Pilot Program at Minnesota school addresses coming labor shortage

Filed under Skilled Trades Shortage, Trades Training Programs

There is a new pilot program in play in northern Minnesota that sounds like a good fit for the International Falls school district. It’d intended to address the coming shortage of skilled labor that is sure to hit this and other areas in the coming years. Called the Applied Learning Initiative, the program is meant to increase the skilled labor in the area as well as creating many new technical programs at community colleges in the region. In Phase I of the program, courses in automotive, industrial technology, pre-engineering, health care and carpentry will be introduced. Phase II will add coursework in building trades, management and entrepreneurship.

As with so many other areas, the state of Minnesota foresees a shortage of skilled labor as approximately half of the workforce will reach retirement age within the next ten years. Couple that with the fact that most schools still push people into university or computer-related careers and there is likely to be a serious shortage. In the International Falls area, there are currently more than $5 billion in projects underway requiring skilled workers – including 2,000 full-time and many more thousand part-time or contract workers.

The program was initiated by International Falls Superintendent Don Langan along with Ladd Kocinski, an instructor in building trades at the Falls school. Tell us what’s happening in your area by clicking on the contact button at the bottom of this page.