Filling labor gaps in the trades has become a challenge. Getting women into construction jobs is even harder.
The National Association of Women in Construction says just over 10 percent of the 30,000 estimated construction workers in Maine are women. But NAWIC, the Associated General Contractors of Maine, and the state Department of Labor aim to change that by introducing high school students to tools of the trades.
Hundreds of high school students attended a new kind of job fair in Bath recently, getting into excavators, directing enormous cranes, and wielding sledgehammers and other tools under the supervision of a dozen contractors who came to show students a career path they might not have considered.
“It’s really cool that they have this out here,” says Audrey Nile, a junior at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham.
Nile says she’s not sure yet whether a trade career is right for her, but she appreciates the hands-on experience of directing the crane operator and driving the excavator, controlling the bucket to move piles of dirt from one end of the lot to another.
“You don’t get this much opportunity in a high school classroom. It could really help you with your career. I think it’s really cool that they started this,” she says.
Joan Dolan, director of apprenticeships for the Maine Department of Labor, says the average apprentice is 32 years old, and her goal is to lower that number by luring high school students with the promise of a livable wage that she says grows by an average of 40 percent over the course of the apprenticeship.
Dolan says female and male apprentices are paid the same.
“Women in the registered apprenticeship program get the exact same wage as men, it’s not based on gender or the color of your skin. It’s based on what you know and you advance on that pathway based on what you learn along the way,” she says.
Dolan is trying to reach people like Madison Bleau of Mt. Ararat High School, who says she really liked wrangling an excavator and thinks a trades profession might suit her.
“I’ve always thought about alternative options,” she says. “I’ve never wanted to be in the desk job scene. This is awesome.”
Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, says construction is a male-dominated field, but 89 percent of contractors nationwide are reporting a shortage of skilled workers, and she thinks women could fill more of those roles, and at the same rate of pay.
“Our goal is for pay to be equitable across all genders, all races. Part of our program is focused on equity and inclusion, and I think it’s the right thing to do for there to be equity in pay,” she says.
But the first step toward a career in the trades is often an apprenticeship. The Maine Department of Labor has $12.5 million from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan and federal grants, and plans to use that money to grow the state’s apprenticeship program from 1,200 participants to more than 4,000 over the next two years.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
