COURTNEY SHERWOOD Columbian staff writer
From the Columbian, Sunday, April 30, 2006
Answering the phones in Ridgefield. Wiring a house in Vancouver. Spritzing the aluminum before bearing down with a massive drill.
They're learning the ropes in Clark County today, hoping to make a better living tomorrow.
#session.visitorFont#"> In an era when many young people are being funneled right to college, where they'll rack up an average of $18,000 in loans, more than 300 Clark County residents have opted for another, older, form of training: the apprenticeship.
They earn an average of $10 an hour for the two to five years of on-the-job training. Not a lot, but more than most college students take home. For those who graduate from apprentice to journeyman, the potential payoff is big. A state study found that graduates of apprenticeship programs typically earn an additional $17,000 per year.
And unlike countless liberal arts majors who've wondered at the practical value of their English, history or French literature degrees, apprentices are only signed on when there's a job likely upon graduation. Apprenticeships are driven by market demand. If the jobs aren't there, neither is the training.
"Apprenticeships are a super training model, and they are going to be even more important in the coming years due to the aging of the work force," said Scott Bailey, regional economist with the state Employment Security Department. "They lead to great careers that are going to be very satisfying for many people."
Not grandfather's apprenticeship
The range of careers that apprenticeships lead to might surprise you.
A state list of apprenticeship programs includes steel workers and electricians, but also child care workers, library technicians and stagehands.
"Wages vary widely from program to program," warns Ed Madden, Southwest Washington apprenticeship coordinator for the Department of Labor and Industries. "A fully qualified child care provider will make less than an ironworker."
And, Madden jokes, not many people have heard of "journeyman child care provider."
Nonetheless, the designation exists, thanks to oversight and licensing by the state.
Each apprenticeship is different, customized by the employer to meet its needs, but all must meet certain requirements.
First, employees must be paid for on-the-job training at work, Madden said. Then there's the classroom training requirement -- at least 144 hours of it per year. State-registered apprentices will have part of their tuition waived for community college classes associated with their training, and often employers will cover the balance of tuition.
Joining city hall
Julie Kozhemyakin found her administrative assistant apprenticeship at Ridgefield City Hall with help from the Clark County Skills Center, a vocational school operated by Evergreen Public Schools that serves a number of districts.
"During my last year at the Skills Center, I did a part-time internship with the city," said Kozhemyakin, 18, who graduated last spring. "I got hired here full time starting July 1, but they wanted me to go through an apprenticeship program because they thought I would achieve more things and learn more."
Kozhemyakin takes classes after work at Clark College, and will have to work 4,000 hours to graduate to journeyman.
On the job, she answers phones, takes payments, works closely with the city clerk, and learns the ins and outs of office management.
The salary range is $10 to $15 per hour, growing as she gains experience, Kozhemyakin said.
"It's been really great. I get to see exactly what you're working toward," she said. "Some of my friends are working now, some are going to school. All of them have a job, but not as good of a job as me."
Kozhemyakin is nearly a decade ahead of many of her apprenticeship peers. Most are in their 20s or 30s, and only find their way to apprenticeships after working lower-wage unskilled jobs.
With help from community colleges, the Clark County Skills Center and in-school vocational programs, the apprenticeship advocates want more young people to know about their options.
Apprentices wanted
That's especially true in the building trades, where a labor shortage is looming, said Ken Fry, executive director of the National Electrical Contractors Association/International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers regional training center, in Portland.
"We have huge numbers of people who are going to be retiring in the next five to 10 years," Fry said. "We would like to see more young people make application to our programs."
IBEW is training 440 apprentices in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon today.
"We could easily train over 1,000 apprentices," Fry said. "We just need qualified applicants."
Though trades workers often have physically demanding jobs where they're exposed to the elements, they're not just grunts.
"We are looking for people with some of the same scholastic abilities as someone who is college bound, but also someone who is interested in working with their hands," Fry said. "In our program, they start out at $12.50 an hour. Five years later, you're a journeyman making $31.60 per hour."
Skills required
Right out of high school, Corey Barber took an entry-level job at Tidland Corp. in Camas.
He took classes at night to learn about the machines Tidland uses to make its highly specialized industrial rollers, and after two years was accepted into his employer's machinist apprenticeship program.
Now 37, Barber is a journey-level machinist and team leader who helps train new apprentices at Tidland.
"When I talk to friends at reunions, I'm further ahead than 80 percent of those who went to college, making as much as or more than them," he said. "And I love what I do. I love working with my hands, building stuff, seeing things get developed."
Since Tidland's founding in 1951, the company has been training employees through apprenticeships, said Frank Farruggia, company vice president.
Employees must show an aptitude for machine work and a strong work ethic before they are promoted into an apprenticeship, he said.
"It takes 8,000 hours of training on the job, plus hundreds of hours of in-class training," Farruggia said.
"Apprentices learn the basic aspects of mathematics that apply on the factory floor -- everything from geometry to trigonometry. They have to understand the fundamentals of metallurgy. They have to understand the fundamentals of reading blueprints. They learn the techniques of machine tool applications.... They have to understand what grades of tools will cut certain grades of metal," he said. "It's an entire science. In the trade, it's considered the equivalent of a four-year degree."
After more than two decades working in other fields, Tom Dummer, 43, is going for that training himself.
An apprentice at Tidland, Dummer said he was looking for a challenging field in which he could finish his career when he applied for the program.
"I like the challenge of the apprenticeship," Dummer said. "I'm preparing for a job with a lot of variety, there's no monotony here."
Many paths to journeyman
Dummer and Barber found their apprenticeships through entry-level employment; many in the trades find their jobs through an apprenticeship program, and Kozhemyakin's apprenticeship was created specifically for her.
#session.visitorFont#"> If there's anything typical about the path to apprenticeship, it's that there is no such thing as typical, apprenticeship coordinator Madden said.
"Apprenticeship is decentralized," he said. "It's like a college with branch campuses, and each sponsor is a branch campus with its own graduation requirements."
Those sponsors are either employers or unions, and sometimes unions and employers jointly sponsor a program.
Economist Bailey suggests young people turned off by the idea of college consider going down the path toward apprenticeships.
"Under the old paradigm of 30 years ago, you could get a lesser-skilled job that paid well," Bailey said. "Those jobs have either disappeared" -- shipped overseas or made obsolete by technology -- "or they've evolved into jobs that require more skills -- such as math and analytical skills.
"And these occupations are very key to our economy."
Courtney Sherwood covers business for The Columbian. She can be reached at 360-759-8041 or at courtney.sherwood@columbian.com.
Did you know?
* Apprenticeships have been around for thousands of years, and are the oldest form of on-the-job training.
* Average entry-level apprentice wage in Clark County: $10 an hour.
* Average journey-level wage: $17.20.
* Apprenticeships take two to five years, on average, and include paid on-the-job training as well as classroom work.
To learn more
* To explore apprenticeship opportunities online, visit www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/Apprenticeship/.
* Southwest Washington's regional apprenticeship program, run by Ed Madden, can be reached at 360-575-6927.
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