According to statistics from the Houston Independent School District in Texas, the third largest school district in the country, for every 100 students entering grade school this year, only 25 will complete high school and consider college.
The other 75% of those students will "drop out" due to bad academics, family problems or pressure from the family to contribute to the overall income pool by going to work. One viable career option illustrated below is to enter the Construction Industry. According to the Construction Workforce Career Path diagram shown below, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) demonstrates that there are viable ways to get into the Industry, to progress through it, make a living and even get a diploma and a degree in the process.
And when the economy returns to an active mode there will be plenty of jobs in the construction business.
Comments
Educate your high schools
I could not agree more that we need to provide industry awareness to our local high schools. I go into several different schools a year and promote Marek Brothers Systems, Inc. and I share information with them about the programs that we offer to new employees in our Workforce Development Program. It never ceases to amaze me that many of these students think poorly of going into our industry. They have misconceptions as to who works in this industry. They think that there is no value into going into a trade like this, that there is no opportunity for career growth and that is just not true. There are several ways to advance in this industry with or without a degree. So a common goal that everyone in this industry needs to have is to educate high school students about this growing field and to erase the negative misconceptions that go with it. There are currently 7.2 million people employed in the construction industry. That number is expected to increase 19% by 2018 due to population growth, aging existing structures, new construction, and an aging workforce. That will equal to 1.3 million new jobs. So the question that everyone should start asking themselves is how do I get them to work for my company?
Add new comment