Oddly Ironic

It seems oddly ironic that the state of Florida, under the Agency for Workforce Development, has allocated $6 million+ for contractors, to subsidize employee wages (up to $9.00 per hour) to train individuals in construction-related fields. It seems that the government, at least at the state level, has finally come to realize that the construction industry desperately needs skilled workers. The shortage of skilled construction workers became very apparent last year, with the massive destruction caused in our state by hurricanes. Shortages have reached an all time high of 14,000 open, construction positions that are currently available. The critical shortage of skilled construction workers has been growing at a rapid pace for the past 10 years but no one would listen to us, the contractors, not even the local Hernando County School Board. Pleas were made to the previous school administrator, and the Hernando County School Board, to include a full spectrum of building classes for the construction trades at the new Nature Coast High School. Local officials chose to ignore industry standards that indicated these shortages almost ten years ago, and now the state of Florida expects the contractors to jump on board, with this $9.00 training wage, to entice new workers to our field(s) of expertise. The problem is, people are not interested in learning the construction trade, as a profession. Young adults have been taught in our public schools that construction work is a the low end of the spectrum, thought of as menial, thankless work, and they should look to higher aspirations, like college. Our educations have overlooked that fact that not all young adults can, or want, to attend college, for various reasons. So throwing $6 million + at the problem will not overcome this shortage of workers that was created within our own public school system since this problem has evolved over the past twenty years. Perception has been the largest obstacle that our industry faces. This "perception" is taught daily in our local public class rooms........