The skills gap worries CEOs more than trade or taxes, surveys show. : A factory worker uses a power drill to assemble components on a diesel engine in Seymour, Ind. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg News) THE BIG IDEA: Every election cycle, politicians across the ideological spectrum pay homage to the virtues of the blue-collar, middle-class factory worker and promise to bring back industrial jobs that have been shipped overseas. But such bipartisan bromides obscure a serious branding problem: Most parents don’t want their kids to work in manufacturing when they grow up.