Low Construction Unemployment = Long Wait Times for Service. Take advantage of the early winter slowdown to get your job on the schedule now!
It’s been happening for a couple of years now at Electri-Serve. Calls from current and potential customers asking about our schedule and whether we can squeeze in their job tomorrow or next week. Except for an odd week or two scattered throughout the year – like now, during the early winter – for the last few years, electricians have been in high demand. This Denver Post article from last November caught our eye and does a good job of explaining the short- and long-term of the situation.
While Denver’s booming economy and population growth are responsible for a good portion of the low unemployment in the construction trades, another key piece to the puzzle is that fewer young people are entering the construction workforce. More students are encouraged toward higher education than the pursuit of a trade. We get it. This isn’t easy work. It is physically and mentally demanding, and it can be dangerous.
On the flip side, choosing to enter a skilled trade offers many career paths. One of the biggest perks of the trade is the opportunity to earn while you learn. In Colorado, the road to being a journeyman electrician requires completing a four-year apprenticeship. Being an apprentice includes an hourly wage – generally starting above minimum wage — with increases at regular intervals, and the benefits of full-time employment: health insurance, paid time off, retirement plans.
After a four-year apprenticeship, and successfully passing the state-administered test, a person who entered the trade straight out of high school could, by the age of 22, have zero educational debt and be earning at or above the median wage for their trade. That’s four years of earning: 40 hours per week x 52 weeks per year x four years = 8,320 hours of personal income.
Just as college isn’t for everyone, the construction trade is also not for everyone. If you know a high school student who isn’t sure college is the right choice, why not encourage them to check out the construction trades? If you know someone who is interested in learning about becoming an electrician, visit our website. If you’d like more information, give us a call. We’re happy to answer questions.
