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
Related Links: Bureau of Labor Statistics release, with data tables AGC statement ABC Chief Economist's statement Building and Construction Trades Dept. President's statement Construction’s unemployment rate continued to head downward in August, dipping to 11.3% from July’s 12.3%, but the industry posted a gain of just 1,000 jobs last month.The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly employment status report, released on Sept. 7, also showed that construction’s jobless rate last month was better than the 13.5% level for August 2011.But industry officials said one factor behind the construction unemployment rate’s decline is that many workers have left the construction industry.Stephen
Although the federal government’s role in suing construction companies over sexual harassment has fallen steadily over the last decade, federal and local complaints linked to similar harassment of male employees have remained consistent and higher than that for all industries.
Related Links: Hard Times Draw the Line For Bargaining Op/Ed: The Truth About Cat and Jobs Nearly 800 machinists at a Caterpillar plant in Illinois narrowly reached a deal to extend their labor agreement after a three-and-a-half month strike that weighed heavily on the workers, many of whom crossed the picket line to continue receiving their paychecks.The six-year contract, which comes with a $3,100 signing bonus, places a freeze on cost-of-living increases and pensions while migrating workers to a 401(k)-style retirement plan with a 6% corporate match. The deal also forces workers to pay a portion of their health-care premiums,
Photo by Augusto Diniz Owner's rep Dijkstra blames fiery strike in April on a "turf battle" between construction unions. Related Links: Ms. President Goes for the Gold Two Years to World Cup Kickoff for Brazilian Stadiums Rio Spending on Bus Lane, Metro To Break Gridlock Brazilian Contractor Builds Training Center, Trade School Brazil Places Its Bets on Hydroelectric Dams, Despite Protests Billionaire Dredges Up Support for His Superport After Massive Nov. 10 Blackout, Brazil Is Still in the Dark Over Its True Cause In the past, labor camps of Brazilian mega-projects at remote sites were rough-and-tumble affairs, marked by drunkenness,