Skilled Magazine

The Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin Apprenticeship program is experiencing its highest level of enrollment in its 35-year history.

By Ryan Farrell and William Lawhorn Economists in the Office of Occupational Outlook and Employment Projections, BLS Occupations that require a college degree get lots of attention for offering strong job outlook and wages. But there are also fast-growing, well-paying careers that you can enter with a high school diploma or other non-degree options. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ...

Despite the outbreak of COVID-19 that’s upended much of public life, Wisconsin’s construction industry is working hard to train the next generation of tradespeople. Although many classrooms, summer camps and other in-person events have been closed or delayed, the coronavirus hasn’t in the least stopped demand for talented workers. For now, the immediate response has involved moving some courses online, ...

Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch is joining the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin as its jobs ambassador, a role promoting careers in the construction trades. Kleefisch served as Lieutenant Governor for eight years under former Gov. Scott Walker until he was defeated by current Gov. Tony Evers in 2016. Much of her time in that post was spent on workforce ...

Metro Milwaukee compares well with similar metro areas for its talent pool of knowledge workers, including people in the science, engineering, and technology-dependent fields.

Foxconn is working with various Wisconsin technical colleges and universities to offer training in the sorts of work it will need at its manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant and other sites throughout the state.

Although design-build projects are becoming more and more common for the private HVAC jobs Tom Starich works on for a living, he’s not sure the system is right for public projects in Wisconsin. The Waukesha native, a commercial-sales and project manager at the Madison-based company Air Temperature Services, estimated that 70 percent of the contracts his employer wins these days ...

When Dave Jones started his plumbing business in his garage in Mt. Horeb in 1977, he never envisioned it becoming a company with heating, fire-protection and electrical divisions. But that’s exactly what happened over more than 40 years to the business originally named Dave Jones Plumbing. Now simply Dave Jones Inc., the company has not only supplemented its original plumbing ...

By KAREN SCHWARTZ Associated Press FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Lynn Osborne has been remodeling two homes. They are different styles, in different states, with different contractors. But there has been one constant: delays due to a shortage of skilled labor. The two-year remodel of her primary home in Fort Collins, Colorado, was to update and upgrade the ’90s house, ...