Working on Finding Workers
Michelle Dreier
Member Engagement/ Gov't Affairs Manager
Everywhere you look these days there are articles regarding the shortage of labor. Within our own membership, contractors are turning work away because they are already overbooked.
Journeyworker Wanted: Most electrical contractors would love to hire a journeyworker electrician with experience. Experienced electricians looking for work are few and far between and don’t stay unemployed for long.
New graduates from technical school electrical programs are also snapped up quickly. Schools have difficulties losing their students between the first and second year as they may get recruited by contractors for summer work and decide not to return next fall. Unfortunately, this means the student is deprived of learning much needed electrical theory to become a better electrician in the future. One member contractor has observed that the electrical theory taught in the second year of tech school makes a student much more likely to be able to pass the journeyworker test in the future. A test that, by the way, has a 27% pass rate since the 2017 NEC code has been adopted. If each school has several classes of 24 students, a school may graduate up to 48 students annually which is still not enough to meet the needs of Minnesota electrical employers. Program caps put in place back in 2009 are still in place making expansion of these electrical programs unlikely.
Given the lack of available journeyworkers and tech school graduates, most contractors will have to train their own electricians to grow and maintain their workforce. Minnesota Electrical Association is partnering with a community-based organization to develop a pipeline of workers with the aptitude and drive to complete MEA’s apprenticeship program and become the journeyworkers of the future. We are working to get recruits in place and ready for the 2018 Apprenticeship school year. Call Michelle if you are interested in participating in this membership-only partnership.