Career stability - The future is good !

MDShunk said:

NECA, IBEW Proactively Address Electrician Shortage

The National Electrical Contractor's Association (NECA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have joined forces to address the shortage of electricians predicted in the United States. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2014 the national need for electrical workers will rise to more than 734,000, which is 78,000 beyond the number currently employed in the field.

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I've been saying this for YEARS! The damn schools are coercing everyone into white collar fields, mainly so they can make "real money". Even the ones who are obviously not meant for that life. I've witnessed this first hand many times. I mean how many damn financial analysts and insurance brokers do we need???
I for the life of me cannot understand the stigma that is still attached to blue collar work, even in this new century.

No one can find any decent help, VERY few guys/kids are looking to get into the trades, and the typical American youth is becoming to damn lazy to want to do real work and start at the bottom where we ALL did. This even with the prospect of an extremely stable and prosperous future.

I have also been saying, if I see the next 20-40 years of this trade we will be right up there with doctors, lawyers and accountants.

Speedy Petey said:

I have also been saying, if I see the next 20-40 years of this trade we will be right up there with doctors, lawyers and accountants.

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I hope so! I was one who got roped into going to college for computer related studies. Never worked a day in that field. I probably have made more money doing electrical work than if I would have been in that field. After the burst of the tech bubble, I'm doubly glad I'm doing what I'm doing.

I have come to the conclusion that there are no electricians for hire. You need to train your own, or steal one from somebody else.

MDShunk said:

I have come to the conclusion that there are no electricians for hire. You need to train your own, or steal one from somebody else.

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Amen!! I'm in a remote area, and all the work I can take on is what I can do myself. Finding a licensed electrician around here is impossible. I'm looking, but the prospects aren't good In the meantime, I'm watching money slip right by.

Speedy Petey said:

I've been saying this for YEARS! The damn schools are coercing everyone into white collar fields, mainly so they can make "real money". Even the ones who are obviously not meant for that life. I've witnessed this first hand many times. I mean how many damn financial analysts and insurance brokers do we need???
I for the life of me cannot understand the stigma that is still attached to blue collar work, even in this new century.

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I agree with this statement first hand... I was always taught after highschool, you go to college to pick a career that willl keep you away from the hard work that comes along with the trades... Wouldnt you know it... it was all the "Trades work" during the years that enabled me to pay for my schooling!... After graduating and getting a full time job stareing at a computer, i began to envy the guys coming in to fix our building time to time.. haha Go figure. :laughing:

MDShunk said:

I hope so! I was one who got roped into going to college for computer related studies. Never worked a day in that field.

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Thank you! My point entirely.
How often do we hear this with guys our age? You know how many folks I know who spent a small fortune (of their folk's money) for college they will never use?????

Of course some college is well worth it. Take some business, accounting and psychology courses. I wish I did.

Jason, this is unfortunately what much of our country has come to. Work as little and as easy as possible and ask for the most money. It has become the new American Dream. Common sense tells us that this will not work very often.

What the hell ever happened to working hard, getting paid well and being proud of it???

Sorry for bringing this thread back from the grave.

I was digging around in old threads and the title of this one really stuck out, I thought a few of you guys might get a kick out of it.

just under two years later not so much. I have heard this is still going to happen, and that something like 50% of the guys working as electricians today will be retiring within ten years. We will see.

We have a local trade school that grinds out 12 or se new 'electricians" every six months. Few if any of them are worth a durn, and quite a few of them are refered to the program as some kind of diversion - from prison or treatment or whatever. All it serves to do is stagnate the wages around here - too many one man shops with desperate Perry Tech grads at the helm.

I hope I can retire in ten years and prove the prognosticators right (I'll be 62).

kbatku said:

We have a local trade school that grinds out 12 or se new 'electricians" every six months. Few if any of them are worth a durn, and quite a few of them are refered to the program as some kind of diversion - from prison or treatment or whatever. All it serves to do is stagnate the wages around here - too many one man shops with desperate Perry Tech grads at the helm.

I hope I can retire in ten years and prove the prognosticators right (I'll be 62).

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I think they should try getting problem kids to go to cop school instead of always trying to push the trades at them. It just seems sort of fitting to me.

With the average age of an electrician sitting at 47, the doors are wide open for electrical apprentices

http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_faces_future/

anyone gotta 2011 update on this?

~CS~

chicken steve said:

With the average age of an electrician sitting at 47, the doors are wide open for electrical apprentices

http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_faces_future/

anyone gotta 2011 update on this?

~CS~

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I've been saying this for years now.

I remember that las time work was really slow, lots of people fled the trades for whatever else they could find. When things picked back up, those that were left standing were in a pretty good position.

I am seeing some of that now with a few more doors opening due to the competition giving up.

Hey guys, I'm getting ready to start my apprenticeship down here in Tampa. I was raised by my [email protected]$$ father as a workhorse being he was a carpenter and his father before him. I'm not the least bit scared of hard work. I would like to get a head start on coursework though. Any books or websites you know of that could give me a layout of the basics and theory/formulas? I want to be the apprentice they want to keep, not throw back.

chicken steve said:

With the average age of an electrician sitting at 47, the doors are wide open for electrical apprentices

http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_faces_future/

anyone gotta 2011 update on this?

~CS~

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"Book 1 Page 405 Line 5 took the last indefinite JW call on 8/15/11"

four months ago was the last time someone took a job lasting longer
than two weeks in this area.

any questions?

ilikepez said:

just under two years later not so much.

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Check your math :laughing:

chicken steve said:

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The guy that sticks his finger up alligator buts gets it.

220/221 said:

Check your math :laughing:

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I'm not saying it is less then two years from now, I'm saying the big crash was a little less then two years later.

FulThrotl said:

"Book 1 Page 405 Line 5 took the last indefinite JW call on 8/15/11"

four months ago was the last time someone took a job lasting longer
than two weeks in this area.

any questions?

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It seems like there has to be a bit more to it than that. For example, the -call- may have been for a 2 week job, but are you sure that it didn't actually last much longer?

My local used to do that when times were bad, they would say that every call was a short call this way it didn't get people's hopes up during the hard times. But many of those calls went a lot longer than a short call.

The times in general seem to be getting better. Our hall was a 2 year wait for a couple of years. Towards the end of this Summer it was a walk thru, literally 2 days to 2 weeks wait until you were sent out again. Now it got slow for the Winter, but not nearly as bad as it was. They say 3-5 months but with the way things were going and the perspective Spring jobs, it should be sooner.