Blue collar blues: labor shortages in the skilled trades

By Kathy G.

An article in today's Wall Street Journal reports a labor shortage in the skilled trades. Jobs for welders, pipe fitters, and other skilled workers are going begging and businesses are trying to figure out how to make these fields more attractive to younger workers. But they face the obstacle of

overcoming the perception that blue-collar trades offer less status, money and chance for advancement than white-collar jobs, and that college is the best investment for everyone.

Now, the article is a little weak when it comes to citing the hard numbers. I'd like to know, for example, if there really are fewer young people are entering apprenticeship or training programs for these professions, but no statistics are cited to this effect. However, the article does mention that, "[b]etween 1995 and 2005, the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds in college rose to 39% to 35%." It also quotes a number of employers who say they're having a hard time filling positions in the skilled trades and cites the predictions of a consultancy firm that the demand for labor in these fields is likely to significantly exceed supply in the short- and long-term. So the shortage of skilled tradespeople does appear to be a real phenomenon.

I have two basic comments about this. The first is that our education system does millions of young people a disservice by not promoting skilled trades as a viable career path and an alternative to college. College drop-out rates are high; only a little over half of students who begin at a 4-year college graduate from that college with a degree within 6 years. And even among those who do graduate, earnings in some of the most popular majors, such as education and arts and the humanities, tend to be low. Moreover, there is compelling evidence that too many students enter college unprepared.

Clearly, college isn't for everyone. Many high school students lack the academic skills for college-level work, and others are just not interested in academics.  The increasing cost of college, and the heavier debt burdens students are expected to carry, are also significant obstacles to getting a college education. So why doesn't our education system to more to promote non-college alternatives such as programs and apprenticeships in the trades? Not only is there a demand for more skilled tradespeople, but as the Journal article points out, for many young people, entering the skilled trades would make a lot of economic sense:

some unionized craft workers can earn more than the average college graduate, without the burden of student debt.

"You earn while you learn," says Brian Couch, a young electrician, in a video posted on the Web sites YouTube and MySpace. "It's not like going to college where you go to school for five to eight years and have to work a part-time job."

Our education system is so obsessively focused on getting everyone into college that it's failing both our students and our economy. Building stronger relationships between local high schools, on the one hand, and employers, unions and training programs for tradespeople, on the other, would help on the supply side; according to the article, a few efforts like these are underway. But I imagine that making any real headway on this issue would require a major change in our nation's education policies, and that seems unlikely to happen.

Now, my other reaction to this story was: where are the women? If there's a serious labor shortage in the skilled trades, it seems to me that it would make sense to reach out to underrepresented groups. Women's representation in many of the skilled trades mentioned in the Journal article is extremely low. Here are figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics concerning the percentage of women in the skilled trades that were mentioned in the Journal article:

Welding, soldering, and brazing workers, 5.9%
Carpenters, 2.4%
Electricians, 1.9%
Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, 1.8%
Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons, 1.6%

It's a shocking how little progress women have made in the skilled trades. But women entering these occupations face enormous barriers; significant levels of sex discrimination and sexual harassment in the blue collar trades have been well-documented. A renewed emphasis on affirmative action programs for women in nontraditional employment, as well as more resources devoted to programs that train women for blue collar jobs (such as those run by these two excellent organizations) would surely help. The earnings prospects of female high school graduates who don't go on to college are pretty dire; their median earnings are only about 55% of those of their (female) college-educated counterparts. Which is all the more reason to encourage more women to enter the skilled trades.

Comments

[Minivet]

Are you sure the link to Ferguson's Blue Collar Women is what you meant? A look at the reviews suggests so.

[Sir Charles]

Kathy,

From the vantage point of having worked with the trades for the last 25 years, I think there ae several things at work here. The shortages are real in some trades and places, although much of the problem is anticipated down the road. Many crafts are aging and the cohort of young people to replace them is lacking. There are several obstacles that need to be overcome. First is the sheer cultural bias against manual labor in this society, which is absolutely pervasive. The education system seems to have this bias in spades. (Take these biases and multiply them by a 100 and there you have the issue of getting women into the trades.) It is too bad, because in the unionized trades people can make six figures in many parts of the country in the higher skilled trades, plus medical coverage and great traditional pensions.)

Second, the work is difficult and apprenticeship, the traditional avenue into the trades, is also a hard sell some times. It requires young people to work all day and then attend school a couple of nights a week. This is not always appealing to 18-19 year old men (as they are overwhelmingly men). But you earn money while you are training and, best of all, no student debt.

Third, the erosion of unions hurts recruitment and retention. Traditionally building trades unions have been the moving force behind recruiting and training new tradespeople. What do you know, non-union employers tend to think short term and to not to put a lot of money into training and development of the work force.

On a positive note, I think the coming shortfall is going to be a huge shot in the arm to the unions, as the superior wages, health plans and pension funds are going to be a necessary inducement for people entering the trades. I also think that employers will find the ability of unions to help them staff up and provide them with trained personnel will prove very attractive. (Hey after surviving the last 25 years in this business I'm allowed a moment of optimism).

[Saturniinae]

Kathy -

Seattle's NPR affiliate did a two-part story on shortages in the skilled trades about a month ago, and they talked with HS students who said they'd never been introduced to the skilled trades in their career counseling. I don't remember if there were hard, non-local statistics cited, but you might find it useful. http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=15145

[Custom Essays]

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