www.AlaskaAlliance.com 33 graphic trends with fewer young people in Alaska high schools that are candidates to enter the trades when they graduate. State economists project brisk growth in jobs related to heavy industry particularly in construction and transportation. The recruiting challenges employers face is a problem faced in many industries, not just in petroleum. Employers are scaling up training to expand the pool of skilled workers. Several union apprentice programs are being doubled this year, for example, to meet the demands of expected North Slope work. Operators and engineers, laborers and electrician apprenticeship programs are the most affected. What complicates apprenticeship training is that many skilled journeymen-level workers are reaching retirement age. That makes it more challenging to meet federal requirements that one apprentice in training be matched with one journeyman as a mentor. Apprenticeship programs are desired by employers because they guarantee high-quality trainees graduate to journeyman status after extended periods of training along with job experience under supervision of their mentors. However, in recent years training providers have been challenged by the boom-and-bust cycles of construction. During the dips there was an exodus of skilled workers out of state to places where labor was in high demand. Fewer job opportunities also meant fewer Alaska young people interested in training. The cycles were severe. North Slope activity was brisk from 2010 to 2015 when there were hefty state capital budgets. But a prolonged plunge in oil prices that began in 2016 led to sharp cuts in oil and gas work, and layoffs. Low oil prices persisted though 2018 and 2019. Just as prices, and oil activity, were beginning to recover in 2020, the pandemic hit, leading to sharp drops in crude oil demand and extending and worsening the drop in Alaska employment in oil and gas. When the pandemic ended, prices began a gradual recovery but the pool of skilled workers had been eroded so that when worked picked up in 2023 with Pikka and Willow, contractors were scrambling to staff up. They succeeded, but at a price. Wages were bid up to attract workers, which has affected the cost of project. For his part, Gov. Mike Dunleavy is proposing new workforce training initiatives focused on skilled trades in his proposed Fiscal 2026 budget. For example, new funding for the Alaska Vocational and Technical Center, or AVTEC, in Seward would allow the addition of a second instructor in the electrical trades and effectively double the number of students in this high-demand field. Also, the mechanical inspection unit in state Department of Labor and Workforce Development will be able to modernize its computer processing of plumbing and electrical certifications. That division is also working on regulatory changes to recognize provisional licensure and expand reciprocity with states that have certification requirements similar to Alaska’s for the plumbing and electrical trades. “The new regulations would make it easier for those certified to work in Alaska and would allow credit to be applied for a veteran’s relevant military service,” Labor Commissioner Cathy Munoz wrote in the January issue of Trends, the department’s monthly magazine on economic trends. — Tim Bradner Apprenticeship programs are vital as more skilled journeymen-level workers are reaching retirement age.
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