Opinion: More women in skilled trades is an answer to Iowa's skills gap

Building trades pledge to expand career pathways for women through apprenticeship

Samantha Groark
Guest columnist
  • Samantha Groark is executive director of the Central Iowa Building & Construction Trades Council.

Iowa is facing a workforce crisis. We need more people to live and work here, and we need to recruit more employees in the industries experiencing the most demand. Construction sector jobs increased 24% in the Des Moines metro from February 2020 to July 2022, and with historic investments in energy and infrastructure the demand for tradespeople across the state is going to continue to increase in coming years.

To date, $1.4 billion in bipartisan infrastructure law funding has been announced and is headed to Iowa.  Many more projects will be added in the coming years.  On top of that, the Inflation Reduction Act will bring an estimated $24.6 billion of investment in large-scale clean power generation and storage to Iowa between now and 2030.  The historic set of tax credits that will create jobs across solar, wind, storage, and other clean energy industries include bonuses for businesses that pay a prevailing wage and employ registered apprentices.

Yet, the industries where these good-paying careers will be created are ones where women have historically been underrepresented. While women are roughly half the workforce, they represent only 4% of the construction trades. With this tremendous investment in new jobs, it has never been more important to create and expand promising career pathways for women in skilled trades apprenticeships.

Joint labor-management registered apprenticeship programs offer state-of-the-art comprehensive training in a specific trade. They are “earn as you learn” programs that charge no tuition and involve paid on-the-job training as well as classroom instruction. The programs generally last three to five years, and lead to a nationally recognized credential. Apprentices are covered by a union contract ensuring equitable wages, health insurance, pension benefits, raises, and job placement provisions.

Unfortunately, many women lack information about the more than a dozen trades careers that are available and how to enter and succeed in apprenticeship programs. One proven approach to bridging this gap is through quality pre-apprenticeship programs. In 2019, the building trades partnered with the University of Iowa Labor Center to launch a quality pre-apprenticeship here in Iowa. This tuition-free, multi-week course meets on evenings and weekends to provide an introduction to trades careers, jobsite safety, blueprint reading, tool identification, and construction math. It incorporates visits to various building trades training centers, guest presentations by leaders of registered apprenticeship programs, and wraparound supports such as access to a tool library. There are 12 women in the program currently underway in Coralville.

The building trades and the Labor Center are also partnering with United Way of Central Iowa to conduct the quality pre-apprenticeship for individuals returning from incarceration, including a course at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville. The program, Central Iowa Returning Citizens Achieve, has trained 29 women in the last year through its construction pre-apprenticeship program.

This Nov. 17 is Women in Apprenticeship Day, part of the National Apprenticeship Week that runs through Nov. 20. According to U.S. Department of Labor data, during the past five years the number of tradeswomen increased by nearly one-third. In 2021, the number of women working in building and construction trades occupations reached the highest level ever.

With demand in the construction industry growing in our state, Iowa’s building trades unions and their affiliated apprenticeship programs are empowering more women to build skillsets to join the industry. The building trades are also focused on introducing younger age groups, including girls, to potential careers in the construction industry. For example, earlier this year, the Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 33 Training Center in Des Moines held its annual High School Weld-Off competition, which included 41 female welders from local schools.

In the coming years, there will be numerous good-paying jobs replacing outdated pipes, laying broadband lines, and repairing roads and bridges. Women in Iowa must be able to access these jobs, which come with high-quality health care and retirement benefits, and that is why creating pathways to skilled trades registered apprenticeships for women is so important.

To learn more, save the date and join us on Nov. 14 for a webinar on how the building trades are working on gender equity in the trades here in Iowa. You can register at bit.ly/CelebratingWomenInTrades.

You can register here. To learn more about a career in the skilled trades, visit www.iowastatebuildingtrades.org.

Samantha Groark

Samantha Groark is executive director of the Central Iowa Building & Construction Trades Council, an affiliate of the Iowa State Building & Construction Trades Council.