Cities, schools team up to renew area labor force

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(Beaumont Enterprise, The (Texas) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 1--As Southeast Texas prepares for what is predicted to be the largest burst in job growth to come in decades, area schools are enhancing curriculum to prepare students for entry-level positions.



On Friday, West Orange-Cove school officials met with city leaders, the Orange County Economic Development Corp. and representatives from Signal International to discuss how students in the welding program can be trained so that once they graduate, they can work at a local plant.

"We want to make sure Signal is a sustainable business and the best way to do that is to provide the labor that they need," Orange Mayor Brown Claybar said after the meeting. "We are trying to keep our young people here with good-paying jobs, and the opportunities are here now if they are trained."

Signal International in Orange recently announced it had to bring in 300 guest workers because of a local labor shortage. The company is working with Lamar State College-Orange to give local workers the skills needed on the job.

The West Orange school district is poised to start offering a welding program in the spring. To help students become familiar with the shipbuilding industry, there will be convocation presentations, tours, career days and job shadowing. This will allow students to see that it is more than the misconception that it is a hot and dirty job, according to a news release issued about the meeting.

Entry-level welding jobs start at $12.70 an hour and the top of the scale is about $20 an hour.

"We have a large pool of students with the potential to be successful in this program," Superintendent O. Taylor Collins said in a news release.

This region is expected to draw 10,000 contractors for the Golden Pass, Sempra Energy and Cheniere Energy liquefied natural gas terminals and the expansion of Motiva Enterprise and Total Petrochemical plants.

Lamar-Port Arthur is teaming up with Texas Workforce to offer a free two-month, self-paced computer course designed to give people basic background knowledge in the construction industry. Representatives in the industry are working with the college to design the computer program.

The computer program will teach people basic safety, construction math, use of hand and power tools, introduction to blueprints, basic rigging and communication skills.

"They will begin (construction) in 2007, and students can't wait a year or 18 months to learn to become a welder or another craft," said Gary Stretcher, Lamar-Port Arthur vice president of academic affairs. "They need some short-term training that is acceptable to the industry so that they can work as soon as possible."

Once employed, the workers will receive additional on- the-job training.

"The construction will last for several years in the area," Stretcher said. "Construction prepares them for more stable employment later."

Starting wages for the entry-level positions is about $9 to $12, said Lois Cornwell, manager of the Port Arthur Texas Workforce center.

The ideal candidate is someone who is unemployed, underemployed or someone wanting on an industrial job.

"There is a great chance of moving up and making high wages once they begin in that field and learn those skills," Cornwell said. "It is going to be a big boom for our area as well as for the individual."

She added that for 15 years, parents didn't push their children to become pipe fitters or boilermakers, and people in those fields are reaching retirement. Now, companies are looking for young people to train in preparation for that transition.

"The need is so great that I think employers are looking at the younger people coming out of high school if they have the proper skills," said Pat Calhoun, director of career and technology education.

At Taylor Career Center in Beaumont, the faculty already has devised lesson plans based on what employers will need when students graduate, he said.

Recruiting people without experience is unprecedented.

"As a school district, we have to make sure we stay in contact with the contractors to make sure we are providing the proper training -- be it in carpentry, sheet metal or welding," Calhoun said.

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