ALBANY/SCHOHARAIE -- The impact of the skilled worker shortage is well known—increased costs for products, delays in getting work done and increased pressures on workers and few industries can relate to this more than the construction industry.
The Associated Builders and Contractors organization reports that the construction industry must attract an estimated 439,000 new workers this year to meet anticipated demand for construction services. In 2026, the trade group states, the industry will need to bring in 499,000 new workers as spending picks up in response to presumed lower interest rates.
Capital Region BOCES is helping to address these needs, preparing students for careers in a multitude of construction industry professions.
Enrollment has steadily increased in recent years in eight different construction-related programs including Building Trades, Carpentry, Electrical Trades, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Heavy Equipment Repair and Operation (HERO), Plumbing Trades and Network Technology and Welding and Metal Fabrication.
Business and labor partners said the programs make a difference.
“We need people like these students in our industry. The industry is desperate for people with these skills,” said Jeff Knox, CEO of Bill Lake Modular Home.
Scott Nadeau, an Organizer for UA Local 7, Plumbers and Steamfitters union, said “BOCES is a valuable partner for us. They provide us with students who are interested in the trades, who want to learn and work, and who have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of the trades.”
That sentiment was echoed Brian Williams, Executive Director, Capital Region Workforce Development Board.
“The work done here at BOCES and CTE is amazing. It … puts students on the road to great success,” he said.
Graduates and students alike say BOCES prepared them well for work in the industry.
“BOCES helped me learn that the trades are for me and that learning in a classroom is not for me. Overall, BOCES does a really good job about giving students – no matter the class – great opportunities,” said Braeden All, a member of the Laborers’ Local 157 union and employee of Tri-City Scaffold Co. Inc. Just a few short months ago, All graduated from the Building Trades program and Middleburgh High School.
Senior Macord Stevens also offered praise.
“I like learning how to make my own house and how to wire it and do things that are useful for myself,” the Sharon Springs student who is enrolled in the Building Trades program.
Fellow rising senior Lydia Waage is on a mission to not only join the construction industry, but make a difference.
“I want to operate a dump truck when I graduate. I already know how to operate a stick shift, so I am one-third of the way there. Before I came to BOCES, I only knew how to drive a tractor, and I have already learned so much,” she said last Spring.
The Cobleskill-Richmondville student now hopes to draw more women into the industry.
“Don’t listen to the voices in the back of your head. Don’t listen to the doubts. Get up and try something new,” Waage told female students interested in the skilled trades.
Throughout October, Capital Region BOCES -- in conjunction with its business and higher education partners – is celebrating national Careers in Construction Month by highlighting the multitude of careers and opportunities that exist in the industry and the effort BOCES undertakes to prepare students for those careers.
For more information on the Capital Region BOCES program, go to https://www.capitalregionboces.org/career-technical-education/courses-programs/welding-metal-fabrication/.
Scott Naduea
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