News
September 13, 2023Capital Region BOCES Addresses the Skilled Worker Shortage
The impact of the skilled worker shortage is well known—increased costs for products, delays in getting worker done (have you tried to hire a contractor recently?) and increased pressures on workers.
A 2022 report by Conger https://www.conger.com/skilled-labor-shortage/ said those impacts, though, are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg and, in fact, the pandemic is worsening the shortage and its impacts on the future.
Conger’s Skilled Labor Shortage: Causes, Costs & COVID-19 report states that the shortage is impacting the national and international economies, causing far-reaching stresses that will impact every person in this country is left unchecked. Among the startling statistics detailed in the report is a forecast of 85.2 million jobs left vacant globally because of a lack of workers in jobs such as Electricians, Plumbers, Carpenters, Machinists, Steelworkers, Welders, Pipefitters.
Additionally, a 2023 report (https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/understanding-americas-labor-shortage-the-most-impacted-industries) by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that the manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, education and health services industries have more unfilled job openings than unemployed workers with experience in their respective industry. Even if every unemployed person with experience in the durable goods manufacturing industry were employed, the industry would fill 44% of the vacant jobs, the chamber found.
Experts, including the authors of the Congers report, offer a series of solutions—one of the most important of which is increases in training programs like those offered by Capital Region BOCES at its Career & Technical Education Center.
“Companies can reap a lot of value from partnering with local high schools and technical colleges to provide skilled labor training. By increasing awareness of the existence and benefits of skilled work, students can discover opportunities that they may have never considered before,” the report states. “Companies can tap into high schools to recruit a new generation of skilled workers. Conger Industries, for example, has had great success partnering with local high schools to recruit and teach students how to repair material handling equipment.”
Capital Region BOCES has worked extensively in recent years to boost partnerships with local, regional and even national employers to boost the skilled worker workforce.
The Career & Technical Education Center works with more than 300 businesses, unions, technical schools and institutions of higher education to prepare youths and adults for the in-demand careers in the skilled workforce.
From manufacturing operations to healthcare facilities, welding shops to video game design operations, Career and Technical School students are the fuel by which businesses and, as a result, the local economies grow.
“It’s extremely important for us to work with BOCES to build out workforce. With such a high need for service technicians, we are able to connect with them extremely early in their career and try to develop a relationship to hopefully have them work for us in the future,” said Karen Flynn, a recruiter with Lithia Driveway/Carbone Cars.
Other business leaders concurred.
“We hire a number of BOCES graduates and have more here for internships and work-based learning. What they have in common is a better grasp of the basics, the building blocks of what it takes to succeed,” said Bob Rowe, parts manager for Robert H. Finke and Sons, Inc., Contractors Equipment in Selkirk, N.Y.
Mark Westcott of TCI of NY Inc. said, “Working with BOCES to recruit skilled workers is very important to TCI. It’s very difficult to recruit employees and BOCES does a good job preparing students for the workforce.”
BOCES’ approximately 30 high school and adult education programs provide the skilled labor training so desperately sought in this post-COVID economy, as well as the professional skills—such as communication, problem solving, time management and budgeting—that make employees well rounded and successful.
BOCES also works with dozens of industry organizations in order to provide students with professional certifications. In total, more than 100 professional, resume-building certifications are offered in various career and technical school programs
Employers said they know career and technical school students will be well-rounded employees that benefit their institutions.
“We value the training and skills Capital Region BOCES CTE students learn and are proud to partner with Capital Region BOCES to address our workforce needs,” said Josh Shaul, Business Manager/ Secretary Treasurer for The Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 157.
Casey Balzer, assistant branch manager for Kamco added, “I look at BOCES as a long-term solution to recruiting young laborers and skilled workers and having them train and progress and become equipment operators with us. Kamco is one of the largest commercial and residential building material suppliers in New York and across the country.
