ERLANGER, Ky. — A new Kentucky bill signed into law will establish dual credit education opportunities for aspiring professionals in the licensed construction trades.
A leader at one northern Kentucky trade school said this will empower students to earn credits while gaining hands-on experience essential for success in their chosen fields.
The Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky has been operating the Enzweiler Building Institute for more than 50 years. In that time, it has produced countless trained tradespeople in skilled construction trades.
Executive Vice President Brian Miller said, during his time, he’s seen the conversation about trades start to shift.
“It used to be that construction careers were more like a wasteland. It’s where you put the problem people. It’s where you put folks that did not succeed in that model that I think we’ve failed our nation at in the last couple of decades, that college is the only pathway toward success,” Miller said. “10 years ago we would have a young person drag their parents in and say I really want to do construction trades, and the parents would say no, no college is the only way that you’re gonna be able to make it. Now we’re seeing that dynamic change a little bit.”
Miller said enrollment is at an all-time high, and people who go into construction are making more.
“We’ve seen those wages rise somewhere between 16 to 22% in the last five years,” he said.
Miller said the average age of a construction worker in the area is about 58 years old, and many are starting to retire, so there’s a great need.
In late March, Gov. Andy Beshear signed a bill empowering students pursuing careers in licensed trades like electric, plumbing and HVAC to enroll in dual credit courses and more easily transition from the classroom to the workforce.
Miller said it will give them an edge in the job market.
“So we’re shortening up and making it more affordable as education partners across the field to create a pathway that costs less, that goes faster,” Miller said. “College is great, but it’s not right for everyone. And so as a community, as a nation in the last few years, we believe we’ve overemphasized college, and have not been able to match up people’s want in particular careers or their style of learning, we haven’t done a great job matching those folks up with the careers that would be best suited for them.”
He said he’s excited to see more people take advantage of opportunities they might’ve not previously considered.
State Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, sponsored the legislation, and State Rep. Kim Banta, R-Ft. Mitchell, carried the bill in the house of representatives.