Related Links: BLS employment report for October 2012 AGC analysis of October unemployment report ABC analysis of October unemployment report Construction’s unemployment rate declined in October to 11.4% from September’s 11.9%, as the industry recorded a gain of 17,000 jobs in the month.The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly report on the employment picture, released on Nov. 2, also showed that construction’s rate last month improved over the October 2012 mark of 13.7%. The BLS rates are not adjusted for seasonal variations.Associated General Contractors officials said the BLS numbers did not show any impacts from Superstorm Sandy. They said any
Photo Courtesy of National Academy Foundation A student at a high school engineering academy in Oklahoma City, one of 62 U.S. programs, completes a project. Related Links: Website of National Academies Foundation Engineering Community's Licensing Debate a Lesson in Degrees of Separation Washington Subcontractor Leads State Push on STEM Tennesee Geotechnical Engineer Reclaims More than Riverbanks Plug-In Car Infrastructure Gives Training a Big Charge Auburn Students Work With Industry to Design Tomorrow's Tools Welcome to the new age of career-oriented high school education, created by the National Academy Foundation, a privately funded venture. The effort is designed to give students
Illustration by Alex Nabum Related Links: Point-Counterpoint: Gauging the 'Raise the Bar' Debate ASCE's Raise the Bar Website ASMEs Licensing that Works Website More from Education Report: Washington Contractor Leads State STEM Push More from Education Report: Tennessee Engineer Boosts Students' Prospects More from Education Report: Engineering Academies' First High School Grads More from Education Report: Plug-In Cars Charge Infrastructure Training More from Education Report: Students and Industry Design Tomorrow's Tools Six years after the nation's umbrella engineering licensing body embraced a so-called Model Rule that would extend by 30 the number of extra credit-hours BS-degreed engineers must have to
Photo Courtesy of NECA Electrical workers learn about utility grid integration, power load management and other requirements in car-charge station building. Photo by AP Wideworld The Obama administration has pledged $2.4 billion in grants to get one million electric cars on the road by 2015. Related Links: U.S. Energy Dept.'s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) Engineering Community's Licensing Debate a Lesson in Degrees of Separation Washington Subcontractor Leads State Push on STEM Tennesee Geotechnical Engineer Reclaims More than Riverbanks Engineering Academies' First High-School Grads Auburn Students Work With Industry to Design Tomorrow's Tools Spurred by fuel-price volatility and environmental
Photo Courtesy of Coal Creek Watershed Foundation Earn and learn Students aid Thacker (front, right) in Coal Creek flood work. Scholarships require community service and mentoring. Photo Courtesy of Coal Creek Watershed Foundation Students boost reading with school's foundation-run incentive effort. Related Links: Coal Creek Watershed Foundation Engineering Community's Licensing Debate a Lesson in Degrees of Separation Washington Subcontractor Leads State Push on STEM Engineering Academies' First High-School Grads Plug-In Car Infrastructure Gives Training a Big Charge Auburn Students Work With Industry to Design Tomorrow's Tools Kyle Leinart, a civil engineering student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is dreaming
Photo Courtesy of McKinstry McKinstry CEO Dean Allen, also president of a leading state group pushing engineering and related fields, chats with students. Related Links: Website of Washington STEM Website of STEMX, A Network of All State STEM Advocacy Programs Engineering Community's Licensing Debate a Lesson in Degrees of Separation Tennesee Geotechnical Engineer Reclaims More than Riverbanks Engineering Academies' First High-School Grads Plug-In Car Infrastructure Gives Training a Big Charge Auburn Students Work With Industry to Design Tomorrow's Tools Dean Allen, CEO of Seattle-based contractor McKinstry, is not OK with too many kids in the state giving up on the
Related Links: BLS employment report for September (release and tables) Associated General Contractors analysis Associated Builders and Contractors analysis Construction’s jobless rate rose in September, to 11.9% from August’s 11.3%, although the industry added 5,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The upturn in the construction rate was the first since March.The latest BLS monthly unemployment statistics, released on Oct. 5, also showed that the construction jobless rate last month was down from the September 2011 level of 13.3%—the 24th-straight month of year-over-year improvement.Construction officials focused on what the new BLS numbers indicated about the industry’s longer-term
Photo by Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Qualified crane workers are tough to find, said attendees at a recent Link-Belt sales event. Photo by Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Skill sets have changed for factory jobs, said Chuck Martz, president and CEO of Link-Belt. Related Links: Construction Jobless Rate Falls, But Industry Adds Just 1,000 Jobs New Survey: Get Ready for Workforce Shortages Companies that manufacture, sell, repair and use construction cranes complain that qualified workers, such as welders, machinists, maintenance technicians and operators, remain extremely difficult to locate even as U.S. construction and manufacturing joblessness remain high."The skill sets
Image courtesy of Clark Construction Carney turned two summers of interning into a full-time role at a Lansing, Mich., building firm. Related Links: Internships Help Students and Employers Gain the Inside Track Even with some recovery in the job market, obtaining a full-time industry position is not a given for 2012 graduates. But for one brand-new hire, getting a foot in the door through an internship was the way to go.Jacob Carney, who graduated in May from Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich., with a degree in construction management, landed a full-time job at Clark Construction Co., Lansing, Mich., earlier
Related Links: EEOC: Pre-Employment Inquiries and Arrest & Conviction AGC of America HR Professionals and Training Education Conference-Oct. 15-18 in San Antonio Appellate Court Ruling: Douglas El v. SEPTA It might be time for your organization to review its hiring policy, especially if it excludes job candidates with criminal convictions in their pasts. Newly-expanded U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance, released in April, lists that as an example of possible discrimination.The guidance elaborates that, for certain jobs, any conviction record will disqualify a candidate by law. At about 40 pages, the expanded enforcement guidance contains more detail on these issues