Blue-collar bonus

Cory Bedford adjusted his green hard hat, grabbed a 22-ounce framing hammer out of a student’s hand, and walked to a nearby wall. Bedford swung the hammer three times, creating a jagged 5-inch hole in the freshly repaired drywall. After admiring his work, the 30-something professional plumber and handyman turned back to the student.

“Fix it,” he said. Then, he walked away.

Nearby, about 100 students—dressed in gray work pants, black boots, blue or red T-shirts, and hard hats—are working in a warehouse near downtown Dallas: hammering, sawing, wiring, laying ductwork. They’re all learning the basic skills of plumbing, electrical work, HVAC, or building maintenance.

Many of the students have troubled pasts, but they likely won’t have difficulty finding a job. A recent shortage of new recruits has the American tool-belt trades desperate for workers. The deficit of skilled tradesmen means consumers and businesses are waiting longer and paying more for service, repairs, remodeling, and new construction. But at vocational schools and two-year colleges across America, instructors and students are taking a swing at fixing the problem.

America already has an estimated 8 million construction workers. But the Home Builders Institute estimates almost 725,000 new tool-belt tradespeople are needed each year to chip away at the 1.5 million unit housing deficit. Service companies also are struggling to meet demand. This year began with an estimated shortage of 200,000 plumbers, electricians, and air conditioning technicians.

But today’s students have fewer opportunities than their grandparents to learn the skills necessary to start a stable and profitable career. In 1970, only a quarter of middle-class Americans had more than a high school degree. But that didn’t mean they had limited job prospects. Most high schools offered vocational, or career and technical, education that set students up for success in the skilled trades. By the 1990s, parents and educators pushed college almost exclusively.

In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act, requiring states to test students to receive federal funding. Educators soon added requirements in math, science, social studies, and foreign languages. The number of career and technical education credits high school students earned nationwide dropped by 14 percent between 1990 and 2009, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Vocational schools and trades became the consolation prize regardless of a student’s abilities or learning styles.

Back in the Dallas warehouse, Omar Arguelles stands in front of a large breaker box. Before he grabs the lever, he yells, “Hot panel!” Arguelles is in the final week of a seven-week electrical-wiring training course at ForgeNow, a for-profit training school. He’s just finished wiring a light receptacle in the ceiling of an 8-foot-by-8-foot bay. Now he needs to test his work. Calling out a warning to the dozen or so other students nearby is important. Another student forgot the protocol a few weeks earlier, leading to several shocked classmates and an upset instructor.

Arguelles and his brother, Jaime Arguelles, came to ForgeNow after leaving college early, unsatisfied with their education and how much it cost. Jaime, 21, went to Dallas Baptist University for two semesters to study business after doing really well in high school. Omar, 18, studied architecture for half a semester at the University of Texas at Austin before leaving to start trade school.

“Our parents were very keen for us to go to college,” Jaime said. “I didn’t really like it, but it was something they wanted us to do. Now that I’m here at a trade school, I feel a lot better about the future and what’s to come.”

Enrollment in construction-trade programs at two-year institutions nationwide rose 19 percent between 2021 and 2022. Enrollment in mechanic and repair technologies rose 12 percent, while overall community college enrollment dropped by almost the same percentage.

Today almost all high schools offer career or technical programs. But the courses include art, audiovisual, business management, health science, and science technology. That diluted focus masks the extent to which training for traditional skilled trades has decreased. Meanwhile, the stigma against trades persists. Almost 80 percent of 1,000 high school students and recent graduates surveyed in July 2023 said their parents want them to go to college. Just 5 percent said the same about vocational school.

Cory Bedford, who’s worked as a plumber for 11 years, tried college, too. Like many of his students, he knew pretty quickly it wasn’t for him. Instead, he became a plumber’s apprentice and slowly learned the trade. Fellow instructor Brian Jackson also started as an apprentice. He carried tools for the plumber and often did repetitive tasks, like fixing a toilet or water heater. He’s determined to give his students better opportunities to learn their trade.

“It’s basically cramming one year's worth of experience in seven weeks,” said Jackson, who apprenticed in Nebraska. “But the biggest thing is we get to focus on the jobs and not just fix what's broken.”

Trade schools offer graduates the foundation to jump-start a career. Programs like ForgeNow offer immersive courses, and community colleges offer certificates in skills like welding in four to eight months. But students don’t automatically get a license after graduation. In Texas, apprentices must work for 4,000 hours under a licensed plumber, complete a 24-hour training course, and pass an exam to become a licensed tradesman working independently. It takes about four years to complete 8,000 hours of on-the-job training and more than 500 hours of instruction before electrician apprentices can take a licensing test.

In a late-March ceremony held in a Dallas-area community center, ForgeNow co-founder Marvin Key addressed about 30 graduates as their friends and families looked on. He reminded them that the average student takes 5.2 years to earn a bachelor’s degree and nearly half of the students who start don’t finish.

“If you start at $20 an hour and get a 5 percent raise each year for the next five years … by the time that other guy graduates from college, you will have made $225,000,” said Key, who turned from trading on Wall Street to advocating for skilled trades. “And you will have paid off any debt that you have. So I’m telling you, you’ve made a really, really wise decision.”

Trade schools advertise their ability to help graduates land jobs. About 85 to 90 percent of ForgeNow’s students graduate, and almost all go on to pursue work in their skill, according to Key. For-profit schools accept applicants with varied backgrounds and academic track records.

But the up-front costs can be significant at for-profit schools, and students don’t earn credits even when the programs are accredited. If students don’t finish the course, they’re often on the hook for most of the tuition without the skills they sought. ForgeNow’s course costs $12,000. A nearby community college offers similar certifications for between $1,500 and $3,300, depending on residency, in four to eight months of classes.

Omar and Jaime Arguelles finished their program in March. Omar, dressed in a dark-blue button-down shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots crossed the stage to accept his certificate, along with a drill/impact driver set for being the top graduate in his program. His parents sat in folding chairs, cheering for him and Jaime.

“They realize that trade school is a school,” said Omar. “And it’s going to give us a future. Sometimes even better than college.”

Both Jaime and Omar landed jobs working under the supervision of an electrician at a Dallas electrical contractor. Benefits include medical insurance, paid holidays, a 401(k) plan, and continuing education. And best of all, they’re working side by side, something they hoped for while still in school.

Now, their parents brag about their sons’ accomplishments, Omar says, telling friends, “They’re going to become something.”