NEW ORLEANS—A Harahan manufacturing company has had to recruit outside Louisiana for skilled trade workers. The Laitram Corp. isn’t alone in its difficulty finding trained workers for such jobs as electricians and welders.
Turner Industries Group, an industrial construction and vessel fabrication company, expects its Gulf Coast sites to be about 12,000 workers short over the next two years, project manager Rodney Landry told New Orleans CityBusiness.
One reason, he said, is that high schools have been doing less trade labor training for about 20 years.
“Now the people who had those skills are retiring, and the employment gap is growing,” Landry said.
He notes that the oil and gas industry could add 30,000 technical jobs over the coming decade.
According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission, there are currently close to 2,500 construction jobs open just in the New Orleans area, including positions for welders, crane operators and pipe fitters.
Laitram and Turner are among companies working with community colleges and universities to train new workers for jobs including crane operators, instrument technicians, pipe fitters, and machinists.
