Georgia needs 10,000 workers for construction industry
Construction Ready Career Expo kicks off
Every year, the Construction Ready Career Expo takes over Downtown Atlanta and fills the World Congress Center with sounds of everything from welding to barbering, The Fox 5 I-Team's Dana Fowle visited the expo, where students from around the state show off their skills and to meet potential employers.
ATLANTA - Here's a help wanted sign: Contractors needed. There are more jobs than many industries can fill. Every year the need is highlighted at the Construction Ready Career Expo.
Construction Ready president and CEO Scott Shelar brings this event to Downtown Atlanta every year.
"For several decades we have told young people the only path to success is a four-year degree," the CEO told the FOX 5 I-Team. "Here's what's so interesting: Only 32% of Americans will ever earn a four-year degree. What are we doing to help the 68%?"
Shelar knows this college expectation has left too many kids leaving college early, in debt and without a job.
But not Harris County High School's Garrett Meeler. He comes from a farming family. He was at the World Congress Center last week with 9,000 other people laying the groundwork for the hands-on career that he wants.
"This is awesome. It's giving me tons of opportunity, credentials in heavy equipment, and opened me up to the construction world," Meeler said.
The 11th-grader is competing in heavy equipment operation. It's one of 23 different contests as part of the event's Skills Expo State Championship.
If you walked around the jam-packed event, you would have seen masonry, plumbing, and electrical trades. Three hundred employers on the floor are hoping this early exposure to vocational industries pays off.
"Right now, according to Indeed.com, we could use an additional 10,000 workers at that moment," Shelar said about the job needs in Georgia alone. Bigger nationally, he said.
"I have seen estimates as high as over 100,000 is what is needed in our industry right now across all of the trades," he said.
A quick look around and there were young people busy perfecting kitchen skills, another group snipping away at a barbering area.
High school seniors Dawson McLendon and Blake Nesmith have been working on the CAT simulators. Learning a skill. Talking to the pros.
"Ever since I got on an excavator I loved it," a grinning McLendon said. "Comes natural, I guess. I've rode a backhoe since I was 8, so…"
Blake Nesmith's vocational classes have him working in his field already.
"With one of our industry partners with the school - with McLendon Enterprise, currently working there around 10 months now," he said.
The Expo CEO says entry-level pay with no experience can start at $18 an hour.
"It's not uncommon for welders or electricians for plumbers to make $75,000 to $100,000 a year," Shelar said.
Tom Broadnax from Lyons, Georgia left the traditional classroom environment to become a heavy equipment instructor at Toombs County High School.
"I mean, who wouldn't want to come to class and drive a simulator and operate a piece of machinery outside in the dirt and get graded for it?" he said.
Broadnax calls the educational focus on these careers a huge opportunity for career fulfillment.
"They get out there and make good money. Fortunately, making more money than I'm making," he said.
The Technical College System of Georgia has 22 colleges, 88 campuses, and online learning with 600 program options. You can learn more here.