The Independent Electrical Contractors’ Class of 2021 Enter Job Market with 100% Job Security/NO DEBT
Generation Unemployed, Mountains of Debt, Overall College Enrollment Declines – What’s Up with That?
DENVER, CO June 1 – On June 5th the Independent Electrical Contractors - Rocky Mountain (IECRM) will honor the men and women who have completed their required four-year electrical contracting apprenticeship training program. This year's graduation will be the 40-year-old chapter's largest yet. IEC National President, Janet Martin, will deliver the keynote commencement address. Martin owns Colorado-based Bret’s Electric and is one of the first women in the country to head a male-dominated construction industry trade association.
The job market is starting to roar back, but for anxious college seniors, dubbed in media circles as Generation Unemployed, it’s a different reality altogether. It is well known that many are struggling to find jobs and are carrying mountains of college debt. “The electrical contracting industry is pandemic proof, essential and represents a stable, sustainable opportunity for all job seekers,” says Martin. “In fact, our industry sector has a critical shortage of workers, pushing wages higher in the skilled trades and making these jobs even more attractive.”
But the shortage of workers and higher wages seem not to be enough. So why is there such a skilled electrician workforce shortage when these jobs are so readily available, require no experience to become an apprentice, and pay extremely well compared to many other skilled trade jobs?
In her commencement address that she is delivering around the country, Martin says, “In many ways, electricians are the elite of the skilled trades. Much like the Marines are to our military, electricians are the first on a job and the last ones to leave. Without electricians, our world doesn't work. The work they do powers our quality of life, security, and experiences.”
Conventional wisdom says we cannot function in a world without electricity. “This translates into career security and living wages well into the future,” says Martin. “The electrical contracting sector represents a stable, sustainable opportunity for all job seekers: graduating high school students, military vets, women, minorities, and people seeking to make a career change.”
IEC offers careers in electrical contracting that are more than just working at a jobsite. “Electrical contracting and renewable energy offer job security,” says Martin. “This is not a boring or mundane field. Recent technology evolutions combined with the push for climate friendly renewable energy and the increased electrification of buildings and transportation make the start of the new decade one of the most exciting times ever to be an electrical contractor.”
Smart Buildings and homes, drones, artificial intelligence, 5G, 3D Building Information Modeling, image recognition, prefabrication and advanced levels of workplace safety technology are rapidly evolving. “This new, evolving technology is the sexy part of the business and one that IEC trains its students to understand and use,” says Martin.
This special graduation ceremony will be held from 9:30am to 12:00pm at the Westminster Westin, 10600 Westminster Blvd., Westminster CO.
* Source: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 2021