The Facts Behind the Current Welder Shortage

The labor shortage in skilled trades and welding can be attributed to a number of factors:

An aging workforce – Older tradespeople are nearing retirement age much faster than they can be replaced. More than half of all skilled trades workers are said to be 45 or older, and predictions from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate there simply will not be enough new workers to fill these jobs.

College vs. the trades – For countless high school graduates of the past three decades or so, the implied path to a rewarding and high-paying career was one that went through college. If you wanted a nice paycheck, you needed a four-year degree. And with many high schools eliminating industrial arts courses from the curriculum, another pathway to the trades and welding careers went with them. Meanwhile, a skilled welder only needs six months to complete their initial training, and many can work as apprentices and get paid as they learn and enter careers paying upwards of $100,000/year in some industries.

The trades aren’t “cool” career paths – Perhaps one of the more hidden obstacles preventing welding from becoming more mainstream is a negative image that the trades are undesirable jobs. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of job openings in the trades, the only jobs worth working are ones working with technology.

Few scholarship opportunities – Even if a student is interested in a career in welding or the trades, how they go about it isn’t entirely clear in many cases. Trade unions and vocational schools do exist to help students along the path, but they are not as prevalent as community colleges or universities. Check out the American Welding Society scholarship opportunities here.