreign workers to fill the gaps through H-1B visas.

The popular H-1B program allows high-skilled foreign workers to be employed in the United States for a maximum duration of six years. Each year, the government issues a quota of new H-1B work visa applications, and all industries compete against the quota. Last year’s cap was set at 65,000.

High-tech companies tend to submit the most applications for H-1B visas. Manufacturers typically aren’t big users of the program. Out of all the H-1B applications sent to the Labor Department fewer than 10 percent were from manufacturers.