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The Construction Careers Foundation has launched a new website—ConstructionCareers.org. The website is designed to be a resource for young people to learn about the events, internships, and trade union apprenticeship training centers available to help laborers become successful in an assortment of construction fields.
The website is just one piece of a broader initiative called Construction Careers Pathways, a coalition of trade unions, construction companies, high schools, and nonprofits. The State of Minnesota and other strategic partners desire to attract more young people into construction careers—professions such as electricians, plumbers, welders, sheet metal workers, carpenters, ironworkers, and pipefitters. For example, the nonprofit Construct Tomorrow brings representatives from multiple trades to provide hands-on experiences working side by side with tradespeople.
Construction Careers Pathways (CCP) also devotes a considerable amount of energy to working with youth to expose them to the field of construction and the possibilities that come with it. CCP coordinates hands-on projects in the summer for middle schoolers. They have successfully reintroduced construction career pathway curriculum, otherwise known as the multi-craft core curriculum, into 13 high schools. The curriculum is endorsed by the North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU), the national coalition of unions in the construction industry.
In the summer CCP supports the Minnesota Trades Academy, a paid summer construction internship experience for selected Twin City area high school youth.
Construction Careers Foundation Executive Director Pat Wagner points out that the numbers indicate that these efforts are paying off. “In 2017, we had over 7,000 students from 170 schools participate in an event or activity. 32 percent were female and 74 percent were young people in underrepresented demographics,” she said.
Wagner explains that, “Increasing the diversity of entrants into the construction trade is a major focus of the initiative.”
“Our outreach is to our next generation. Our next generation does not look like our current workforce in the construction industry. We are reaching out to individuals of color, immigrant populations, vets, and women,” Wagner said. “One of our goals is that our future construction workforce represents our communities.”
For Wagner, a career in the building trades is a viable option when compared to a higher education funding model that has increasingly become financially inaccessible. Furthermore, college graduates, along with their counterparts in graduate programs, are finding fewer well-paying jobs.
“Construction careers offer good wages with good benefits and career advancement opportunities,” Wagner added. “By providing hands-on experiences for youth to learn more about these careers, both during the school year and over the summer, we’re showing students and their parents that if they’re looking for an alternative to college, a career in construction allows you to learn on the job while avoiding college debt. These are viable careers with which a person can support a family, and these are positions that are needed by our communities statewide.”
Ultimately, Wagner points out that there is a perception issue surrounding jobs in the building trade that the website and other efforts hope to overcome. According to Wagner, trades are often seen as a fallback option; “If you don’t go to college, go into a trade.” Instead, economic indicators suggest that the building trades are a lucrative and stable first option. A 2017 survey by the Associated General Contractors indicates that 90 percent of contractors surveyed said they anticipated hiring craftspeople in the next 12 months. Three-quarters said they expected it to be as hard or harder to find qualified applicants.