SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – The American Welding Society projects a shortage of more than 300,000 welding professionals in the U.S. by 2029, and local industry leaders say the gap is already widening.
Enrollment down, demand up
Dustin Franklin, program director for Midwest Technical Institute in Springfield, said enrollment in the school’s welding program has dropped from roughly 120 students when he joined six years ago to about 80 at a time now.
“It’s astronomical. So, I mean, we’d love to push 1,000 people through here today, right? And even if we were to do that for the seven, nine months, we still would come up short. I mean, it’s going to take every trade school, everybody who does what we do, like, collectively, just to catch up. I mean, we’re already behind. Like, we should have had 100,000 more people last year,” Franklin said.
Retirement wave threatens the industry
Brian Huff, owner and CEO of Midwest Technical Institute, said many skilled welders are nearing retirement age. He said if those positions are not filled, the industry will face a significant blow once that generation of workers exits the workforce.
Huff said by 2030, millions of jobs will open with no one to fill them…