Oregon Sees Boom in Apprenticeship Applications

By NRCA.

Enrollment in the apprenticeship program has more than doubled over the last six years. 

The number of people in Oregon’s state-registered apprenticeship programs has more than doubled during the past six years, with more than 10,000 people enrolled as of June, according to www.registerguard.com. In 2013, Oregon had about 4,600 apprentices.

The growth is attributed to a boom in demand for construction workers and the expansion of apprenticeships into industries such as information technology and health care.

Dave Baker oversees apprenticeship programs at Central Electrical Training Center in Tangent, Ore., which has about 350 apprentices doing construction and electrical work. He says apprenticeships are an important option and form of secondary education.

“What I try to communicate, with respect, is you go to college to earn a degree to compete for the position that you’re looking for,” Baker says. “As far as apprenticeship, you are in the trade you’re looking for, all the schooling is related to what you’re working with in the field and all the field work is related to your schooling in terms of theory but in practical applications.”

The program through the center requires field time and academic time, but both are closely linked with an apprenticeship.

“When we have a construction site, whether you’re building it from the ground up or tearing it to the ground down, that’s your lab,” Baker says. “That’s how you learn to be a construction worker or an electrician.”

People in building and construction trades made up about 85% of all newly registered apprentices during the past three years. Most construction apprenticeships are coming from an increase of building in the Portland and Eugene areas of Oregon.

Improving diversity in the trades—especially construction—has been a priority for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries. During the past six years, the number of women in apprenticeship programs has grown from 293 to 705, and the number of minority apprentices has increased from 683 to 1,979.

“There are a lot of people who are getting older in the construction industry, and we need to replace that workforce and prepare for all these new jobs,” says Bureau of Labor and Industries Spokesperson Saul Hubbard. “So we’re trying to look in different places and diversify our apprentice workforce—our construction workforce—so we’re trying to increase our percentage of minority and women apprentices, as well.”

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Original article source: NRCA