Blue collar comeback: Part two

WLFI ,COM 18 ^ | 11/15/2012 | Krista Henery

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President and CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce Joe Seaman said there is a sea of manufacturing opportunities in this region of Indiana. However, with the opportunities there comes what employers call a major 'skills gap.'

"The biggest challenge we've had is finding the skilled labor to fill those jobs," Seaman said......

One of the solutions to this problem has been a collaborative effort between the city of Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, WorkOne, dozens of manufacturers and Ivy Tech.

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The city of Lafayette, Indiana, just across the river from West Lafayette and Purdue University has been fortunate to have a wide variety of manufacturing jobs and has been willing to train people for those jobs instead of complaining about the lack of skilled workers.

Part one of this article can be found at: www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/blue-collar-comeback-part-one

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see: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/blue-collar-comeback-part-two

[thecodont]

Mike Rowe of ‘Dirty Jobs’ wants to promote blue-collar work

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/18/news/economy/mike_rowe_dirty_jobs/index.htm

[Oldexpat]

Unfortunately, our educational establishment abolished vocational type education in the High Schools. Many kids would be better off learning job skills in HS rather than a half hearted college prep.
I know Layfayette well and you even have Purdue grads working on assembly lines because the work is more rewarding and the pay is good.
We need more young american’s in vocational and apprentice programs to fill the skilled job requirements. I really think our liberal education looks down of skilled trades jobs...they are prejudice against the working class.

[Oldexpat]

Unfortunately, our educational establishment abolished vocational type education in the High Schools. Many kids would be better off learning job skills in HS rather than a half hearted college prep.
I know Layfayette well and you even have Purdue grads working on assembly lines because the work is more rewarding and the pay is good.
We need more young american’s in vocational and apprentice programs to fill the skilled job requirements. I really think our liberal education looks down of skilled trades jobs...they are prejudice against the working class.

[greeneyes]

We still have Vo-Tech at our high school.

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Hay season would be a good “dirty job” for Rowe. Tossing bales of hay on a wagon for an afternoon of work will make a person feel like a gang member caught in rival territory...kinda beat up and raw.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

I really think our liberal education looks down of skilled trades jobs...they are prejudice against the working class.

No doubt about it.

We need to look down on schooling. We need to return to the days when schooling was mocked. Bring back Professor Irwin Corey!

Bring back eighth grade dropouts and apprenticeships.

But dropping out and apprenticeships will only work without a dole. Otherwise, all incentive to work is eliminated.

Bring back vagrancy laws too.

Well, we won't have to wait too much longer for reality and sanity to return.

[count-your-change]

People who work with their hands have always been looked down, they’re just “tradesmen” not “professionals”.

Several years ago a weldor of my acquaintance was making about $18/hr. in Lafayette, non union.

At this point places like Ivy Tech are doing what the high schools should be doing. The local manufacturing companies, CAT, etc., support Ivy Tech and value its graduates.

[PGR88]

"The biggest challenge we've had is finding the skilled labor to fill those jobs,"

Wrong! The biggest challenge is finding someone who can pass a drug test and will show up on-time for more than 3 days in a row.

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If the person doesn’t have the skills they won’t make it to the point of taking a drug test.

[Grams A]

Sent my high school football player son to western Kansas one summer to work on a friend’s farm during harvest. Ignored his complaints the first couple of weeks and he decided on his own to spend the entire summer there. When he returned home, he had grown a bunch, put on a ton of muscle, was more responsible and seemed to appreciate what he had a whole lot more. Now that he’s a lot older he says when he looks back he learned more about living that summer than any other time in his life and it was the best summer he ever remembers having.

Spending all day tossing hay up into the top of the barn with a pitchfork is not for sissies.

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Excellent! A few summers of hard physical work would benefit many a young man. Seems to clear the mind and help the person see the world in a more realistic way.

[R. Scott]

Once those tasks are complete, applicants then go through an eight-week program requiring 20 hours a week of classroom study at Ivy Tech.

This used to be fairly common. We even had a good industrial arts program in high school way back when.

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Yep, I recall some of the high school programs were pretty good, now it’s baby sitting.

[Alberta's Child]

Very interesting story. Let's face it, folks. Universities and Occupy Wall Street protests are filled with people -- mainly young men -- who probably would have been better off learning a trade and learning a strong work ethic.

Learning the trade isn't even that critical. An intelligent person with a strong work ethic who is willing to learn can be taught a lot of things fairly quickly.

This article reflects what I've seen in a number of different industry publications for manufacturing, warehousing and freight transportation. As bizarre as it may seem in an era of high unemployment, a lot of industries are facing a serious labor shortage in blue-collar positions.

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I've read so much about lay-offs I thought the other side interesting. I guess I had a great advantage growing up, we were expected to learn how to do a number of things: How to repair plumbing, put on roof shingles, tow a car with a few metal coat hangers and an old tire, cut window glass with a pair of tin snips, and such things.