![]() Construction skills training appears to be making a comeback nationally, according to a new study. The publication Hechinger Report, which regularly explores educational trends across the country, notes that “education for the skilled trades appears to be returning to fashion.” The study says that a handful of schools in the last year have seen an average increase of 20% or more in the number of students enrolling in such programs. Schools in Florida, Georgia, and Texas have all experienced significant student growth. Meanwhile, the Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, South Dakota, recorded an 8.1% registration increase. Trades education classes at Georgia Piedmont Technical College in Clarkston, Georgia, at the same time, were up by 13% this fall over the fall of 2020. These numbers, notes the report, are taking place during a time when the “proportion of high school students who are considering a four-year education has plummeted from 71% to 48% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.” The report additionally notes that such enrollment jumps have taken place against a backdrop of “labor shortages in fields such as construction, transportation and logistics, along with rising pay for those kinds of jobs and the lower debt and the shorter timetables needed to train for them.” Responding to these trends, the Rocky Mountain Mechanical Contractors Association late last year announced the formation of a school called the Western States College of Construction and designed to focus entirely on trade skills learning. The Hechinger Report additionally references a study published by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce noting that while those with bachelor’s degrees still earn more money, the number of jobs with a median pay of around $55,000 has in recent years been rising in about half of the states. By Garry Boulard
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