NORWICH – New York state, along with the entire United States, is falling behind other countries in its math and science proficiency, said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer during a gathering at Unison Industries in Norwich Wednesday.

Schumer (D-NY) told a small crowd of workers, local business leaders and elected officials that most U.S. college graduates in math and science are heading into the private sector rather than accepting lower salaries to work in schools and classrooms, resulting in less qualified educators and thus lower student test scores. The decline will eventually ripple into the skilled workforce, the Senator argued, which could seriously weaken the U.S. in the future as competitors in the global economy.

“We have to compete, and we have to be able to compete in businesses like Unison,” Schumer said, citing that meeting skilled labor and engineering demands in technology development and high-tech manufacturing has to be a top priority, before it becomes a problem.”That’s our future. It’s the future of Chenango County.”

Gary Cummings, the director of operations at Unison in Norwich, said that skilled labor in general, and not just engineers, is what drives their business and what they depend on to continue to be successful.

“We need people with solid math and science skills,” Cummings said. “We need a highly skilled work force.”