SOMERSWORTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, May 31: It’s not quite fly fishing or hiking, but welding is the latest merit badge Boy Scouts can earn – part of a full-court press to attract fresh talent to the critical occupation.
More than 140,000 new welders will be needed by 2019 to replace retirees and meet rising demand from natural gas drillers, steel producers, automakers and more, according to the American Welding Society (AWS).
The group helped the Boy Scouts of America award its first welding merit badge in March, hoping to offset waning interest in welding due to a cultural focus on four-year liberal arts degrees at the expense of community colleges and trade schools, industry experts say.
“The Scouts start realizing that welding could lead to a viable career,” said Sam Gentry of the AWS. “It’s not just something to fix a fence.”
Among the roughly 450,000 U.S. Welders, the average age is 55, and fewer than 20 percent are under the age of 35, according to AWS data.
Starting pay for welders is $45,000 per year. Welding engineers – those with advanced degrees – typically have a starting annual salary of $100,000.
Contrast that with the median US annual household income of 49,445 dollars, according to the Census Bureau.
Welding, though, is not the cushiest job.
The roughly 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit needed to weld, the sparks, and the painstakingly slow process – it can take hours to weld only a few feet – do little to endear this skilled trade to notoriously impatient youth.
Some older welders have delayed retirement because of the weak economy, prompting concern that when they finally decide to hang up their welding guns, there won’t be enough younger welders to replace them, said Kelly Zelesnik, dean of engineering technologies at Lorain County Community College in northeastern Ohio.
“The fear is that we’re going to lose a lot of talented welders and welding technicians and not have anyone to back-fill the jobs,” she said.
In addition to the Boy Scouts partnership, the AWS has boosted the amount in scholarships it doles out each year.
It also built a $500,000 trailer equipped with “virtual” welding machines with the help of Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc . Last weekend, the machine made a pit stop at the Indianapolis 500 car race to tout the welding profession to young auto fans.
The machines mimic the touch, sight and sound of the welding process – everything except the pungent smell of smoke from molten metal, known as a fume plume.
There are several types of welding, but generally the process involves using a gas-powered heat torch to combine two pieces of metal by melting another piece of metal – usually in wire or stick form – between them. (agencies)
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