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Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian has seen firsthand how the state’s industries suffer from a lack of young people trained to work in the building trades. While the average age of a trades apprentice used to be 19, it is now in the late 20s. Today, the average age of a building trades professional is in the 40s and 50s, he noted.

“Our workforce has gotten older because young people are spending six or eight years bouncing around after high school before getting on a career path, and that’s changing,” Avakian said.

“For Oregon to attract businesses that are going to bring jobs to our state, we need to show the world that we’ve got the most trained and ready workforce on the globe. The return on the education investment is not only good for students, but it’s also good for Oregon and the economy,” he said.

After being eliminated from middle and high schools for years, vocational-tech programs got a much needed boost from the state Legislature, thanks in part to Avakian’s advocacy efforts. The Legislature approved $2 million in funding for the programs during the 2011 session and quadrupled the amount during the 2013 session.

Last year, 140 middle and high schools serving more than 90,000 students received Career and Technical Education (CTE) Revitalization Grants worth $8.87 million. The grants, which help schools set up and sustain career and technical education programs, are enhancing academic and hands-on training that prepare young people to work in advanced manufacturing, construction and engineering, among other sectors.

“The attitude amongst students, parents and teachers has always been that these are necessary programs,” Avakian said. “We’ve seen a shift in the attitude of policymakers who now understand that the state is having a difficult time providing a well-trained workforce for its industries.”

He noted that while not every student who takes a woodshop class is going to become a carpenter, career education classes provide a ripple effect of benefits regardless of what careers students decide to pursue.

“In Oregon, only 67 percent of high school students graduate on time, but for those who participate in woodshop class, the number is well above 90 percent,” he said. “This effort is going to reduce dropout rates and have many more students graduate in four years with a clear direction.”