{"id":34412,"date":"2021-06-17T15:36:35","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T19:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=34412"},"modified":"2021-06-17T15:36:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T19:36:35","slug":"skilled-trade-labor-shortages-continue-as-boomers-retire-replacements-arent-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/06\/skilled-trade-labor-shortages-continue-as-boomers-retire-replacements-arent-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Skilled Trade Labor Shortages Continue As Boomers Retire, Replacements Aren\u2019t There"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Union leaders in the building trades are looking for ways to attract new workers.
\u00a92021 SaratogaPhotographer.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Christine Graf<\/p>\n

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\u2019t enough qualified younger workers to take their places, say people in the industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTen thousand baby boomers are retiring every day. We have to bring in the next generation to fill those jobs,\u201d said Dr. Jonathan Ashdown, dean of science, technology, engineering, and math at Hudson Valley Community College. \u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can at Hudson Valley to meet the demands for today in terms of helping to solve the skills gap issue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a tremendous skills gap in the skilled trade field\u2014whether you are talking about plumbers and pipefitters, welder, electricians, advanced manufacture technicians, and even mechatronics technicians,\u201d said Ashdown. \u201cWe literally cannot graduate enough students every year. We are maxed to capacity with the number of people we can graduate, and our job placement rates are 97 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is only because some students choose to pursue other career paths or continue their education at a four-year college that the skilled trade job placement rate at HVCC is not 100 percent. In fact, many students are offered jobs after finishing the first year of their two-year skilled trade program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who wants a job gets one,\u201d said Ashdown. \u201cStudents have multiple companies giving them offers. We\u2019ve had companies getting into bidding wars over starting salaries. We had several companies bidding over a student in advanced manufacturing, and the wage got bid from the low twenties per hour to above thirty with full benefits and a company vehicle. It\u2019s a real life example of supply and demand playing out, and you see wages creeping up and kind of going through the roof.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Ashdown, HVCC officials have also met with local trade union leaders to discuss collaboration opportunities for their students. Unions have expressed interest in taking on HVCC students as apprentices after graduation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have said that our students come out so much better prepared than someone off the street,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are all working very synergistically to try to mitigate this shortage and this skills gap issue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe negotiate our wages and recognize that if you want skilled manpower, you need to come to the table and pay those guys what that skilled labor is worth. You get what you pay for, and a lot of business owners have forgotten that. If they aren\u2019t willing to pay what the men and women who are offering the skilled labor are worth, they are unable to get the manpower they need to get the job done,\u201d said Martell at Local 236. <\/span><\/p>\n

The apprenticeship program at UA Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 773 in Queensbury also has a waiting list, but according to business manager Mike Jarvis, the union is experiencing a critical shortage of experienced tradespeople.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe typically don\u2019t see a shortage of people who want to join, but what we are seeing right now is that we have a lot of work in the North Country\u2014Lake Placid and the Plattsburgh area. Apprentices do help, but that\u2019s not what we need right now. We need help from people who are well-versed and experienced. In all reality, we are just barely able to man our work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jarvis is working to promote trades to a new generation of students, and he and his training director recently met with students at Hudson Falls BOCES. Beginning in the fall, Local 773 will be partnering with BOCES to offer an internship program to a select group of students. The students will travel to the union\u2019s state of the art training facility where they will complete an on-site internship program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years, there wasn\u2019t enough emphasis put on the trades in high school. Guidance counselors didn\u2019t view it as a path for their students. College was pushed more than the trades,\u201d said Jarvis. \u201cI want to get these kids out of high school. I want the kid that didn\u2019t wait for their father to get home to put the chain back on their bike. I want the kid that can pick up a wrench and say, \u2018I can fix that.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Ashdown believes that trades need to be promoted to students while they are still in elementary school. It is his opinion that this could help to reduce the undeserved negative stigma that is often associated with various skilled trade professions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found that in order to really solve this issue, you need to get the students interested in the skilled trades as early as third grade or even as early as kindergarten. It\u2019s of utmost importance because it\u2019s not only a cultural issue, it\u2019s about restoring the respect for trades,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are very respected and in-demand fields where you can make $80 to $100 plus thousand a year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

HVCC is partnering with Queststar III BOCES to give local high school students in grades 9-12 the opportunity to earn up to 26 college credits. Participating schools include Troy High School, and East Greenbush High School.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey will be doing their main high school curriculum on the Hudson Valley campus, but it will be a more seamless integration into some of the skilled trades programs such as welding and others. It\u2019s going to be a full four years of high school here,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time we\u2019ve done this. In TechSmart in Malta, we\u2019ve partnered with Ballston Spa. It\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jarvis finds it encouraging that local school districts have started to reach out to Local 773 to inquire about opportunities for their students. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last 20 years, we have been swimming against the current. We are no longer swimming against the current–we\u2019re going with the current,\u201d he said. \u201cQueensbury has reached out to me. Hudson Falls has reached out to me. They are asking \u2018What can we do? How can we partner up?\u2019 And Adirondack Community College (SUNY Adirondack) has recognized our program which I think speaks volumes for our program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Graduates of the apprenticeship programs at both Local 773 and Local 236 receive 30 credits that can be can be applied towards a SUNY Adirondack Journeyworker: Technical Trades Management associate\u2019s degree. The degree program also includes a wide variety of courses including public speaking, business law, accounting, and computer science.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Jarvis meets with applicants who are taking the aptitude test for Local 773\u2019s apprenticeship program, he said he always tells them the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI tell them I have enough pipefitters. I\u2019m looking for leaders,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you join our union, the sky\u2019s the limit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t enough qualified younger workers to take their places, say people in the industry. An estimated 31 million skilled trade workers retired in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":34413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nSkilled Trade Labor Shortages Continue As Boomers Retire, Replacements Aren\u2019t There - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/06\/skilled-trade-labor-shortages-continue-as-boomers-retire-replacements-arent-there\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Skilled Trade Labor Shortages Continue As Boomers Retire, Replacements Aren\u2019t There - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Christine Graf The nationwide skilled trade labor shortage has reached critical levels as baby boomers continue to retire. 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