In the four and a half years I have been covering the trades, one of the most common refrains I’ve heard echoing through every manufacturing facility, warehouse and service van is that good help — or sometimes any help at all — is hard to find.
According to job outlook data for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters provided by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field will grow 12% between 2014 and 2024, far outpacing most other sectors. BLS estimates nearly 50,000 new jobs will be added to the existing 425,000 during that timeframe. Did I mention that the average annual pay for these jobs is more than $50,000?