Even in these dark economic times, 19-year-old Andy Koldeway is still following the light to a brighter future. But the light he’s walking toward isn’t found in the hallowed halls of higher education. Koldeway is working for Schneider Electric in Burlington.

A recent high school graduate, Koldeway will soon enroll in an apprenticeship program with one of the state’s technical colleges for training needed to become an electrician. Unlike most high school graduates, his secondary education at Burlington High School prepared him for the job he got straight out of high school.

“It kind of gave me a jumpstart and was practical for what I wanted to do,” Koldeway says of Burlington’s Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) program. “I wanted to go into the trades, and it helped me do that.”

Koldeway’s willingness to jump toward a career in the skilled trades is something the nation — and Wisconsin — need right now, say some employers. According to a recent Manpower survey of 1,300 U.S. employers, skilled trade workers are in short supply and one of the three most difficult job categories to fill.

But not everyone is certain a shortage actually exists. Ken Kraemer, director of the Construction Labor Management Council of Southeastern Wisconsin, is among the doubters.

“Manufacturing may be seeing a shortage … but I’m not seeing a shortage for the union construction skilled workers,” says Kraemer.

Numbers seem to support Kraemer’s assertion. Nationally, unemployment is higher in construction than any other field. In October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an unemployment rate in the construction job category of 13.7 percent and just 7.7 percent in manufacturing.

What many do agree on, however, is that as baby boomers working in the trades near retirement in the coming decade, we may not be able to replace them with qualified workers. So what’s behind the alleged shortage of electricians, plumbers, machinists, masons and welders, just a handful of the jobs that fall under the skilled trades umbrella? Part of the problem, says Jorge Perez, a senior vice president with Manpower North America, is embedded in the way we’ve been educating our children.

As school districts improved their offerings for university-bound students starting in the 1970s, the classes for the skilled trade side of life were scaled back; in some communities, they were eliminated entirely. Given the 
limited support of trade education in public schools, Perez isn’t surprised employers are having a hard time finding workers. 

“It’s not unique to the U.S.,” says Perez. “Less and less people are taking the opportunities to look at this field. We have to make sure we communicate the relevance of these types of professions to young people.”

Training ground
Communicating the relevance Perez is talking about happens daily at Burlington High School in the ACE Academy, which is where Koldeway spent three years preparing for a career in the trades. The program is a trade-based learning lab that starts in a student’s sophomore year. Led by teachers like Casey Miller, the ACE Academy is not your father’s woodshop class. Laser focused and high tech, nearly everything here is geared toward the workplaces where students will eventually land.

“Instead of necessarily studying Shakespeare,” explains Miller, “you’re going to be reading an engineering journal or reading about trends in architecture or in the construction industry. You’ll write an essay about why you would use metal studs instead of wood studs, or why you’d use a poured foundation wall versus a concrete block wall. What they work on is related to things within the construction and trade industries. Algebra and geometry are used in real-life construction situations. It’s a school within a school.”

The Walker administration would like to see what Burlington’s doing expanded throughout the state and hopes to push through a framework that would allow for a high school vocational diploma. At a fall Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce luncheon in Waukesha, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefish noted such curriculum would have to be approved by the Department of Public Instruction but has the full backing of the governor.

In the absence of sweeping legislative changes that would provide for vocational high school diplomas, Laura Cataldo, Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin’s director of workforce and industry outreach, continues to promote the trades to young people. Cushioned by the downturn in new construction, the skilled trades shortage isn’t at its worst, she says, but could be in as little as five years.

“This is an industry, especially in the construction trades, where individuals retire earlier than other industries,” she says. “It’s more common to see a 65-year-old accountant than to see a 65-year-old cement mason. If we were going full-tilt, our industry would really be in a hard spot in terms of employment.”

Providing curriculum support to schools like Burlington High, Cataldo is encouraged by the willingness of some districts to retool their industrial arts programs for the needs of the 21st century. Still, it’s an uphill climb for her to convince educators who think kids “just don’t want to take shop classes anymore.” Armed with all sorts of reports, she wins converts with hard data.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, eight out of 10 of the fastest-growing occupations through 2014 won’t require a bachelor’s degree. The Harvard Graduate School of Education reports that 27 percent of people with certifications or licensures below the level of an associate’s degree earn more than the average worker with a bachelor’s degree. Yet many schools remain more focused on college-bound students, even though only 28 percent of the state’s ninth graders will enter college.

“One of the fundamental ingredients we’re focusing on is that we think the educational process should focus on career preparation rather than college preparation,” Cataldo says. “And it needs to happen throughout the state.”

Got skill?
While there may be a flood of applicants for trade jobs, Jeff Rafn, president of the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, says most don’t get past the paper screen.

“The problem employers are having today, and frankly have been having for a while,” Rafn says, “is the skill level they need is higher than what people applying for the jobs are offering.”

When low-skill manufacturing positions moved overseas, Rafn explains, the jobs that remained required more advanced skills. But even with a record demand for machinists, his campus still has open spots in machining classes that offer the software program training that get an entry-level machinist a pay boost from about $15 an hour to nearly $23.

Darren Darst is a branch manger with Staffing Partners’ skilled trades and engineering division. Right now, he’s having a hard time finding 30 machinists for a local client with a 24-hour plant.

“Compared to last year, it’s three times harder,” Darst says, adding that machinists are such a hot commodity that bidding wars are not uncommon.

Darst won’t provide the name of his client, but says the pay offered is between $18 and $22 an hour. But for every 100 resumes he gets, only three offer the skillset his client needs.

“They’re trying to better themselves,” he says of the applicants, “but they just don’t have the experience.” 

Photography by Jennifer Bronenkant

By Lisa Schmelz

Lisa M. Schmelz is a freelance journalist based in Delavan.

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