Labor and building trades aren\u2019t being shared with students as viable career options, leaving industries with a lack of workers and students with a lack of knowledge on these opportunities<\/span><\/h5>\n

Words by Kayla Parker<\/span><\/em>
\nPhotos by Kayla Parker, Dan Maurer and Hudson Webber (in order presented)<\/em><\/p>\n

Dan Maurer is in his early twenties and looking to buy his own house. Jeff Forrest just took a vacation to Mexico this winter. Patrick Wells\u2019 industry boasts jobs that make six figure salaries. And they\u2019re all in the building trades, and they\u2019re using their hands and specialized knowledge to build a career in these industries many people overlook.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a misconception about so-called \u201cblue collar\u201d jobs. The building trades, in particular, are either given a bad rap or not talked about in schools. Most high schools are focused on college preparation. Entering the workforce without a four-year degree, or even the option of attending a trade school, is rarely mentioned. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went through my daughter\u2019s orientation not too long ago \u2014 she goes to Carlisle (High School) \u2014 and I\u2019m sitting there listening to the counselor talk about all the things,\u201d said Patrick Wells, the business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 347 in Des Moines, Iowa. At his daughter\u2019s school, \u201cThey kept saying college this and college that, and they got to go to college, and I sat there the whole time and not once did they mention building trades.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Wells is working to change that by <\/span>visiting schools to help improve their construction career training by informing students about other options<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a valuable opportunity for every student,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can earn over $100,000 a year doing construction work, and people just don\u2019t fathom that. It\u2019s not fair to their students to not tell them that\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not really about misconceptions of the electrical trade, Wells said. It\u2019s simply a lack of knowledge. <\/span>People aren\u2019t being told about options other than higher education. \u00a0According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 32.7 percent of persons age 25 or older had achieved a Bachelor\u2019s degree or higher in 2015. That means less than a third of the population is being pushed in a direction they won\u2019t be going. And while they\u2019re being pushed in this direction, they\u2019re not hearing the other options that are available for them that can lead to really successful lives and careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

After high school, Wells went on to college for a little while, but quickly realized it wasn\u2019t for him. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew my dad was an electrician, and I wasn\u2019t at that time ready to commit to that, but then once I did, I realized this is it,\u201d Wells said. \u201cThis is where I need to be. There is just no comparison.\u201d From then on, he spent 20 years in the field, wiring buildings like the Science Center of Iowa and Wells Fargo Arena. <\/span><\/p>\n

For Wells, the advantages are clear. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNumber one: wages and benefits. As soon as you walked in the door, there it is, right there \u2014 a clear path on where your career is going to take you,\u201d Wells said. \u201cFor every single hour I work, this much is going into my wage, this much is going into my pension, this much is going into my healthcare, and it\u2019s just unbeatable.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A person just getting out of college starts out at the bottom of the ladder, trying to find their way, and usually in debt. In contrast, in the trades, there\u2019s healthcare and pension benefits that set an individual up for retirement from the first day they\u2019re done with their education. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not against college by any means because it\u2019s great for some people, but we don\u2019t all need to be there, \u2018cause this is an untapped resource. A lot of people don\u2019t realize how successful you can be in the building trades,\u201d Wells said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wells isn\u2019t the only one to notice the lack of information being shared to younger generations about building trades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeff Forrest is currently a business agent for a local bricklayers union in Des Moines. For 35 years, \u201cI worked on anything that had to do with bricks, blocks or stones,\u201d he said. He\u2019s been in the union since 1976.<\/span><\/p>\n

He, too, notices the way that schools handle further education. \u201cThey think every kid should go to college. Well, college isn\u2019t for everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pension plans and insurance are readily provided through Forrest\u2019s line of work. \u201cA lot of young kids don\u2019t know the value of that, but \u2014 guess what \u2014 an old guy sure does. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDid I go to college? No, but I can build a building,\u201d Forrest said. \u201cThere\u2019s career opportunities in the construction field, and we, right now, are begging for people. Every trade. We can\u2019t figure out why we can\u2019t sell our industry to some of these kids because you can make a living, you can pay your bills, you can go on vacation, you can have a pretty damn good life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the benefits aren\u2019t what got him into the building trades. He said it\u2019s really a \u201cfamily curse.\u201d Forrest\u2019s dad was a bricklayer, and all of his dad\u2019s brothers were too. He figures if they had been bankers, maybe he\u2019d have been a banker, too. At about 10 years old, Forrest started tagging along and helping out his dad. \u201cI learned about the construction industry at a pretty young age.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watching the hard work his dad put in, he thought to himself, \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to do this.\u201d Fast forward about half a century, and, \u201cI\u2019ve been doing it for 41 years now,\u201d he said. Everything he has is paid for, he\u2019s built a good life and he is proud of the work he\u2019s done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, he didn\u2019t want to be stuck inside a building all day. He\u2019d rather be making them instead. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to work in an office. I do not want to wear a suit to work,\u201d Forrest said. \u201cI\u2019m a regular guy. I like drinking a few beers on the weekend. Ego\u2019s never been anything that bothered me. But don\u2019t look down on me, because especially a lot of guys who\u2019ve [looked down on me], I was making twice as much money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as college isn\u2019t for everybody, neither is construction. He has three boys who went to college because, Forrest said, \u201cconstruction wasn\u2019t for them.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s labor intensive, so you\u2019re going to have to work your ass off,\u201d Forrest said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like getting muddy or dirty, or cold or hot, it\u2019s not for you. If you don\u2019t like heights, it\u2019s not for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast to the men who have been in the industry for quite a while, Dan Maurer is in his early twenties and starting off his career as a machinist at Wilson Tool International in <\/span>White Bear Lake, Minnesota<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Proud to start his new job, Maurer shows off a few tools of the trade.<\/p><\/div>\n\n

Maurer went to University of Wisconsin-Stout for one year for a technical education degree. He wasn\u2019t sure about earning a four-year degree, but he thought he\u2019d try it out. <\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t what he was looking for in a career. Maurer took some time off and looked around to see what opportunities were out there. He ended up at St. Paul Technical College where they have a CNC machining program, and fell into a career he was passionate about. At school, it was more of a shop environment than a classroom, which matched his learning style.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contrary to many parents of millennials, Maurer\u2019s parents weren\u2019t at all worried about his decision to change courses. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people would have thought, \u2018my son\u2019s not going to a four-year school, I\u2019m worried about his future,\u2019\u201d Maurer said. \u201cBut, in fact, neither of my parents went to a four-year school. They both went to a two-year technical trade school.\u201d Maurer\u2019s dad studied carpentry, and his mom became an X-ray technician, and both excelled in their fields without an undergraduate degree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maurer emphasized that there are more routes to success than a high school guidance counselor will often point out. \u201cRight now, the trades have one of the biggest deficits of workers that there\u2019s ever been,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe job security is phenomenal, because the companies know that they\u2019re going to be losing that labor, so they really do a great job of taking care of their employees,\u201d Maurer said. \u201cWages have gone up extensively over the past 15 years because they\u2019re trying to bring more people to their companies and compete with other companies for the limited labor in the industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the security in jobs and company loyalty, \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely ways to make really good money in the trades, and the companies themselves want to help you do it,\u201d Maurer said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past, a liberal arts grad scoffed at Maurer for working a blue-collar job. However, he doesn\u2019t let it bother him. \u201cI have no problem being working class. I have no problem working with my hands,\u201d he said. \u201cTrust me, I would go insane if I sat at a desk every day. I love walking around, working with machinery, doing things with my hands and creating physical things, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve enjoyed since I was a child.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Wells views \u201cblue collar\u201d broadly. \u201cI\u2019ve always been blue collar,\u201d he said. \u201cThe separation between it, too, is gray at best. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re digging in a ditch or if you\u2019re sitting in a cubicle, you are the same. You are labor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019re not in the trade industries, he sees hard work as hard work \u2014 wherever that may be. \u201cI don\u2019t have a perspective that separates blue or white collar so much, because like I said, for me it\u2019s more about 99-percenter versus 1-percenter issue,\u201d he said. In his eyes, when an individual works for their living and has someone to sign their checks, that\u2019s blue collar. In the end, it\u2019s about the willingness and ability to work hard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Maurer\u2019s sweatshirt reads: Machinist \u2013 noun. A person who makes sh*t you can\u2019t.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labor and building trades aren\u2019t being shared with students as viable career options, leaving industries with a lack of workers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":8185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n