Consider a Trade
This article says what I've been trying to say for all the years my oldest ds has been in school!
Alleluia! The educational system is finally catching on to the fact that people all learn differently and we're all good at what we do best!
Traditional trades short of workers
November 24, 2005
BY MARTHA IRVIN
There's no shortage of work for Mike Kirby, a 21-year-old apprentice electrician in Iowa who's been on the job 10 hours a day, seven days a week lately.
He and others in the traditional trades are in great demand throughout the country, with many trade groups and employers hotly recruiting high school students to fill the growing need for everything from plumbers to bricklayers and dry-wallers.
Yet despite the opportunities, the jobs are proving a tough sell -- not only to young people but to their parents and school counselors, who don't always see the trades as a desirable option.
"That's the way it's preached: 'If you don't go to college, you can't do anything.' But obviously that's not true," said Kirby, who'll finish his apprenticeship with Shaw Electric in Davenport, Iowa, next year.
He expects to make $18 an hour once he finishes.
Officials at organizations that represent the construction trades say national age-specific statistics aren't available. But they note the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the industry will need to add 100,000 jobs a year each year through 2012, while also filling an additional 90,000 openings annually for positions vacated by retiring baby boomers and those leaving the industry for other reasons.
Some believe the labor shortage will become more severe as the need for skilled workers increases on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast and in regions with housing booms.
"Do we have an immediate crisis? Probably not. Will we in five years? Absolutely," said Gary Dowty, executive vice president of the Lake County (Ill.) Contractors Association.
Already, he's seen several baby boomer trades workers take early retirement -- "good retirement and pensions," he noted. "They can afford to retire at 55 or 60 and they're doing it."
Finish reading the article here.
Alleluia! The educational system is finally catching on to the fact that people all learn differently and we're all good at what we do best!
Traditional trades short of workers
November 24, 2005
BY MARTHA IRVIN
There's no shortage of work for Mike Kirby, a 21-year-old apprentice electrician in Iowa who's been on the job 10 hours a day, seven days a week lately.
He and others in the traditional trades are in great demand throughout the country, with many trade groups and employers hotly recruiting high school students to fill the growing need for everything from plumbers to bricklayers and dry-wallers.
Yet despite the opportunities, the jobs are proving a tough sell -- not only to young people but to their parents and school counselors, who don't always see the trades as a desirable option.
"That's the way it's preached: 'If you don't go to college, you can't do anything.' But obviously that's not true," said Kirby, who'll finish his apprenticeship with Shaw Electric in Davenport, Iowa, next year.
He expects to make $18 an hour once he finishes.
Officials at organizations that represent the construction trades say national age-specific statistics aren't available. But they note the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the industry will need to add 100,000 jobs a year each year through 2012, while also filling an additional 90,000 openings annually for positions vacated by retiring baby boomers and those leaving the industry for other reasons.
Some believe the labor shortage will become more severe as the need for skilled workers increases on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast and in regions with housing booms.
"Do we have an immediate crisis? Probably not. Will we in five years? Absolutely," said Gary Dowty, executive vice president of the Lake County (Ill.) Contractors Association.
Already, he's seen several baby boomer trades workers take early retirement -- "good retirement and pensions," he noted. "They can afford to retire at 55 or 60 and they're doing it."
Finish reading the article here.
posted by Cay Gibson @ 11/27/2005 09:36:00 PM
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