Butler Area School District soon will offer new skills for students in an industry previously on the decline in Pennsylvania but primed to make a local resurgence.

Through a $100,000 grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the district intends to expand its high school apprenticeship programs focused on manufacturing.

The timing of the grant money is perfect.

In Beaver County’s Monaca, an enormous ethane cracker plant is projected to make a major economic impact by bringing thousands of new jobs — including up to 6,000 construction jobs to build the plant and around 600 permanent workers — to Western Pennsylvania.

The cracker plant will convert natural gas liquids into plastics for use in countless manufacturing and packaging applications.

The plant is expected to revitalize a petroleum industry born strong 160 years ago in Western Pennsylvania but steadily declining through the years.

A recent report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce said nearly one-quarter of all U.S. jobs in the 1940s were in manufacturing, and those jobs were centered in 15 states, including Pennsylvania.

But while 40 percent of jobs in the state during that era were in manufacturing, the number dwindled to 8 percent by 2016.

The Georgetown study found Pennsylvania lost about 290,000 manufacturing jobs since the turn of the century. Experts attribute the decline to such factors as automation, international competition and rising worker productivity.

So, it’s good news the Beaver plant is reviving manufacturing jobs throughout the region, and the BASD’s new grant could help attract young people to the profession.

Similarly, Business Matters — the Eagle’s sister publication — recently ran a story on how manufacturing has seen a growing interest from young people, and area middle school and high school students can take part in job shadowing, which exposes them to a day in the life of an employee of such employers as Penn United Technologies, a manufacturer of precision and specialty metals.

The grant money to support the district’s apprenticeship programs and job shadowing opportunities are great ideas. Both could benefit students and employers alike.

At the same time, the Georgetown study found the fields growing most rapidly in the region include medical, financial and educational services, which comes as no surprise considering the number of hospitals, schools, institutions of higher education and banks in the Pittsburgh region.

Brian White, the school district’s superintendent, said students could focus on those fields by taking electives through Butler Vo-tech starting in 10th grade or via job shadowing during their senior year. These could be beneficial experiences for students before they are faced with joining the workforce.

It’s never too early for young people to consider their future, and Butler Area School District is to be commended for encouraging students to explore an array of career options.