Construction Informer

The people at the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) are putting the finishing touches on their 2007 convention plans. This year the convention is in Las Vegas, NV on December 13 and 14 at the Convention Center in Hall C-3 and as of this writing the booths were down to 12 available.

Last year’s event topped 5,000 attendees that included education policy makers, superintendents, counselors, administrators, principals, instructional specialists and school board members. This year exhibitors are showcasing software, assessment and testing, basic skills programs, career guidance and planning, CAD technology and applied learning to name a few. The exhibitor workshops are already sold out and some include Cisco, Apple, and technical and community colleges.

If you missed ACTE’s podcast with Bob Vila you can catch it here.

ACTE is on the front lines of keeping technical education as a viable option for millions of people. Shortages of qualified people to do the building in the US owe their origins in part to our country’s declining emphasis on technical education. To me it seems we’ve been focusing so much on two and four-year degrees that technical education has taken a back seat. Maybe many people thought immigrants would continue to fill those roles. At any rate, not everyone needs, or necessarily wants a degree, and when looking at labor projections into the future we may have to re-consider what we emphasize for post-secondary education.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 13 of the 20 occupations expected to experience the largest numerical increases through 2014 are in occupations where a degree is not required. The BLS also points out:

Employment growth will continue to be concentrated in the service-providing sector of the economy. Educational services, health care and social assistance, and professional and business services represent the industry sectors with the strongest employment growth; these sectors are projected to grow more than twice as fast as the overall economy.

It’s certainly possible for technically oriented training to prepare people for many of these kinds of jobs and specifically for construction, which depends upon an upward flow of talent, initial and advanced technical training could make a difference in keeping the ranks filled at all levels.