Construction's unemployment rate rose slightly in October, to 17.3% from September's 17.2%, but the good news was that it was better than October 2009's 18.7%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly employment report, released on Nov. 5, also shows that construction posted an increase in jobs for the month, though the gain was only 5,000. The BLS jobless rate figures for individual industries are not adjusted for seasonal swings. For the highly seasonal construction industry, the rates usually worsen in cold-weather months, when work slows down. Thus, the year-over-year comparisons give a better picture of construction employment trends than
The sagging economy has kept down the number of education-related design and construction projects, but many school districts, colleges and universities facing critical needs are forging ahead with major projects. Photo: Courtesy of Clemson University Despite various challenges, Clemson University is moving forward with a $31-million expansion and renovation of one of its buildings, Lee Hall, partially funded with stimulus dollars. Related Links: The Top Owners Sourcebook Complete Report Overview: No Quick Fix For Battered Market Roads & Bridges: Lack of Long-Term Funds Stymies Local DOTs Aviation: Despite Economic Uptick, Aviation Sector Grounded Health Care: Down Economy Creates Buyer�s Market
Women have proved for years that they can fill “man-size boots” in the construction industry. But when those big boots give them blisters or heel spurs, they have had nowhere to turn. Enter Woman Up, a construction clothing and safety-gear shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., recently launched by Deidre Douglas, a craftswoman who turned a workplace problem into a business. Related Links: Woman Up: Women who wear boots not suits Joanne Foulke, vice president at Cauldwell-Wingate Co., a New York City contractor-construction management firm, knows well how men’s boots can wreck women’s feet. During a typical morning inspecting high-rise building projects,
Iceland’s erupting volcano and the breadth of global disruption it caused last spring is a clear indication of “just how connected the world is,” says Lester Gerhardt, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y. He would know. Gerhardt leads global study programs at the school and is a co-founder and chairman of the New York City-based Global Engineering Education Exchange. The group of nearly 80 U.S. and overseas engineering schools has fostered global study since the mid-1990s. However, today, more engineering and construction education programs are expanding offerings and connections in international study. “More employers
Engineering education in the K-12 grades still only reaches a small fraction of U.S. students. Experts say new content standards could raise its profile in more classrooms and bring engineering in line with standards used in science, technology and math. In a new report, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) contends that, while set standards for K-12 engineering are doable, their usefulness and implementation would be limited. Photo: National Academy Foundation A student at a high school engineering “academy” run by a business-university group explains a design project. The group now runs 29 such programs, with more set to start.
The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations is ramping up a campaign to lure civil engineering students into structural studies and improve their preparation for practice. A mentoring program, designed to help practitioners move the student from the textbook to the workplace, is under development. NCSEA recently released an education survey listing 53 U.S. engineering schools that offer the association’s recommended curriculum. NCSEA is promoting Northeastern University’s work-study program in Boston as its mentoring model. “Our hope is to publicize nationally that which has worked so well with cooperative education at Northeastern,” says Craig E. Barnes, head of CBI Consulting
Adormant nuclear powerplant near Olympia, Wash., may never generate power, but the Laborers’ International Union of North America is putting a lot of energy into adapting the site’s abandoned 1,500-ft-long tunnel as a training tool. Located at the former Washington Public Power Supply System site, which was abandoned in 1982 after it defaulted on bond payments, the tunnel now serves the union’s new tunnel safety school. It is the only one in North America that targets construction, the laborers say. Augmenting the instruction is $130,000 worth of tunnel-boring machine (TBM) components donated by local contractors. “With multiple tunnel projects on
The Oregon State Apprenticeship and Training Council awarded Jennifer Smith her journey-level card Oct. 15 for electrical line work, ending a controversial year during which Smith claims her card was unfairly withheld. Related Links: Skilled Trades Are Tough for Women to Crack Smith had said that gender discrimination and sexual harassment were behind her failure to graduate from her apprenticeship with the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB). The apprenticeship council has cited poor monthly progress reports given by Smith’s superiors, but in dramatic testimony in a hearing before the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries, Smith accused one of
Oregon apprentice line worker Jennifer Smith’s recent struggle to receive her journeywoman card has focused attention on a recurring complaint of many tradeswomen around the world. Women interviewed by ENR say the issue goes beyond harassment at worksites. Their complaint: They are being held out of the construction industry. Photo: Courtesy Of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. Jennifer Smith wants to be the second journey woman-level line worker in Oregon. + Image Photo: Courtesy Of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. “Women have remained 2.5% of the construction-trades skilled workforce for the last 30 years,” says Melina Harris, a Carpenter’s Union Local 1797 member in
Most mentors in engineering push kids to excel in math, science and technology so they can succeed in the field. But a Tuscaloosa, Ala., geotechnical engineering firm champions reading skills as its mentoring cause for young students in any career—and the effort is working. Photo: Courtesy of TTL Inc. Photo: Courtesy of TTL Inc. Reading incentive mentor program sponsored by TTL Inc. has boosted student performance, says President McClure. Committed employees at TTL Inc. not only have helped raise stubbornly low reading test scores in several Southern-area elementary schools, they also have sharpened their firm’s connection to local clients and