Working Towards a Stronger Workforce
As more students eye the trades, NGA puts the glass industry front and center
Leading glaziers are facing a variety of challenges this year according to Top 50 Glazier survey responses. Fears around economic slowdown and the cascading challenges of tariffs and higher interest rates are paramount, but one challenge always remains: the skilled labor shortage.
Representatives for Top 50 Glazier Flynn Group of Companies says that they see a lot of potential growth in the year ahead, growth that could be constrained due to the lack of “availability of experienced labor to take advantage of these opportunities.”
To address this industry challenge, NGA is educating students, school educators, and parents about career opportunities in glass and glazing. In early May, I attended the Maryland Center for Construction Education and Innovation’s Construction Career Days, which welcomed 1,100 local high school students to learn about a variety of job opportunities in the trades. NGA partnered with Atmos Solutions—the Association’s glazier apprenticeship sponsor for the Washington, D.C., area—to teach students what glaziers do through hands-on skills activities and educate them about apprenticeship opportunities.
Atmos staff say that nowadays, students are realizing that college is not the only way and that the trades also offer viable careers. Senior Manager of Compliance and Workforce Operations Khalilah Woodland Adams explains that many students are often surprised by, and attracted to, starting salaries for trades apprenticeships. “They get to earn money, learn a skill and they don’t have to have debt.”
In June, NGA also supported the Future Construction Leaders Teen Girls Camp in San Diego, where more than 40 students in grades 9-12 learned about careers in the glass and glazing industry, while participating in fun glass-cutting activities. "We have to reach students early, while they're still picturing what their future could look like. That's when they can see themselves in glass and glazing—a career with real skills, real opportunity and real impact,” says NGA President and CEO Lakisha A. Woods.
Raising awareness of the glass and glazing industry is one piece of the puzzle. Training new entrants to the industry is the other: one that takes time, energy, and funds, which can strain a company’s capacity. While federal workforce programs exist to distribute funds for training, they are often difficult to access, especially for smaller companies that do not have a human resources department to engage with workforce boards.
That’s why NGA staff and leading industry members headed to Capitol Hill in mid-May for the fourth annual Glass & Glazing Advocacy Days to ask Congressional Reps to support more, and more easily accessible, funding of training programs. NGA and industry advocates spoke with Congressional Reps and staff about advancing the Employer-Directed Skills Act, which would give employers direct access to federal training reimbursement for new hires.
Lori Ann Benish, general manager of glazing firm Enclosures Unlimited and a veteran participant in NGA Advocacy Days made it clear how crucial supporting these measures are. “We need that skilled and trained labor to continue glazing.”
