What is it like to be a trades worker? First things first, in the construction trades, we work hard to make things that are real. When someone asks us what we do, we say, “I’m a sheet metal worker,” or “I’m an electrical worker.” We never have to say, “I’m an associate marketing coordinator reporting to the assistant vice president of sales.” We make bridges, stadiums, houses, roads, machines, things that are real, things that last.
Construction trades have always been essential, long before the words pandemic, COVID, quarantine, and coronavirus were part of everyday life. Construction is the lifeblood of our nation’s progress and welfare, providing infrastructure and services that are critical to all aspects of our everyday lives. So when asked “Are Construction Workers Essential Workers?” the answer is a resounding and multifaceted YES!
For the men and women who work in construction, the most important goal is to go home safe at the end of each shift.
Every year in September, the men and women who built this country and fought for better conditions and protections on behalf of all workers are remembered and celebrated.
As the coronavirus pandemic forced the United States and the rest of the world's educational systems to switch much of its learning online, construction industry apprentices were able to adapt much quicker because a major component of their learning was unchanged.
The use of technology in construction has aided the industry in ways that go largely unnoticed by those who do not spend time on job sites or work in the industry. And despite these technological advancements, construction jobs are not going anywhere.
Despite the fact most high school graduates go to a four-year college to pursue a bachelor's degree, a new study has found that completing a registered apprenticeship program in the construction trades leads to higher average pay than the students who are able to obtain a college degree.
A study ran by an Ohio-based accounting and financial advisory firm shows that the largest threat to the construction industry is not lack of work, but lack of workers.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, the number of construction and extraction occupations is expected to grow 11 percent between the years 2016 and 2026.
