October 9, 2007 1:57 PM

Needed: boat builders
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 1:57 PM

Today's Globe reports on the famed boat builders along Maine's coast - and how their 400-year old industry is in trouble due to a severe shortage of skilled workers:

...[T]he future of [Maine's] storied boat building trade, a proud tradition here for four centuries, is in jeopardy, industry leaders say, because of a critical breakdown in the supply of skilled labor. Maine's small, aging population is part of the problem. So is the remote geography of its coastline, which makes it hard to recruit employees from other places. Homegrown labor is also hard to find, as more young people leave the state for college or to find work.

And so it goes, another story of the movement from the hand-crafts, manufacturing, and industrial, goods-making economy to the service economy of today.

But the state is not sitting still and has taken a number of steps to address the concern:

To change perceptions and attract workers, a coalition of concerned organizations is establishing scholarships, beefing up apprenticeships, boosting the industry's visibility at career fairs, and offering tuition reimbursement to employers who send workers for advanced training. Supported by a $15 million federal grant for economic development, the groups are also developing a boat building curriculum and training instructors around the state to teach it, in hope of permanently widening the labor pipeline.

Part of the problem, industry insiders and state officials admit, is that they are battling the broader perception that all hands-on, blue collar work is not attractive these days as a longer-term career option:

A partner in the state's recruitment project, the 29-year-old boat building school [The Landing School in Arundel] is sending teachers to train new instructors in far-flung parts of Maine. And in a bid to attract students who are drawn to boat building, but also to college, school leaders will ask the state Legislature to approve the school's first two-year, associate's degree program in boat building.

Read the full piece.