Filling the information gap when discussing the skills gap

Are young people getting the full scoop when they are being sold on a career in manufacturing? It behooves metal fabricators to take control of the conversation and not rely on others to make the case.

If you haven’t read Josh Welton, who is the writer of the “Playing With Fire” column in The WELDER, The FABRICATOR’s sister magazine, and a guest contributor on thefabricator.com’s blog, you’re missing out on some great content. He has a passion for welding, those that work with their hands, and the products and structures those craftspeople create. He also brings a point of view that is sometimes overlooked when it comes to discussing some of the industry’s most important issues; he speaks for the shop floor.

In “Enter the trade with both eyes open,” his column in the November/December 2018 issue of The WELDER, he recommends that those considering a career in welding be wary of some of the “facts” thrown out there as reasons why people should join the manufacturing ranks. He expresses doubt about the average age of a manufacturing worker being 55 and what people claim to be starting salaries. All that leads into a bigger question: If a shortage of welding talent exists, why haven’t wages risen in response?

“If there was a legitimate skills gap and the industry and the government were serious about closing it, it could be done in less than five years. U.S. manufacturers just have to be willing to offer more money and better benefits to invest in the American workforce,” he wrote.

Those aren’t the words of a spokesman for the proletariat. They are the thoughts of someone with an understanding of simple supply-and-demand economics. At least it was a simple concept at one time. Today things are not so clear.

It’s no secret that metal fabricators say they struggle to find the right skilled workers. It’s been the No. 1 concern cited in The FABRICATOR’s last three What Keeps You up at Night? surveys over six years, with the 2017 survey suggesting that approximately 35 percent of fabricators indicate that this is their main concern. (The results of the next survey will be published in the September 2019 issue.)

What about unemployed or underemployed welders? Most certainly they are available to fill these openings, right?

Let’s be honest. Metal fabricators are looking for entry-level-job applicants without a ton of experience. Heck, most U.S. employers are looking for these individuals. Experience calls for salaries that many companies either don’t want to pay or can’t afford to pay. Experience also suggests that these job applicants come in with ingrained work habits that might not necessarily mesh with the way things are done at the new employer; many metal fabricators would rather take someone with little to no experience and train them in the way the company does its business.

As for wages, the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association’s 2018 “Salary/Wage & Benefit Survey” reveals that 49 percent of fabricators that participated in the survey plan to offer average salary increases of 3 percent or more in 2018, and 43 percent estimate to have similar increases in 2019.

Of course, geography plays a huge role in who is earning what. For example, according to the same FMA survey (which is available at www.fmanet.org), the mean average annual salary for an entry-level welder in the East North Central portion of the U.S. (i.e. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) is $33,903 and in the Southeast its $30,358. For welders with at least two years of experience, the mean average annual salary is $43,687 in the East North Central region and $39,806 in the Southeast. So no one is paying cash for a new Ford F-150 as a new welder unless they are working tons of overtime or they are welding underwater.

With this clearer picture of just what is happening in the manufacturing community, let’s revisit discussion of the skills gap. Industry is saying that plenty of opportunities exist, but job applicants have to be open to a certain salary range and have the soft skills necessary for them to thrive in a collaborative environment where challenges differ from day to day. These entry-level workers aren’t going to get rich, but they’ll earn a salary, with the real possibility of overtime, that will likely have them making more money than their peers graduating from four-year colleges with liberal arts degrees.

It’s not about the shortage. It’s about the opportunities that await.

The best way to get this message out is for metal fabricating companies to take control of their own situations by making their own plans to cultivate talent that will allow them to grow their businesses and not waiting for local community colleges to build up their vocational programs. The industrywide call for help is getting lost against economic trends that make some people feel like they are being left behind.

Metal fabricators acting on the local level can more accurately and honestly express what types of workers they are looking for and what they can expect in their shops. That’s the straight dope that will fill the information gap about the skills gap.