Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 3, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 15 SPECIAL SERIES By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com B obby Minor, a 19-year-old from Enfield, has the mak- ings of an up-and-coming apprentice at Man- chester's Spartan Aerospace with a good future in manufacturing: bright, dependable, eager to learn and build himself a career. Indeed, Spartan engineering man- ager Lionel Andújar sees a lot of himself in Minor, a graduate of Manchester's Horace Cheney Technical High School. Decades earlier, Andújar landed an ap- prentice job with an aeroparts maker soon after arriving in Connecticut from his native Puerto Rico, where he had trained to be an auto mechanic. "He reminds me of me when I was ap- prenticing,'' said Andújar, whose eager- ness to craft a life-earning skill led him in quick order to supervise the Meriden firm's tool shop. "He has that drive.'' Apprenticeships, the age-old means of transferring the knowledge of man-made technology and technical expertise from one generation to the next, are re-emerging across Con- necticut and the U.S., offering gainful employment and career opportunities to Millennials and others. Connecticut's capital-goods produc- ers, including its leading jet-engine and sub- marine builders and their supply chains, came into 2018 looking to hire some 13,000 workers by the end of this year, according to one estimate. However, that hiring bright spot is tempered by the continued shortage of skilled metalworkers, machinery programmers and operators, design and quality-control engineers, ware- house and tool-shop managers, among many others. With thousands of Connecticut young adults struggling to find their place either through education or em- ployment, apprenticeships have a new sheen, observers say. But forget those images of skills neo- phytes toiling away in smoky, danger- ous shop floors. Not only are modern manufacturing shops cooler and safer, but in the last five years, apprentice- ships have also emerged for aspiring construction workers, electricians, welders, medical coders, and nurses, too. Apprentices and other trainees occupy the lowest rung of the skills- development ladder, with participants advancing through learning and expe- rience to "journeyman,'' then "master'' craftsperson. The process can take time. Ap- prenticeships at Spartan Aero- space, for ex- ample, run 6,000 to 8,000 hours depending on the discipline. Connecticut, from its Colo- nial days when agriculture, black- and gunsmithing and other rudi- mentary metal- working skills predominated, through the Industrial Revolu- tion that gave rise to Colt's firearms and other manu- facturers, has had a storied role in the introduction and evolution of apprenticing. To prevent the abuse of child labor, a former Connecticut labor commis- sioner turned congressman enacted basic training and workplace stan- dards in the '30s to widen apprentice- ships nationwide. Today, Connecticut workforce- development advocates are pushing for an even greater role and impact for apprenticeships. State lawmakers at the end of this year's legislative ses- sion, for example, quietly authorized the state Bond Commission to appropriate $50 million for an "Apprenticeship Connecticut" ini- tiative that would identify and make "job ready'' up to 10,000 un- employed and underemployed residents, rang- ing from teens to middle-agers, authorities say. They would help fill job shortages in manufacturing, health care and construction, but it's unclear if that funding will be greenlighted, es- pecially amid the state's fiscal woes. At the most recent Bond Commission meeting in July, no funding was allocated for the program. Along with money, more attention and focus is being placed, observers say, on facilitating large and small CT Apprenticeships Revival of 'gold standard' workforce-development tool BUILDING CONNECTICUT'S WORKFORCE PIPELINE HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Apprentice Robert "Bobby" Minor (left) and tool-room foreman Lionel Andújar, both of Spartan Aerospace in Manchester, measure an aerospace component. Active U.S. apprentices by industry (FY 2017) Active Industry title apprentices Construction 175,195 Military 89,301 Public administration 23,004 Manufacturing 17,559 Transportation 15,895 Utilities 9,019 Health care and social assistance 2,549 Retail Trade 2,435 Education 2,303 Wholesale trade 2,256 Warehousing 1,690 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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