GREENFIELD — Amid a trade labor shortage, roughly 750 students from across western Massachusetts visited the Franklin County Fairgrounds on Thursday for hands-on demonstrations and activities introducing them to careers in construction, trades and manufacturing.
The event brought in young people from Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden and Berkshire counties as well as the North Quabbin region to try out tools and equipment and chat with industry experts about potential career paths.
“Most of the kids who come, it’s something they’re thinking about anyway. So this just gives them an opportunity to see [employers] in action,” said Savannah Baldwin, the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Career Center’s workforce programs/projects support specialist. “It’s a great event.”
The career day was organized by the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Career Center, the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board, the MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board and Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts.
The event holds particular significance at a time when certain trade professionals — such as electricians, HVAC technicians and pipefitters — are retiring faster than they can be replaced. Other industries, like welding and plumbing, are also begging for younger talent. Some speculate that decades of emphasis on four-year college degrees have resulted in a lack of interest and enthusiasm in the trades.
Giovanni Richetelli, MassHire Franklin Hampshire’s labor market research specialist, explained that construction is the sixth-largest industry in the Franklin-Hampshire region, employing at least 4,000 workers across 1,000 companies. He said the industry saw employment grow by 3% over the past five years, and is projected to grow by an additional 1% over the next five. Richetelli acknowledged that this is “not a ton,” but better than having job losses.
He also said the average wages for the construction industry are $10,000 per year higher than all other industries in the Franklin-Hampshire region.
Richetelli attended the Western Massachusetts Construction & Trades Career Day, which he said is a great way to connect young students with area businesses.
“I thought it was great. It’s fun,” he said. “You don’t have to go to a four-year school, necessarily.”
Matt Allen, MassHire Franklin Hampshire’s school-to-career program specialist, said this area’s trade labor shortage does not necessarily stem from a lack of desire or passion among young people, but rather from the fact that the majority of training and employment opportunities are in the eastern part of the state.
He also said Thursday’s cold weather failed to suppress the vibe at the fairgrounds.
“The weather’s a little bit damper, but it happens,” Allen said.
Baldwin said this was the fourth annual career day, with the first one generating a mere 150 students. Its reputation, she said, spread by word of mouth.
“We actually had schools reaching out before we were ready, saying, ‘Are you doing it this year?'” she said. “And it’s, in our area, one of the only trade-based career days that we have, where kids can come and learn about the trades.”
Baldwin said boys and girls came from across Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, and as far away as Taconic High School in Pittsfield and various schools in Springfield.
“It’s a wonderful thing to see how many young women are a part of this, too. Because women in the trades is new, and it’s fabulous. And we need it, because we’re running out of people to do it,” she said. “This is my third year here and there’s definitely more young women here. I always get excited when they kind of break the mold, because they’re the first ones doing it.
“I grew up with [girls] that would have loved to have done this, but it was just not done in the ’70s and ’80s,” she continued. “And it’s a … broad cultural scope, too, as well, because we have a lot of kids from the city that come up and we have the hilltowns. So it’s this wonderful merge of everybody in western Mass. Kids get to see each other, they get to talk. It’s just a great thing.”
