More than 2,300 high school students from around Northern California converged Wednesday on Cal Expo for the High School Trades Day, a chance to do some hands-on career exploration of the construction field where some experienced workers earn upward of $70 an hour.
Natomas High School student Jaea Chatman, 17, said she came to the event because she didn’t feel like college would be her “cup of tea,” and her mom encouraged her to pursue a career in construction.
“My school had a construction program, so I got into that class, and I really like it,” said Chatman, who identified a tool she used in a demonstration exercise as an impact driver.
Students started out Wednesday listening to a safety video before they could head to the demonstration floor and practice using equipment on different kinds of walls and small structures. A range of local construction companies set up exhibits to talk with students about their work.
Jordan Blair, chief executive officer of the Construction Industry Education Foundation, said the construction trades offer young people a career in which they can earn money while learning.
“You’re going to be making near college wages as you move up into midlevel career opportunities,” Blair said, “but you’re not going to have student loans.”
Experienced pipefitters, for instance, could easily make six figures, he said, and there are also opportunities to make more in management. While people traditionally think of construction workers building structures from the ground up or doing renovations, Blair said, there are plenty of opportunities to work in health systems, government agencies and even Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon.
These entities all have to maintain built environments and sometimes remodel them, he said, and they use a mix of contractors and in-house personnel to do this work.
Demand is characterized as extremely high for laborers, carpenters and electricians, and high for both cement masons and the workers experienced in operating heavy machinery, according to Build California, and pay ranges from $37-plus for experienced laborers to $70 and up for journey electricians.
The Construction Industry Education Foundation, a partner of the Sacramento Regional Builders Exchange, also offers a summer training camp, a mentoring program and college scholarships for high school students. They also offer training for managers and young professions in the construction industry.
Looking to explore apprenticeship programs? You can do so at Build California, an organization affiliated with AGC Construction Education Foundation. They even have an E-Cademy where you can dive into the world of hard hats with free, online classes.
People can make a good living and have a high quality of life while they do it, Blair said, and because of technological innovations, the jobs don’t require quite the same physicality as they did 20 or 30 years ago.
“In California, where it’s a little bit of a warmer climate, you tend to start your day earlier and you end your day earlier,” Blair said. “If you have kiddos, you might be off at 3 p.m. to coach T-ball or gymnastics with your kids, so there’s a quality-of-life aspect of you being home and leaving work at work.”
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