Authors: Joe Lamacchia,Bridget Samburg
Tags: #Business
What if we rethought the whole equation and encouraged some of these students—especially the ones who simply aren’t cut out for four years of college—to go into the blue-collar workforce? What if we told high schoolers in the United States about the possibilities that exist in the blue-collar world, about the money that could be made and the exciting businesses that blue-collar workers own and run?
Baby boomers are retiring fast, and we aren’t training enough youth to take over their jobs. We should be teaching students about the trades in high school, if not earlier. We should be opening doors along these other avenues, rather than only showing them the door to college. We should be telling students that unions offer incredible apprenticeships and training programs, not to mention benefits, in almost every skilled trade. By doing so, we’d not only be benefiting society but we’d also be giving hope and motivation to many young people.
The Blue-Collar Route: A Great Time to Start
This is a great time to be thinking about going blue collar. There are 309 million people in the United States right now; that’s a lot of houses to build and keep in good repair and a lot of services to provide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that between 2004 and 2014 there will be 40 million job openings for workers who are entering the workforce without a bachelor’s degree.* This is more than twice the number of jobs for people who will be graduating from four-year colleges and universities.
In Canada, 48 percent of the workforce will be between the ages of forty-five and sixty-four by 2015. Nearly 3.8 million Canadians work in five skilled trade industries, but those who are retiring aren’t being adequately replaced. Only 32 percent of students ages thirteen to eighteen say they would consider a career in the skilled trades.
The Canadian Council on Learning has issued reports that signal significant workforce shortages because of the rising age of workers and the shrinking pool of people entering the skilled trades. In 2002, 26 percent of small and medium-size businesses were already facing shortages, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. Of those companies surveyed, 64 percent said they are having difficulty finding workers because of a lack of skilled applicants.
The United States and Canada are looking closely at renewable energy options, and at ways to reduce the carbon footprint and improve the environment. Gas-guzzling cars and wasteful consumption are driving all sectors to make serious changes to improve the environment and curb destructive consuming practices. Previously, only environmentalists cared about this issue. Now politicians, private-sector companies, and all citizens are considering it. All of this talk is already resulting in significant measures, such as building solar and wind power capabilities, that in turn create job opportunities. For the first time since the 1970s, plans are in the works for the construction of various nuclear power plants around the United States—another significant source of blue-collar jobs.
Statistics provided from2006-2008 data.Due to economic conditions, these numbers are subject to change.
Pipelines that bring water to our homes and schools and businesses all across North America are bursting. They are in desperate need of repair. We have refineries to build and coal to extract from the earth. Green-collar jobs, discussed later in this book, are cropping up everywhere as well, available in almost every industry and all parts of the country. You could be part of this next wave.
As one example of massive workforce shortages in the United States, the American Welding Society says the country could potentially face a shortage of nearly 200,000 skilled welders by 2010. The roads, bridges, and tunnels in the United States are in the worst condition ever. The infrastructure is in disarray, and there aren’t enough people to do the necessary repairs. We are headed for a major revolution in terms of alternative energy and increased energy demand, but we don’t have the people to build the power plants and erect the wind turbines.
“Everything is geared toward college, and in five to ten years we won’t have anyone to fill these jobs,” says David Marland, the training coordinator at Local 51, the plumbing and pipefitting union in Providence, Rhode Island. “These skills and trades are for life. You can always make a living.” Yet Marland has a hard time even filling his apprenticeships.
These shortages are occurring for many reasons. Clearly we haven’t interested enough people in the trades. “The work ethic has changed,” says Jim Geisinger, president of the Northwest Forestry Association. “Kids want to sit in front of a computer.” Geisinger has watched as the younger generations have left their traditional logging communities in droves. Many have moved to urban areas in search of white-collar work.
“When you talk to manufacturers across the country, the issue of skills shortages is a primary concern for all, no matter what region of Canada they are in,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. The gaps between jobs and the skills of the incoming workforce are being noticed. Canada’s government is working to address the problem as well. “The government of Canada recognizes more and more that Canada’s growth is dependent upon people entering the skilled trades—from welders and carpenters to hairstylists and chefs,” said Diane Finley, minister of Human Resources and Social Development.
“The whole work world has changed dramatically,” says Jan Bray, executive director of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), a national organization that works to improve technical education and better prepare youth for careers in the trades. “Our society doesn’t value people who work with their hands.” Bray says parents are often guilty of trying to dissuade their own children from going into the trades. “But when parents hear that you need to have a high level of math to be an auto mechanic, their perceptions start to change. You change perceptions with information.” People do start to pay attention once you tell them that they need a good brain and sufficient training to do much of the available blue-collar work. Suddenly family members listen more carefully when you talk about the trades. How do we change the perceptions that have tainted almost all of these blue-collar sectors? We need to give people more information.
The entire workforce in the United States has been projected to increase by 12.8 million people between 2006 and 2016, according to the federal government. Total employment is expected to increase by 10 percent in this same time period. Transportation, warehousing, and trucking will grow rapidly, as will jobs in the utilities. Service industries are expected to increase as well. And the occupations that include installation, maintenance, and repair will increase by 9.3 percent.
Repair work is one area of rapid change, as technological advances have become prevalent in every industry. “This isn’t about working on cars in your backyard,” says auto technician Lori Johnson. “It’s a totally different world now.” If you lift up the hood of a car, Johnson points out, you’re only going to find a few things you can touch and mess around with. Mostly, there are computerized diagnostic tests that must be run, and codes that must be downloaded and later interpreted. And you need training to do all of this.
“If the traditional career and technical training does go away, the infrastructure of this country would fall apart. You wouldn’t have anyone to fix your plumbing or build and repair your home.Who would be the people fixing your electricity? ” electricity?
—Janet Bray, president of the Association for Career and Technical Education
In the United States, much talk is taking place about nuclear power making a comeback as people turn to it as an alternative and necessary source of energy. Canada has long been more receptive to nuclear power. In the United States, though, the industry is grappling with as much as 35 percent of its workforce retiring within the next five years. The Nuclear Energy Institute predicts needing to hire as many as 25, 000 workers in that same time period. And for any new reactors that are built, the institute expects the industry to hire 1, 400 to 1, 800 construction workers, including skilled tradespeople, to complete the projects. Once built, approximately 400 to 700 employees are needed to run one of these plants, at which the median salary for an electrical technician is $67, 517 and a reactor operator is $77, 782. Those are serious opportunities, and yet people haven’t adjusted their expectation of these jobs. They haven’t taken the time to learn about them.
“A lot of schoolteachers have no idea what an ironworker does, ” says Marco Frausto, the president and business agent of Ironworkers Local #416 in Los Angeles. He visits local high schools to talk with students about careers in the trades. “They’re more interested once they hear how much you can make.” In California, a journeyman is paid $31.83 an hour plus extensive health and pension benefits. Apprentices with a high school diploma and no prior experience start at $15.92 an hour plus benefits, and their wages increase 5 percent every six months. Frausto says once he actually talks about the extensive skills and training needed for welding and the techniques involved, parents are more accepting. “One does not fit all, ” Frausto reminds students and their parents. What works for one student won’t necessarily work for another.
Wake up, Mom and Dad. Look at your child and ask,
What is good for him or her? What is going to make him or her happy and successful?
Don’t think,
What college do I want to see my son or daughter in next fall?
That’s not going to help. If you push what you want and your child really shouldn’t be going to college, you’re going to end up with one very unhappy, potentially debt-laden person. Financially, your son or daughter could be saving for his or her first house rather than paying off student loans.
Before the economy became so unpredictable in 2008, U.S. trucking companies were unable to find enough truckers and predicted that by 2014 the industry would be short nearly 110, 000 drivers. Because of the increasing cost of fuel (which has slowed the trucking industry), the railroad industry is positively booming. Freight trains are moving more cargo than ever before. In 2002, the major railroads laid off about 4, 700 workers. In 2006, they rehired 5, 000. In 2008, the rail companies were planning to build an additional $10 billion in tracks. And according to the Transportation Department, freight tonnage is expected to increase by close to 90 percent by 2035. Where am I going with this? All of this activity means more jobs in the transportation sector and a possible shortage of jobs if we don’t have well-trained individuals ready to join these industries.
People love to say that nothing is made in America anymore. But more is produced in the United States than ever before, the top-three products being food, computers and electronics, and motor vehicles. As of 2005, the manufacturing industry was producing close to $1.5 trillion in goods, and the United States exported more than $1.023 trillion as compared to the $612.1 billion in goods exported in 1996. That amount has practically doubled in less than ten years. And while the auto industry has suffered tremendously, especially in Michigan, new factories are being built in the southern states. For example, Volkswagen is building a $1 billion manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is expected to be operational in 2011.
Did You KNOW?
The oil and gas industry in Canada is booming. The demand for crude oil and natural gas has risen steadily over the past twenty years, and most of it is exported. Companies are expanding, and the industry is always in need of new employees.
In Canada, the manufacturing sector employs more than 2.3 million people, or nearly 15 percent of the working population. Combined, themanufacturing, construction, automotive, and mining sectors produce half of Canada’s GDP, or more than $550 billion in services. As in the United States, manufacturing and production are traditionally sources of significant employment in Canada.
Manufacturing jobs are changing, though, and many require more interpersonal and technical skills than before. Finding adequately trained and highly skilled employees is becoming increasingly difficult for the industry. Companies are constantly looking for employees who are more skilled and can perform in a more sophisticated work environment. The factories don’t resemble those of yesteryear. The dark, dingy, dirty image that many people have in mind is no longer accurate. People can’t go directly from high school into most of these jobs. It’s a more sophisticated world, and with that comes a more sophisticated manufacturing industry. In a study conducted by the National Association of Manufacturing, 81 percent of companies interviewed said they faced a shortage of workers, and 90 percent said this comes from a lack of available skilled workers.
In 2006, the Ironworkers Union Local #3 in Pittsburgh was having a tough time recruiting new blood. So they launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “We don’t go to the office, we build it.” The national ironworkers organization has adopted the catchy slogan, and more people are paying attention, says William Ligetti, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Ironworker Employers Association. The number of applicants to the Pittsburgh apprenticeship went up immediately. While there were once ninety applicants per year, the union now has about 200 applying each quarter. And in turn, Ligetti said, the quality of the new hires has dramatically increased. “This is a good-paying job, ” adds Ligetti. “You can go out and say, ‘Hey, I built that, ’ and show your children.”
Another source of blue-collar jobs will come from America’s crumbling infrastructure. According to a 2006 study by the Federal Highway Administration, 24.5 percent of the country’s bridges were deemed “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete.” They were built shortly after World War II by blue-collar workers and were made to last about fifty years, so they’re all due for an upgrade. Who is going to do all of this work? These buildings and roads don’t grow from seeds. Someone has to physically go out there and build them. Infrastructure experts estimate that $2.2 trillion in work will be needed over the next decade. That’s a lot of jobs. The construction of pipelines for natural gas will also create employment opportunities. As well, most cities around the country are facing leaky or corroded waste and water pipes that are in need of repair. Miles of these underground pipes are expected to cost each city several billion dollars to fix or replace.