and then a part pops out,” Oxenham says. “And the kids are
like, ‘Oh my God, I just made this. I can do this.’”
Folsom Cordova and other districts also are coordi-
nating with community colleges to create seamless career
paths. Those who pass the second of Folsom High’s two
product innovation courses will earn credit toward a degree
in Sierra College’s advanced manufacturing program or in
welding programs at two of the four Los Rios Community
College District schools, says Caddell.
One Los Rios school, American River College, also is
making dual enrollment efforts possible in a few other dis-
tricts, offering high school students access to college-lev-
el career tech classes and credit toward certificates or de-
grees in automotive repair, diesel technology and the like.
Students get a blueprint for turning the coursework into a
career. “We constantly bring in people from industry who
let them know if they continue on this path, there are amaz-
ing careers ahead of them,” says Frank Kobayashi, associate
vice president of workforce development at ARC.
Oxenham, who is solicited for advice on regional school
middle-skills initiatives, says it’s too soon to tell how suc-
cessful efforts will be to market manufacturing careers to
youth and their parents. “Right now, there’s not a pipeline of
these people coming out because that shift hasn’t happened
on the front end,” he says.
There’s one positive sign in the community college sys-
tem. Starting in 2016, the state began putting $200 million
to $250 million annually toward upgrading career technical
education, and one goal is to boost by 20 percent by 2022 the
number of students who receive training for high-demand
jobs. For the Los Rios district, that’s meant new welding bays
and better instructional labs, says Kobayashi. In blue-collar
tech education, Los Rios almost has hit the enrollment goal;
the number of students in their industrial technology pro-
grams is more than 5,000, a 19-percent increase in the last
three years, according to the district.
INDUSTRY IN A HURRY
For all of that promise, area companies aren’t waiting around
to see if educational investments make a dent.
In April 2018, Siemens Mobility, Tri Tool, Garner Products
and other companies formed a leadership team to kick off the
Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative. By October, an
SVMI workforce committee offered a six-week pre-appren-
ticeship boot camp on CNC machining that attracted 14 par-
ticipants, most in their mid-30s. Instructors were provided by
several companies, including Garner Products, the data se-
curity equipment manufacturer. The payoff was immediate:
The company hired one of the course graduates in its machine
shop who’s done an “awesome job,” says Stofan.
Wages for Blue-Collar Workers in
the Sacramento region 2004-2018
2004 average
hourly wage 2018 average
hourly wage
CNC Operator 17.86 21.78
CNC programmer 29.35 28.11
Machinist 17.75 24.22
Tool and die maker 17.01 24.54
Welder 14.21 20.85
Bricklayer/blocklayer 22.16 31.59
Carpenter 21.03 26.25
Drywall installer 16.12 28.77
Electrician 21.76 34.61
HVAC mechanic/installer 22.06 24.45
Heavy equipment operator 18.77 32.63
Plumber 19.29 29.05
Roofer 18.47 25.01
Painter 14.83 20.66
Ironworker 20.06 25.84
JOB
source : california employment development department
SVMI, which now has 35 member companies, also is on an
outreach blitz that includes company visits to high schools,
student tours of facilities, booths at community events and
skills training for high-school industrial arts teachers. SVMI
members are on high school and community college career
tech-ed advisory committees, and SVMI Vice President Joe
Wernette has advised the Folsom Cordova district on CNC ma-
chine purchases, says Caddell.
Residential construction’s skills crisis is a few years older,
as are the industry’s efforts. The recession cut the workforce
in the Sacramento metro region by 30,000 people from 2007
to 2011, and many left for good. The region’s dire shortage of
housing makes it urgent to ramp back up. Because contractors
were continually hiring away from one another, the North-
state Building Industry Foundation launched a campaign in
2016 to get 5,000 new residential construction workers on the
job by 2021.
That led to a flurry of training and marketing activities.
In the effort’s first year, participating companies provided
82 home-building internships to high school juniors and se-
niors, and four companies led 24 after-school workshops for
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