Blue collar businesses locally and around the country are having trouble filling openings created when older workers retire. In Lane County, Lane Workforce Partnership is helping some companies recruit directly from Springfield and Junction City High Schools, which still offer vocational classes that prepare workers for skilled labor jobs.
Lyle Lang, Program Services Coordinator of Lane Workforce, says most applicants to skilled labor positions have been turned away because they don’t have the necessary experience.
This spring, CEOs of manufacturing, construction and labor companies asked Lane Workforce for help finding new employees, because they were asking retired employees to come back to work because they were so short-staffed.
Lane Workforce connected them with Springfield High School because of the craftsmanship courses that are taught there, in hopes that some students would be interested in a career upon graduation. SHS offers woodshop, welding, drafting, automotive, graphic design and ceramics courses.
Bulk Handling Systems and Delta Sand and Gravel have hired a total of about 40 younger workers lately, many directly after their high school graduation.
John Warne, President of Bulk Handling Systems, said that nowadays, people tell students that college is the only option, and that manufacturing is a “dead-end job.” But a college degree doesn’t guarantee a career anymore: “There’s a lot of folks here with high school degrees that earn a lot more than people with college degrees,” Warne said.
One misconception is that manufacturing jobs have all gone overseas. Since 2010, manufacturing jobs have actually increased at a steady rate. Forbes reported that the most in-demand work is not in nursing or web development, but in skilled labor.
Bulk Handling Systems, which manufactures recycling equipment, grew from about 30 employees to close to 300 in the last eight years. They  also won the Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year Award in 2012.
According to Warne, high schools have cut so many vocational classes, it has made it difficult for companies such as his to find skilled workers. At Bulk Handling Systems, new hires must have a certain proficiency in welding, for safety reasons, before training can begin. They have plenty of applicants, but almost no one is qualified.
Some local high school students are reaping the benefits of far-sighted administrators and getting locked into high-paying careers at a young age.
Robert Fleetwood, 18, was hired by Delta Sand and Gravel as soon as he graduated from Cottage Grove High School last month. He had been planning on going to Lane Community College and becoming a utilities lineman, but when Delta gave his high school a tour of their company, he said ,”I definitely wanted to come work here if I had the chance. I applied right afterward, as soon as possible.”
Fleetwood started out making $13 per hour, and he’s currently very happy with his place of work.
He feels that an effective way to connect with younger workers is for companies to get the word out that there are high-paying jobs open, and Warne agreed.
Warne believes that it is essential to show high school students that college isn’t the only option. “We’re trying to get kids hooked on the idea of manufacturing early on, so they can have a career,” he said. “Manufacturing, after all, was what built the middle class.
Written by Rebecca Brewster.