MARINETTE, Wis. — It didn’t take Hazel Knutson long to figure out in high school that she liked welding.
She stuck with it and is now a welding student at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Marinette, Wis.
“I think it’s so interesting getting in there and you’re melting the metal together,” Knutson said. “It’s just fascinating.”
Knutson said there are open welding jobs close to home with opportunities to build everything from Navy ships to helicopters and pressure vessels.
“I looked at the jobs in welding and there are just so many opportunities,” Knutson said. “Just in Marinette alone, there’s Johnson Controls, Samuel, Enstrom, Marinette Marine, Waupaca. There are so many jobs right in this town that I could easily go into and have a steady career.”
Shipbuilding has a long history in the area. Workers at Fincantieri Marinette Marine are building some of the Navy’s newest ships.
It’s one of the businesses working with NWTC to train new and existing workers in the region to help fill employment needs. NWTC has had about 500 students graduate from its welding program over the past five years.
Dale Lange hears from employers regularly about the need for welders. He’s the district director for the American Welding Society, covering most of Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan.
“A lot of the welders a couple of years ago were about 54-years-of-age,” he said. “That age has now increased higher. There’s a demand for new people to come into this field.”
NWTC said during the 2022-23 school year, about 81% of welding graduates found jobs right away. The school said that number has likely increased.
Lange said the need for welders isn’t just here in Wisconsin, either.
“We’re no different than the rest of the United States,” he said. “One of the big topics we cover at our board meetings is how do we improve the number of welders we can get into our industries. Not just welders, but the high-skilled people, the high-skilled welders, the high-skilled fabricators.”
Knutson sees her chosen career as a mix of technical skills, problem solving and art. She wants to learn all she can about welding, not just in school, but in a career.
“I really just want experience in every type of welding,” Knutson said. “I just want to learn so much more still.”
