Learn to be a welder and jobs will be plentiful.
CantonRep.com staff report
Timken High School welding instructor Richard Thomas theorizes the current dearth of trained/certified welders can be traced to the advent of the computer.
“That started 20 years ago when computers took over, and people were saying, ‘Oh, you need to go to college and get into computers. You don’t want to weld. It’s hard work.’ And they started shying away from it,” he said.
“Maybe there is not a lot of excitement; maybe that’s what some think. But when you look at welders, they get paid hospitalization, paid holidays, paid vacations — the full benefits package.”
Whatever the reason, welders are in great demand here, and the shortage is glaring. To be succinct, any time there is the need to adhere metal to metal, a welder is the professional for the job.
“I have industry people calling me because I’m a CWE (certified welding educator). A lady called me the other day and said she needed 40 welders, and I told her, ‘Good luck.’ With East Manufacturing (in Randolph) and MAC (trailer manufacturing) in Alliance, there’s a demand for hundreds of welders in a 50-mile radius, and we haven’t really had much contact yet with the oil-field people.”
Technical schools are answering the call, exposing more students to welding and its employment opportunities.
At R.G. Drage Career Technical Center, Scott Burdge has spent 22 years teaching welding skills. Seeing former students progress in their careers, he said, is especially satisfying.
“My placement of jobs this year has been phenomenal,” said Burdge, who has 50 juniors and seniors in the program this year. “I already have seven students employed in an early placement program. Kids are starting between $10 and $15 an hour with full benefits, but they’ll move up to whatever the union rate is.”
Burdge, himself a 1980 Drage graduate, said his students will be ready to fill job openings for oil and gas drilling ventures here.
“People are really starting to see that you need a trade,” he said.
STARK STATE AMPING UP
Some 65 welding students are enrolled in Stark State College’s one-year welding certificate program. The classes prepare them to take the American Welding Society certification test.
“It’s doubled easily. So have the number of jobs,” said Donald Ball, dean of engineering, industrial and emerging technologies at the school. “Everyone from Timken to Marathon Petroleum to the oil and gas industry, they’re all looking for qualified welders.”
Ball said the program is a melange of demographics.
“Women, minorities, senior citizens and individuals right out of high school,” he said. “You might be surprised. A lot of the time, senior citizens are coming in order to get a part-time job or to become a welding inspector. If you can strike an arc and weld something, now there’s a skill.”
Ball fields frequent employer requests and regularly places students in their first welding jobs.
The demand for trained welders has increased so much that plans are being made to create a new Stark State welding technology lab either on the Jackson Township campus or a satellite campus in Barberton.
“We could serve more people and offer more equipment,” he explained. “I’d like to grow it into a material testing center as well as an automation and robotic center.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts welding will continue to be a secure vocation, pointing to many regions reporting shortages.
Because basic welding skills are the same across industries, the Bureau’s job forecast indicated, “Welders can easily shift from one industry to another, depending on where they are needed most. For example, welders laid off in the automotive manufacturing industry may be able to find work in the oil and gas industry.”
When Manny Reynolds left his job as a welder in commercial construction in California to return home to Ohio, there was little worry about securing employment.
“I rode out the boom in California, and I’m glad to be home,” said the 37-year-old Carroll County resident. “With the oil and gas boom here, I can pick and choose who I want to work for. That’s the thing about having a trade. You can take it with you.”
While many manufacturers have eliminated jobs through automation, welders remain critical to many processes. Even those manufacturers who have transitioned to welding machines for many jobs, those machines still require skilled welders to operate and adjust them and to inspect completed welds.
“The American Welding Society says that the average age of a welder is between 56 and 57. They’re retiring. The hardest part is putting the word out,” Thomas said. “Telling students it’s a good field where they’ll be making good money.”
