A Call To Action for a Skilled Workforce

John Killin, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pacific Northwest chapter and executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon, published an interesting article in Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce on the future of the skilled workforce.

He issues a call to action that now is the time to begin the hiring and training of the skilled workforce for the future.  He writes:

“Years are required to prepare people for the leadership roles they will fill in the future. In licensed trades, years are needed to simply move someone from entry level to license-in-hand, full journey-level status.

“Contractors that are beginning to add workers should be sure apprenticeship is at the top of their hiring priorities. Don’t miss the need to grow our industry’s workforce again and prepare for an inevitable shortage of skilled workers in the very near future.”

With an unemployment rate of over 15% in the industry, many companies will have shortages of middle management professionals unless they begin to hire and train today.