Construction worker shortages have hit Virginia hard, but trades education programs in Henrico have seen record demand

About 96% of construction firms in Virginia report they have open positions they are trying to fill, according to officials from the Associated General Contractors of America.

Leaders from the AGC and its AGC of Virginia chapter spoke at Highland Springs High School’s new Advanced Career Education Center last month to share results from their “2023 Workforce Survey.” About 1,400 construction firms, including 25 firms principally operated in Virginia, took the survey this past July and August.

Officials highlighted that of the 96% of Virginia construction firms with open positions, 79% have struggled to fill at least some of those positions. Shortages are also seen nationwide, with 88% of construction firms in the U.S. reporting they have open positions, according to AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson.

“The nation is failing to prepare future workers for high-paying careers in fields like construction,” he said. “Much like Henrico County has done, it is time for the rest of the nation to rethink the way we educate and prepare workers.”

Simonson said that education funding invests five times as much encouraging students to enroll in college as it does preparing them for jobs in the trades, arguing that federal officials need to “narrow the education funding gap.”

“Boosting funding for programs that expose students to skills in careers like construction will signal to students that there are multiple paths to success in life, and one is not better than another,” he said.

About 80% of Virginia firms reported that applicants lacked the skills needed to work in construction and 28% reported that candidates could not pass a drug test, according to the AGC. But in almost every community, construction positions pay better than the average job, Simonson said, with 92% of Virginia firms raising base pay rates in the past year.

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One problem is that the construction industry – and trades industries in general – often is looked down upon, when in reality these industries are often using the newest digital technology and offering high-paying jobs, Simonson said.

“I think construction has a bad rep, with people thinking of it as being dirty, dangerous, dead-end work, and it’s just the opposite,” he said. “There’s so much high-tech equipment and software being used these days. And career advancement possibilities are terrific.”

While local construction companies have reported similar workforce shortages in Henrico, trades education classes offered by Henrico Schools’ Workforce and Career Development program have seen a high demand from students, Henrico CTE Assistant Director William J. Crowder said.

Both the ACE Center at Hermitage High School and the ACE Center at Highland Springs High School are being renovated so that Henrico CTE can expand to accommodate 1,500 to 2,000 students. HCPS has invested $54 million into the new ACE Centers to add 600 additional seats.

“We’ve seen some places throughout the state where programs have disbanded or are offering less, and here in Henrico we’re actually on the other end of the spectrum where we just don’t have enough seats and we’re turning hundreds of students away every year,” Crowder said. “And so with these renovations and new constructions for CTE, we’re doubling the size of capacity that we can offer for students.”

CTE instructor Willie Cline, who teaches Highland Springs’ two-year electricity program, said that there is a shortage of 12,000 electrical workers in Virginia. But every year, he gets more than 100 applicants for his program and can only take a fourth of them.

“There’s been progress. Parents are no longer saying, ‘You’ve got to go to college,’” Cline said. “They’re realizing their kids can make just as much money and be just as successful with a trade versus college.”

Cline said that 85% of his students got jobs last school year. Of the 23 seniors he taught in his electricity program, 19 worked with trades firms during their senior year work placement program and 13 found electrical apprenticeships after graduation.

“Three more years and they will be general electricians,” Cline said. “They will be 23-24 years old, gonna be making between $63,000 and $68,000 a year, and have zero student loan debt because their contractor paid for all of it.”

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Cline continues to work with two of his former students – Hunter Spaulding and Cary Moore – who graduated in June and are now apprentices for Express Electric. Cline had gotten in touch with Express Electric, one of the contractors helping to renovate Highland Springs, and offered to staff its construction jobs with his students.

Now, Spaulding and Moore are back at their old high school, but as full-time electric apprentices instead of students, helping to renovate the building for incoming CTE high schoolers.

“It’s definitely rewarding knowing that your work will be able to be used as a learning example for the future generations that will be coming into the school and learning the same exact things that you did,” Spaulding said.

As apprentices, both Spaulding and Cline are also taking electricity classes at trades school, which their company pays for by taking $30 out of their paycheck each week. If they get an A or B average in their classes, their company will refund them all of their money.

The switch to full-time work after graduation was definitely a transition, Spaulding said, but Cline has continued to mentor them as they start out as apprentices.

“It’s definitely a big adjustment going from the classroom to being thrown into a 70,000-square-foot building,” he said. “It’s so much to learn in a little bit of time, but Mr. Cline, he always makes it fun to learn and he always treats it as like he’s still learning as well because like Mr. Cline says, ‘Every day you learn something new.’”

Cline said that the new generation of trades workers will see even more benefits than he did as an electrician, especially because of the push to train students earlier for the trades.

“I want them to have a better future than what I had, so I tell them, ‘If you like what I’ve got, you’re gonna be way better,’” he said. “‘Wait till you see what you get, because you’re like four or five years ahead of where I was – you started in high school.’”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen's Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Support her work by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.