WAUWATOSA, Wisc. — As Wisconsin leaders focus on growing interest in the trades with the next generation, a national initiative hoping to do just that rolls into town.
On Wednesday, the North America’s Building Trades Union made a stop in Wauwatosa while on its cross-country road trip to show their Construction Career Opportunity Pipeline in action.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to ensure that the magnitude and breadth of our investments will help ensure that anyone from any background in any community committed to a construction career can find an opportunity to begin it,” said Sean McGarvey, President, North America's Building Trades Unions.
Someone hoping for an opportunity like that is Ben Watzig.
Watzig is a student who has spent the last six years learning everything he can to become an electrician.
Before that, he says he took some time to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
“There's a lot of people that end up going to college just because they're just told to and by the time they're in their second or even third year in college, they're still not even sure what they even want to do,” said Watzig.
That desire to find something different could be what’s led to a growth in trade jobs.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction jobs in the Milwaukee area grew by 1.4%, or nearly 500 jobs, and trade, transportation, and utility jobs grew by 2.5%, or 3,700 jobs from June 2022 to July 2023.
“This is all great news folks and it wouldn’t been possible to do it without our partners in the building trades but we’ve got a lot more work to do and we’re going to need more and more skilled workers to do that,” said Gov. Tony Evers.
Being able to get hands-on experience through the pipeline is something Watzig loves.
He says getting to see that what he’s learning makes a true difference pushes him to work even harder.
“There's so many jobs out there where even someone like me who is in school and the apprenticeship where I can just choose to bounce from job to job if I really need to or I can ask to seek out different types of work. There's so many options for everyone to take over,” said Watzig.
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