According to an analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Electrical Contractors Association, every year, 10,000 electricians retire and leave the workforce only to be replaced by 7,000 new professionals. This was before COVID-19 shut down the economy. Many other skilled construction trades face similar retirement trends as well as a lack of incoming workers.

Accordingly, there has been an effort in many communities to support more apprenticeship programs and to render the ones that exist more muscular. But COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into many aspects of economic life, and apprenticeships are no exception.

Despite dislocations wrought by the pandemic, apprenticeship programs remain as the training backbone in many occupational clusters, particularly those related to construction and its trades. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there were 25,000 active apprenticeship programs operating in 2019, the last year for which data is available. Approximately two-thirds of all registered apprentices in America are trained in the construction industry. Some refer to apprenticeships as the other four-year degree, albeit one that doesn’t leave its graduates debt-laden and with uncertain employment prospects.

With the imperative to social distance, delivering instruction via apprenticeships has become more challenging. The same forces that have induced many school systems and universities to move toward remote instruction apply to the training as well. In response, many construction industry innovators are developing novel methods to train and teach emerging construction workers.

This is not easy work; it is one thing to teach mathematics or literature online, but it is quite another to train workers who work with sophisticated equipment and precision-engineered construction materials. Nonetheless, the work persists.     

An article published by an online publication, Inside Higher Ed, highlights a number of these virtual apprenticeships. New technologies help; for instance, the rise of small, affordable virtual reality headsets has rendered it possible for apprentices to receive “hands-on” learning in the comfort of their own homes. Interplay Learning is an online training site focused on the skilled trades. According to their website, Interplay Learning “develops and delivers scalable, highly effective digital learning simulations for the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, and facilities maintenance workforce.”

This is not something that would have been technologically possible a few years ago. The pandemic has created more demand for such solutions, which are likely to be accessed by many even after COVID-19 begins to recede into memory. The surge in demand for virtual training has also helped supply such platforms with more resources, which could translate into faster platform improvements producing more effective training. 

The emergence of these digital training technologies may in fact help produce a larger construction workforce going forward. Many young people have viewed the construction trades with suspicion, considering these opportunities inferior to those associated with college degrees and white-collar occupations even though the trades often offer greater wages and benefits. 

Training that involves computers and virtual reality may fundamentally alter the perception of construction as an industry, inducing more people into relevant occupational categories. That is the hope, of course, but there are no guarantees.

The move toward virtual training is not without its challenges. One of the most appealing aspects of apprenticeships is that not only do they impart skills, but apprentices are being paid while they learn. Many apprentices are assigned to ongoing projects, learning first-hand from experienced workers. To put this into metaphoric terms, it is one thing to use a flight simulator, but it is quite a different thing to fly an airplane with passengers on board.

Mary Alice McCarthy, the Director of the Center on Education and Skills in New America, stated in Inside Higher Ed that “Apprenticeship is an education strategy, but it’s also fundamentally an employment strategy,” adding that “The virtual strategy has to be for a real job.” And therein lies the dilemma created not only by the pandemic, but by the tastes and preferences of younger workers.

These challenges have attracted the attention of key policymakers. In an op-ed published in The Hill, Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) writes about the importance of those working in the trades. “[W]orkers in the skilled trades are contributing to the momentum of our short- and long-term recovery. Government construction projects have not stopped; neither has the demand for pipefitters and advanced manufacturers. Even in a post-COVID-19 world, our country will rely on skilled workers to keep our digital and physical infrastructure upgraded and safe.”

As co-chair of Congress’ Career and Technical Education Caucus, Langevin has called for additional investment to keep those interested in the trades engaged and committed to remaining in programs. Acknowledging that the pandemic has cut short valuable in-person learning, he writes, “We need to expand pre-apprenticeships to help learners recover from lost in-person time.” 

For its part, North Carolina passed a number of COVID-19 relief bills aimed at supporting apprenticeship programs impacted by the pandemic. Apprentices in these programs can apply for tuition waivers to attend community college courses in the field they plan to enter.

In the final analysis, construction industry leaders should pay close attention to the performance of online construction apprenticeship training in terms of retaining the interest of emerging workers and in preparing them for actual jobsites. The pandemic may have delivered the construction industry with an unexpected opportunity to recruit more talent by inducing the development of more and better refined virtual training platforms, but the performance of these emerging platforms must be measured carefully.

Copyright © 2020 by the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA). All rights reserved. This article first appeared in Dec. 2020 Talking Trades newsletter.