SPOKANE, Wash. – According to the Association of Builders and Contractors (ABC), the state of Washington has a severe staffing shortage within construction trades.
“We could take on 10,000 electricians tomorrow,” 20/20 Electrical Enterprises owner Matthew Patching said, “and we’d still be short-handed across the state.”
To help recruit, ABC held their fifth “Trades Night” on Thursday, hosted at Ferris High School.
“Right at the end of the year, that’s when kids are graduating and can make a real easy transition into the workforce,” Patching said.
Several hundred were there for the three-hour event, getting hands-on experience.
“We have an elevator company, they’ll have a mini elevator,” Tatianna Felix, Member Service Manager for ABC, said. “We have a painting company, we have drywall, we have different lifts like scissor lift (and) boom lifts. So there’s a lot of options out there as well.”
Organizers said this event will helpfully open up eyes to high school students about the several options they’ll have after graduation.
“There was a time there where you were told you have to go to college to be successful,” Felix said. “Due to that, now we have a workforce shortage. We have a bunch of guys that are getting ready to retire and then we don’t have that influx of workers in.”
