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College of Southern Idaho and Hegler Creek present apprenticeship program as critical pipeline for electricians and plumbers
Summary
Officials from the College of Southern Idaho and Hegler Creek Electric told the House Committee on Education that apprenticeship programs are essential to address worker shortages in the trades; they reported large projected shortfalls for electricians and plumbers and urged legislative support and outreach to recruit apprentices.
Dean (given name) and President Dean Fisher of the College of Southern Idaho and James McKenzie of Hegler Creek Electric told the House Committee on Education on Jan. 23 that apprenticeship programs are a key workforce pipeline for Idaho.
President Fisher described apprenticeships as a long-standing model of hands-on learning and said CSI runs hundreds of apprenticeship slots, primarily in electrical trades. "One of the most powerful ways of learning is actually one of the oldest ways of learning, and that's the apprenticeship model," Fisher said.
James McKenzie, manager of Hegler Creek Electric, said CSI apprentices are "the lifeblood of our company" and presented national- and industry-level projections about workforce shortages. McKenzie cited a projected 6% annual growth rate for electrician employment, noted roughly 73,500 job openings nationally each year and said about 10,000 electricians retire or change careers annually while about 7,000 enter the field. For plumbing, McKenzie said the United States could be short about 550,000 plumbers by 2027 and that a high percentage of the current plumbing workforce is approaching retirement age.
McKenzie described local program outcomes: electrical apprenticeship cohorts may begin with 25–30 apprentices and see 15–20 complete the program by year four; plumbing cohorts cited by McKenzie start with roughly 20–25 and graduate three to four journeymen by year four in some cases. He called on legislators to support outreach, job fairs and other ways to increase recruitment to avoid a long-term shortage of skilled tradespeople.
Committee members asked about attrition and training standards. McKenzie and President Fisher said they would provide more precise retention data to the committee after the meeting. Committee members also asked whether relaxed electrical training standards enacted two years earlier had affected safety or pace of progress; McKenzie said safety is always an employer responsibility and that some concerns relate to inexperienced journeymen moving into contracting roles quickly rather than apprentice completion standards per se.
Members thanked the presenters and asked the college to return with enrollment and completion data; President Fisher agreed to provide written follow-up through the committee secretary.
