Electrician or plumber

[nicet4]

Originally Posted by desert sun

Do you know of anywhere like this or why its like this?

Cost of training.

In my field the first year of training can easily exceed $50,000 before any benefit whatsoever is returned to the company.

I will pay $10/hr which makes the trainee feel used and abused. He isn't but that is what he will feel.

Right out of the box I have to purchase a high end computer system and an expensive program which will cost somewhere around $18,000. This is the first week a trainee starts.

Pay will be $20,000 for the year and with payroll taxes, workers comp (construction is not cheap like an office) and medical insurance the direct cost will easily exceed $28,000 for the first year.

Then there is my time involved in the training and it is extensive. In the first month I can see 50% of my time involved in training dropping to 25% the second month and 10% to 20% the following 10 months. Meanwhile I don't get perform for the company like I should.

And after the first year what happens to the investment if the trainee decides to jump ship just as he is starting to return some value, I just eat the $50,000?

Nope, not going to take any chance with that much money.

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by Nudetypist

Here in NYC, electricians are overcrowded. The union electricians have mandatory furlough, so they don't even get to work 52 weeks out of the year. And if you get laid off, you'll be on the bottom of the list for 40 weeks minimum. But that's just NYC, not sure about other places.

Probably true almost anywhere. Construction is just about dead, and during the good years it employed many electricians.