Gold Collar Workers

Improve the Image of Welding in your local community.

By Phil Pratt

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 70 percent of high school students go on to college, yet only half of them have earned a degree six years later. Of those who graduate, only one-third have jobs related to their field of study. In 2001, the National Tooling and Machining Association conducted a study of young people. Here is a typical response: “It would be so embarrassing to have to work in manufacturing. The environment is so dirty, boring and smelly. Plus, it would require some physical labor and night shift hours.”

Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Why is manufacturing unattractive, “an embarrassment?” As a supplier or a welding product distributor servicing the manufacturing sector, this should be really concerning.

We've done a poor job attracting people into the welding and manufacturing environment. The influencers—high school counselors and parents—don't seem to know enough about manufacturing to promote it. With the average age of the skilled worker being 54, potentially half of them may retire in the next 10 years.

Because few young people are entering the trades, those hired for manufacturing positions are severely unskilled. This means problems for you because all of a sudden, everything else is to blame! “The power source must not be working correctly,” or “We must have a bad batch of filler metals,” or “The shielding gas must be contaminated.” It's never the operator!

The Image of Welding
What can be done to make welding and manufacturing in general more attractive? After visiting with six U.S. Senators and/or their aides, three U.S. Congressmen and the Ohio governor's office, the chances of government fixing the problem for the foreseeable future is similar to the proverbial snowball in hell. Their general response was: “We didn't know the trades were experiencing a shortage of workers. We knew that nursing was hurting, but not welding.” They also proudly pointed out that Congress passed the multi-billion dollar Carl Perkins Bill that was to fund vocational trades. Have you checked lately with your local welding instructor to see how much money has hit their coffers. Yes, some funding has reached the programs but nowhere near other trades. Why? Because the dollars are often divided based on the demand or popularity of the program. If 50 students want into a computer course and six for the welding program, where do you think the dollars are being spent.

It appears there is a real “Catch 22” here. Until we make welding attractive, we won't get the funding and vice versa, until we receive funding, we won't be able to make welding more attractive. What if we focused our attention on the Image of Welding and what you and I can do about it at the grassroots level, without spending a bunch of money.

Improve the Image
There are some inexpensive things you can do to help improve the Image of Welding.

Start reaching out in your own community. Develop joint relationships between manufacturing and education in your area. Promote open houses to show how welding has progressed from the “dark, dirty, dingy, dangerous” work environment to clean, advanced manufacturing facilities. Invite school counselors and parents, especially mothers (they're typically the influencers in a family where children are considering career paths), to visit your facilities and see the opportunities.

Make the influencers in your area aware of the Gold Collar Workers. The Gold Collar Worker is the individual who pursues additional post high school vocational training and whose earning potential is often equal to or greater than college graduates.

Promote the concept that welding is not an end in itself, but a stepping stone to future career paths, such as manufacturing, R&D, aerospace, teaching, sales, welding engineering, artistry, construction, sole proprietorship, and many more.

Encourage a career, not just a job. If not already an American Welding Society member, join your AWS Chapter and use it as a forum to devise local campaigns and idea generation.

Do like the Dehryl A. Dennis Professional Technical Education Center (P-TEC) in Boise, Idaho. More than 350 local sixth grade students were guests of the SkillsUSA students, who served as team leaders and tour guides as they talked about career options and led them through some hands-on demonstrations. It has been so successful there that the one-on-one mentoring event has led to the development of mentoring summer camps for younger students. Welding is one of the career paths mentioned.

W.I.A. Opportunities. Contact your local Department of Labor and seek information on the Workforce Investment Act. This is a bill that went into effect a couple of years ago that has consolidated a number of agencies to facilitate job training and/or retraining. With the current state of the economy and unemployment, many people are seeking retraining and WIA can assist them with welding programs.

Support your local SkillsUSA-VICA welding competition. In the past 10 years, U. S. student welders have won five international gold, silver or bronze medals in the bi-annual event. This is like the world Olympics of trades. The welding industry has a lot for which to be proud and we should promote this honor and call attention to our success. Others may aspire to be a part of this success story, like sports.

Write your local, state and federal congressmen and senators. Let them know our dire need for welders. At some point in the near future, we may ask them to support a bill and the more awareness we can create now, the more likely we'll get their support.

Last but not least, please join the image army! None of us can improve the Image of Welding single-handedly, but jointly, we can be a powerful force.