Job Search Struggles? Here's a Stable and Profitable Career Path

In 2018, job searches involve plenty of rejection. You might apply to 100 or more jobs, receive a “thanks, but no thanks” email from 30, and receive preliminary interviews from five. Two might progress, and if you’re lucky, one will offer you a position.

For most Americans, the process can feel like everyone in the world is applying for a limited number of positions. However, the opposite is true in construction. Organizations such as TDIndustries are strenuously seeking qualified applicants to close a growing labor gap.

In fact, it’s a captivating issue: employers can’t find enough employees to fill open positions. At the same time, 6.6 million Americans were unemployed in June 2018.

For various reasons, Baby Boomers are commonly working past their expected retirement date. It’s a mixed blessing for a construction industry needing to fill craftworker positions: the knowledgeable and skilled Boomers are postponing the impending labor gap.

When that gap hits, it might look more like a chasm to hiring managers. The Adecco Group, the largest temporary and permanent staffing group in the world, published a Nov. 14, 2017 survey with several projections for the construction industry when Baby Boomers retire:

• Almost 45 percent of U.S. maintenance and machinery workers are at least 45 years old, with 31 percent at least 55 years old.
• 62 percent of U.S. construction firms are struggling to fill key skilled trade positions, including more than 5,000,000 in construction and extraction.
• 31 million U.S. positions will be unfilled by 2020 due to Baby Boomer retirement.

If you have taken an intro-to-economics course, you can see what that means for those entering the workforce: if demand for craftworkers rises, then pay, work environment, and job security do, too. But if important skilled trade positions aren't filled by younger generations, the economic impact could be disastrous. 

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the annual mean wage for Texas sheet metal workers – which includes entry-level and experienced workers – was slightly more than $40,000 in May 2017. That’s expected to rise as more Baby Boomers leave the workforce and the overall economy continues to improve.

Even better for Texas Millennials and the Generation Z cohort: the Pre-Hurricane Harvey estimated growth rate for construction jobs hovered around 20 percent, and should only increase during the next several years.

Other good news for particular trades from ConstructionJobs.com:

• Carpenters have a national average salary of $43,600. Texas is expected to have one of the highest number of job openings.
• HVAC technicians have a national average salary of $45,910, or $22.07 per hour. Texas and Arizona are in the top five states for anticipated job openings.
• Plumbers have a national average salary of $51,450, or $24.74 per hour. Texas is in the top five nationally for anticipated job openings.

Younger Americans also have a built-in advantage: growing up cocooned in technology. As data use – and the need to interpret it – increases, this skill will continue to grow in importance.

Virtual and augmented reality, drone maintenance, building analytics, and 3-D printing are, or will be, common technologies soon.

That’s positive news for Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. If that’s you, consider a trade position as an opportunity to find a stable, secure, and profitable career at TDIndustries. 

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