By Christine Graf

The nationwide skilled trade labor shortage has reached critical levels as baby boomers continue to retire. Baby boomers make up the majority of the skilled trade workforce, and there aren’t enough qualified younger workers to take their places, say people in the industry.

An estimated 31 million skilled trade workers retired in 2020, and many of those jobs remain unfilled. Sixty-two percent of companies report that they struggle to fill skilled trade labor positions.

“Ten thousand baby boomers are retiring every day. We have to bring in the next generation to fill those jobs,” said Dr. Jonathan Ashdown, dean of science, technology, engineering, and math at Hudson Valley Community College. “We’re doing everything we can at Hudson Valley to meet the demands for today in terms of helping to solve the skills gap issue.”

Local union representatives for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 236 in Albany and UA Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 773 in Glens Falls report that their apprentice programs are in high demand. Both unions have long waiting lists for their multiple-year programs.

According to Mike Martell, assistant business manager at IBEW Local 236, they typically have hundreds of applicants for the approximately 50 spots that are available in their apprenticeship program each year. Union apprenticeships are typically in high demand because union jobs offer above average pay and benefit packages. Local 236 apprentices earn a starting wage of more than $17 an hour and receive an excellent benefit package.

HVCC plans to build a new $65 million facility for skilled trades education. The proposed 130,000-square-foot Applied Technology Education Center (ATEC) will allow the college to expand its training of the skilled technical workforce. Although the college continues to expand capacity, long waiting lists remain for many of their most popular programs.

By Jill Nagy

Area businesses are taking different approaches to deal with a shortage of skilled workers in the building trades.

Mr. Electric of Queensbury runs ads year round on several online help wanted sites. Eastern Heating and Cooling has a well-established apprenticeship program in order to “grow our own.” 

Jim Curran Electric in Saratoga Springs is a situation where the owner was rescued by a son who, seeing his father “overwhelmed,” relocated from Virginia to join the company.

Electricians are busy. “There is an avalanche of work,” according to Fred Giardinelli of Eastern Heating and Cooling. “Nine out of ten companies will give you the same answer: it’s “almost impossible” to find qualified people. 

Curran reported that he is “too busy to train somebody in the proper way.”  Mr. Electric also is “extremely busy.”

Curran, for his part, has soured on the idea of trying to hire and train new people.

“I used to try to hire people,” he said, “but they were not skilled enough.” 

People hired as apprentices often did not show up. At the other end of the spectrum, “if they get too trained, they go out on their own.”

He has been on his own for most of his 33 years in business. Since March, his son Jeff, a licensed electrician in Virginia, has been working with him and will soon become a partner in the business. Jeff and two other sons all worked with him as kids, he recalled, but the other two are following other career paths.

By Christine Graf

Queensbury native Ashley Cirelli was working in the restaurant industry before joining the apprentice program at UA Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 773 in 2015. She is one of more than 450 members of the Queensbury-based union.

“I was working in the restaurant business, but there was no stability. You can make great money, but there’s no retirement or health insurance unless you get it on your own,” said Cirelli whose family has  owned several local restaurants including Cirelli’s Jam ‘n Eggs in South Glens Falls.

After learning about the excellent pay and benefit packages available to union apprentices, she decided to apply to the electrician apprentice program at UA Local 236 in Albany. Her plans changed after a chance meeting with Larry Bulman, director of legislative and political affairs for the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, that took place at her parents’ restaurant.

After he told her about the career opportunities available to her as an apprentice at Local 773, she applied and was accepted into the program. In August 2015, she started working at GlobalFoundries as a union apprentice. For her, the job was a perfect fit.

“I’ve been very hands-on my entire life. I helped my dad fix cars when I was young, and I used to build computers” she said. “I always wanted to do something in the trades and almost got into the military. But in high school, I was always told you need to go to college no matter what.”

Cirelli did attend college for 18 months after graduating from high school in 2007. She took business management and marketing classed at SUNY Adirondack but never completed her degree.

Although there is an aptitude test that all apprentice program applicants must take, no special skills are required in order to get accepted into the program.

“You don’t have to have any mechanical inclination at all. Your schooling is hands-on training. They teach you from the very basics of how to turn a wrench all the way up to the advanced skills,” she said. “And as soon as you sign the paperwork, they get you working. You work five days a week for at least 40 hours a week, and you go to school three nights a week for five years.

“You are earning a living while going to school, and they are paying for the school. The only thing you have to pay for is union dues and books. Other than that, they pay for everything. ”

By Christine Graf

After graduating  from University of Albany in 2005 with a degree in business administration, Waterford-native Jamie Wallace applied for a summer youth intern position at Grace Chapel in Jonesville.

“I thought it would be a fun way to spend my summer before I looked for full-time career after college,” said Wallace.

He enjoyed the job so much that he applied for a permanent position as the church’s youth pastor. Despite his lack of experience in ministry, he was hired with the condition that he agree to be mentored. At the time, he was working on Saturday’s for Clifton Park Chimney Maintenance, a company owned by Andy and Jill Looker. Wallace took the job to earn extra money to supplement his youth pastor’s salary.

“I did not even know chimney sweeps existed, so it was very new to me. But I really enjoyed it,” he said.

A year later, with encouragement from the Looker’s, Wallace left his job and started his own chimney sweep business.

“I decided to take a big leap of faith,” said Wallace. “A lot of people said I was crazy, but I went out on my own. My goal was to use the biblical principles I had learned and apply them to the business. And I was right.”

When Wallace started Chimney Heroes (originally named Saratoga Chimney Sweeps) in 2010, he relied on word of mouth, networking groups, and what he refers to as guerilla marketing to find “customers for life.”

“I was waking up at 5 a.m. and doing neighborhood flyers. It was slow going and it was hard, but it worked,” he said.