Labor Shortage Threatens to Bust the Shale Boom

[Purveyor]

By Isaac Arnsdorf, Dan Murtaugh and Jack Kaskey Apr 17, 2014 12:01 AM ET

How high is demand for welders to work in the shale boom on the U.S. Gulf Coast?

So high that “you can take every citizen in the region of Lake Charles between the ages of 5 and 85 and teach them all how to weld and you’re not going to have enough welders,” said Peter Huntsman, chief executive officer of chemical maker Huntsman Corp.

So high that San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas, offers a four-hour welding class in the middle of the night.

So high that local employers say they’re worried there won’t be adequate supply of workers of all kinds. Just for construction, Gulf Coast oil, gas and chemical companies will have to find 36,000 new qualified workers by 2016, according to Industrial Info Resources Inc. in Sugar Land, Texas. Regional estimates call for even more new hires once those projects are built.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-17/midnight-welding-picks-up-slack-that-imperils-shale-boom.html

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Every time the words "labor shortage" is used by corporate USA, it's bullshit.

It's an excuse to import cheaper workers from elsewhere.

[Brigid]

3. Yep.

Coming soon to a Congress near you: Employers begging for H1B visas for welders.

[Purveyor]

4. I remember when one could learn basic welding in high school some 40 years

ago. I took graphic arts instead.

[Brickbat]

2. "Labor shortage" is only a valid phrase if you put "cheap" in front of it.

[Aerows]

5. Exactly

Pay people enough and you will have them beating down the doors to work there. Try to pay them just above minimum wage, and well, you don't get people interested.

[Igel]

6. Meh.

I knew a kid who was trained to weld in high school.

Dropped out his senior year. Got a job paying $50k/yr as a welder. He was an apprentice. $50k/yr was "cheap." Decided to go to night school to get his high school diploma. Just in case he wanted to take underwater welding classes at the local community college and make the big bucks.


Go through an industrial area not far from where I live and you see signs out for CNC machinists and welders and job fairs. They're not going to get many foreign workers in those areas. They pay decent wages.