GOSHEN — As Donald Trump's presidential administration puts an increasing emphasis on bringing manufacturing back to the United States, the welding industry has found itself with a shortage of steady hands on the stick.
From stick welding to mig and tig, the country is feeling the pinch of a welder shortage, according to Ivy Tech Welding instructor and Certified Welding Inspector Edward Sexton, who said the problem is multi-layered.
The reasons why not as many people are going into welding as a profession relate to money, stigma and the trend in what a career job is in the United States, he said.
“The industry has as a shortage because all the kids are now going to school to get a job on a computer,” said Sexton. “It’s quick, easy money to be able to get into that no problem.”
He added that most people don’t see welding — a traditionally “blue collar” job — as a lucrative career. When one thinks of high-paying professions, suit-and-tie professions come to mind much more readily than a job in which one works with one’s hands.
But Sexton said the money available to a trained welder can easily rival any profession a “white collar” job can provide, the only difference being welding is physical and hands-on.
“They don’t see it as a big money-making opportunity, but in reality it is if you get into the right fields of welding,” he said.