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National movement needed to attract, educate skilled tradespeople

Nov. 30, 2016
We now need a national movement to attract and educate enough skilled tradespeople 85 percent of the jobs in America do not require a college degree The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that construction is projected to add 790,400 jobs by 2024 We need a cultural shift in which parents, guidance counselors and others do not view vocational skilled-trades education/ apprenticeships as a second option

Whether we are trying to make America "Stronger Together" or "Make America Great Again," there exists a national catastrophe that requires nothing short of a national cultural pivot: something akin to Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” or Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” in which a national crisis required a transformational shift in national priorities to protect the health and safety of the American people. As was true in 1910 and in 1933, we now need a national movement to attract and educate enough skilled tradespeople to fix the declining economic health of the construction trades industry and crumbling infrastructure. 

While the narrative is slowly changing from “College Readiness” to “Career Readiness,” we have to overcome what has been a cultural norm in which “For two or three generations, the focus has been to go to college, get a degree and in doing so you will ensure a brighter future with more access to employment,” notes Joshua Wright in his article “America's Skilled Trades Dilemma: Shortages Loom As Most-In-Demand Group Of Workers Ages,” http://bit.ly/2fD6a6j

However, according to the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE), 85 percent of the jobs in America do not require a college degree, but do require post-high school training.

In Leah McGrath Goodman’s article“Millennial College Graduates: Young, Educated, Jobless,” http://bit.ly/2fD6a6j, a study from the Brookings Institution is referenced, “volume and frequency of student loans increased significantly” from 2002 to 2012, with loans spiking 77 percent. The price tag for attending even an in-state, public four-year college leapt by nearly 32 percent in the same period.”

Also in Goodman’s article, Anthony Carnevale, a director and research professor for Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, notes that “We have a debate raging in this country right now over whether universities are supposed to teach for enlightenment or to prepare students for the job market. You still see presidents at some very prestigious universities arguing for the former, not the latter.”

We’re lending money we don’t have to kids who will never be able to pay it back, for jobs that no longer exist. That’s crazy, right?

--Mike Rowe

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that construction is projected to add 790,400 jobs by 2024. The U.S. Dept. of Labor estimates that the plumbing, heating and cooling industry, which I represent, www.phccweb.org, will need 21 percent more plumbing and HVAC technicians respectively by 2022 and that does not take in account replacing retiring baby boomers! That represents 138,000 jobs available over the next six years.

This need only grows when “[adding additional workers] needed by the manufacturers of plumbing products, the engineers needed to design those products and plumbing infrastructure systems,” notes Gerry Kennedy, Ph.D., EVP Emeritus, PHCC. 

“As reported by NPR in October, 2.1 trillion gallons of drinking water are lost in the U.S. each year due to decaying, faltering, decrepit infrastructure,” writes J. D. Heyes in the article “Broken Water Main Floods Streets of Drought-parched Los Angeles; Plumbing Keeps Breaking as Cities Devolve to Third-world Status.” http://bit.ly/2gdD15M

“A study by the American Water Works Association estimates that it will cost $1 trillion just to repair water pipes,” notes Heyes. “A 2011 study by the Urban Land Institute said another $2 trillion is needed to repair and upgrade America's network of roads and bridges.”

Much of these realities are hard to reconcile given the dichotomy between high unemployment rate of college graduates, climbing tuition rates, the high number of available skilled-trade jobs that go unfilled and the desperate need to fix a decaying infrastructure that threatens the health and safety of our citizens.

TV personality Mike Rowe expressed in an interview with TheBlaze TV’s Andrew Wilkow, http://bit.ly/1jFovwk,that “We’re lending money we don’t have to kids who will never be able to pay it back, for jobs that no longer exist. That’s crazy, right? That’s what we’ve been doing for the last 40 years.”

We need a movement — a cultural shift in which parents, guidance counselors and others do not view vocational skilled-trades education/ apprenticeships as a second option to going to college. With the right policy reforms and resetting national priorities, skilled- trade education can lead to additional education and career advancement.

The DOL reported on Sept. 21, 2016, that “Today, 91 percent of apprentices remain employed after completing their programs, with average annual starting wages above $50,000. The return on investment for employers is substantial, as studies indicate that for every dollar spent on apprenticeship, employers receive average of $1.47 return in increased productivity.” Read the news release “U.S. Labor Department awards $20.4M in contracts to partners seeking to expand, diversify registered apprenticeship” http://bit.ly/2d4A6bo.

We need to get back to a time when “youth in olden days achieved the status of craft workers, they became important members of society,” notes Washington State Dept. of Labor & Industries. We need to re-establish vocational education that was dismantled in much of the country. We need to achieve greater diversity within the skilled-trades industries to include more women, minorities and at-risk youths: all seeking that same level of importance and respect applied to their contribution to society.

We must overcome stereotypes and understand that, as Rowe points out in the article “Mike Rowe Joins Home Services Companies to Promote Skilled Trades” by Candace Roulo, “Our civilization is held together by people who keep the lights on, pipe connected, and who keep it warm in the winter and cold in the summer. Our relationship with these people is critical and that part of our workforce is fundamental to society…"

Michael Copp is executive vice president of the PHCC — National Association. Copp most recently was the chief operating officer of the American Retirement Association.  Prior to that position, he was senior vice president of Education at the National Association of Home Builders and managing director with the Professional Practice division of The American Institute of Architects. 

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