Oct 16, 2018 3 min read

Manufacturing is making a comeback in this region, and that is partly due to the massive ethane cracker plant being built in Beaver County. Workers in the skilled trades are putting it up and an estimated 6,000 will be needed during the build-out. Once the facility is completed, about 600 will be employed in operational positions.

And skilled workers will be required not only at upstream operations such as the petrochemical operation in Potter Township, but at midstream and downstream operations such as pipelines, processing plants and in the oil and gas fields of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. Welders and other skilled employees, in potentially large numbers, will be needed.

The revival of the oil and gas industry, following a two-year downturn that ended in 2017, also has stoked a demand for skilled labor. That turnaround, development of the cracker plant and an anticipated uptick in other manufacturing will have a domino effect on skilled jobs.

And, of course, there is the usual need for skilled positions such as cement masons and plumbers.

Opportunity was an overriding message, among many messages, expressed last week during a workforce forum at the Mon Valley Career & Technology Center in Speers. A panel discussion of regional business leaders, moderated by MVCTC director Neil Henehan, focused on the large number of job opportunities – financially lucrative opportunities – expected to occur throughout Western Pennsylvania and the tri-state.

Yet, despite this promising jobs picture, there are projections that there won’t be enough workers to fill the positions.

In fact, that shortage is expected to be a yawning gap. There are not enough people with the skills to be hired for these positions, and it isn’t certain whether a sufficient number – especially those in their mid- to late teens, a coveted demographic – would be interested in pursuing a skilled career. Varying percentages of the younger population either want to go to college, “look down” upon careers in labor or are uncertain of a career path. (An ages-old issue is: How many 17-year-olds really know what they want to do long term?)

Families pressure some undergraduates to attend college, to end up with a “better job,” even if they ultimately roll up a formidable amount of debt. The skilled jobs gap, sadly, isn’t eased by the fact that some candidates realize they won’t be able to pass a drug test and don’t bother to pursue that career path.

The panelists offered sage advice on apprenticeship opportunities, career pathways, educational resources and identifying skill sets that employers require.

Their overriding focus, however, was that educators, employers and families should work together to engage students – as young as middle schoolers – about what may be ahead employment-wise.

Katie Hager of Ductmate Industries, with locations in Monongahela and Charleroi, said: “We have to bring students in and show them what manufacturing is about. We have to change that stigma, get them involved and make them successful.”

Donald Good of Corelle Brands proposed “getting groups of companies together on an apprenticeship program.”

There is a need for workers in the skilled trades, a need that promises to grow, especially with expectations of the development of a second cracker plant – in Ohio’s Belmont County. More younger people should consider the skilled trades, many of which pay well, but educators and employers need to reach out – and train them – with urgency.