Union Construction Apprenticeships Plug Skill Gap

Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ – Joint union-management apprenticeships are more effective than non-union training programs in delivering the critical skills construction employers need according to a new study released today by the Capital Area Labor-Management Committee (CALM) and conducted by the Keystone Research Center.

“Today, technical skills are a bottleneck in expanding the number of good jobs in Pennsylvania,” said Glenn Schaeffer speaking on behalf of CALM. “Union-management construction apprenticeship programs demonstrate how to develop the high-level practical knowledge industry really needs.” For each of four or five years, joint construction apprenticeships combine several hundred hours of classroom training with workplace mentoring and 2,000 hours of on-the-job training.

The CALM report evaluates Pennsylvania construction apprenticeships using official U.S. Department of Labor data. The report contrasts the record of joint union-management programs with apprenticeships operated by non-union employers.

In 2001, joint programs accounted for six out of every seven construction apprentices graduates in Pennsylvania -- 1,431 compared to 241 graduates from non-union programs.
In 2001, union programs accounted for 12 out of every 13 male minorities and women completing Pennsylvania construction apprenticeships.
From 1997 to 2001, union apprenticeship programs responded to emerging skill gaps in the construction industry, hiking the number of program graduates by 607, or about 75 percent. In the same period, non-union programs increased their graduation numbers by 39.

The unionized construction industry pays for apprenticeship by allocating a fixed amount per hour worked to a joint training fund– ordinarily between 20 cents and a dollar per hour. Most of the non-union industry has not found a similar way to share training costs. To keep costs as low as possible, many non-union contractors only builds skills necessary for the immediate tasks.

Joint training funds enable union apprenticeships to keep pace with new technology. Plumbing and pipefitting apprenticeships, for example, train workers in precision orbital welding that can achieve tolerances of up to 1/10,000th of an inch. Precise welding is critical to the construction of high-tech facilities such as air-tight clean rooms in computer chip plants that must be 100 times cleaner than hospital operating rooms.

The CALM apprenticeship report also uncovers, for the first time, rising rates of post-secondary education among unionized construction workers, signaling opportunities to combine apprenticeship with low-cost college.

The share of unionized workers in Pennsylvania construction occupations with some post high-school education has jumped from 16 to 28 percent since 1983-85, with only a 12 to 15 percent rise among non-union workers.
Rising educational attainment stems partly from articulation agreements that ensure college credit for classroom training in joint apprenticeships.
Many joint training funds also make it possible for workers to continue on after apprenticeship to acquire subsidized a two- or four-year college degree.

These findings suggest that, while the college option once siphoned off many apprenticeship candidates, including the children of former skilled trades workers, the ability to combine apprenticeship with low-cost college now gives union programs a leg up in attracting high quality students. Apprenticeship today opens the door to careers in management and engineering for workers.

“Union construction apprenticeships,” said Stephen Herzenberg, workforce economist and report co-author, “offer important lessons for the broader challenge of developing the knowledge base on which the New Economy depends.”

The CALM report includes data on workforce age. The share of Pennsylvania construction workers 40 and over climbed from under a third to nearly half since the late 1980s. If construction demand remains strong, the aging workforce points to a need to maintain and possibly expand apprenticeship. The CALM report makes three recommendations.

Joint programs should continue to make it easier to combine apprenticeship with college.

Union apprenticeship programs should improve their marketing, including by making highly qualified students from all backgrounds more aware of generous subsidies for college.

The state government should partner with joint programs to invest in best-practice pre-apprenticeship and mentoring programs. This could increase the number of students who can meet and succeed in union apprenticeships, including women and minorities.

The CALM report profiles the Local 520 Plumbing and Pipefitting apprenticeship in Harrisburg.
CALM undertook its study of apprenticeship as part of a project to inform school students, their parents, teachers, and guidance counselors about the careers and opportunities available through joint labor-management apprenticeship and training programs.

The Capital Area Labor Management Council’s mission is to enhance economic growth in Central Pennsylvania through cooperation between labor and management. KRC is a leading source of independent analysis of the Pennsylvania economy and public policy, and a national authority on the implications of the changing labor market for workforce training and careers.