NAIT construction program receives scholarship funding to help labour industry
Posted October 18, 2022 8:04 pm.
One Alberta home-building company says they’re facing the largest construction challenges right now. Housing demand is up, but there aren’t enough workers. But an announcement at NAIT Tuesday hopes to change that.
To address the labour shortage, the homebuilding community has started the BILD Alberta Scholarships for Construction Careers with a goal of $15 million to turn 3,000 students into journeymen to fill the void.
“The construction industry has really been hit hard by significant labour shortages and the job vacancy rate in our industry has been climbing at an alarming rate since basically 2020,” explained Jay Westman, Chair & CEO of Jayman BUILT & JWI Investments.
Jay Westman, Chair & CEO of Jayman BUILT and JWI Investments. (Photo Credit: Sarah Chew, CityNews)
“What happened is our construction time started to move to eight months to ten months to 12 months and now to 14 months. And as a second generation homebuilder – here and 43 years in Jayman and my dad 40 some years – we’ve never seen anything like that in our history.”
The hope is to make the cost less daunting for students considering the in-demand career.
“These scholarships are going to mean so much to our students because it’s expensive to go to school,” said Laura Jo Gunter, NAIT President & CEO. “So just to be able to help them with their tuition and their living expenses so they can concentrate on their careers – it’s going to be fantastic.”
NAIT students say they’ve been able to land jobs pretty quickly through their programs- and they’re eager for others to follow suit
“I encourage all my friends that are females to go for it, try it out. If you don’t like it, it doesn’t hurt to try something different,” said Jesse Lynes, a second-year glazier student at NAIT.
Jesse Lynes, Second year glazier student at NAIT. (Photo Credit: Sarah Chew, CityNews)
Nicholas Vinci, a second-year electrical installations technology student at NAIT adding, “It’s a good line of work. You’ll make a lot more money than you think you will.”
The scholarships will go to students pursuing residential construction careers like carpentry, plumbing, electrician and more.
