(Cracking the Code with Greg Kozera - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Last week, Lynnda and I watched a program on News Nation hosted by Chris Cuomo and Mike Rowe (the “Dirty Jobs” guy). They had guests who discussed alternatives to college like the skilled trades and entrepreneurship.

A person doesn’t need to go to college to have a six- figure income and become a multimillionaire. There are thousands of available jobs that industry is struggling to fill. These require post high school training.

The people on the show made the point that unless someone has a S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and math) related degree – this includes health care – they will struggle to find a good job. The show stated the typical college graduate is earning an average of $52,000 a year to start. Engineers earn more. Bachelor of arts jobs earn less. Most students have debt, on average $37,000 to pay back.

When I was an adjunct professor at Pierpont Community and Technical College, all my second-year students had job offers paying $50,000 to $60,000 to start and no debt. Some are now earning over $100,000 annually. Companies are willing to pay for advanced training and even college for valuable employees.

We have had workforce discussions with companies, educators and labor leaders in the region since I got involved with Shale Crescent USA several years ago. Kids were being encouraged to go to college while skilled trade jobs were going unfilled. The News Nation show confirmed what many of us have known for years – a young person doesn’t need to go to college to have a satisfying career that pays well.

The Parkersburg Marietta Building Trades Council has training programs for apprentices who can earn while they learn a high-paying trade. Washington State, Bridge Valley, West Virginia Northern and other colleges can train students for jobs of the future in two years. Money is important. Finding a career that brings a person accomplishment and happiness is also important.

Learning a skilled trade creates an opportunity for someone to own a business with unlimited income potential. Most of my brothers started in carpentry. They own their own businesses and have built or remodeled incredible homes they are proud of. They have done well financially. My youngest brother spent most of the winter in Palm Springs, Calif., where it was warm.

The program introduced people who now own successful plumbing and HVAC companies. AI (artificial intelligence) may replace a lot of professional jobs, but it won’t replace plumbers, welders, medical technicians, mechanics and others who build and repair things.

Talk has become action. Change is happening, possibly because of the increasing cost of college. High school guidance counselors now understand there are alternatives to four-year college. There is a growing interest in the trades and technical education by young people. Programs to begin career training in high schools are happening. This is important, especially now.

On March 27, Peter Zeihan – best-selling author of four books, geopolitical strategist; global energy, demographic and security expert – spoke at Marietta College. Peter is concerned about climate change. He is also pragmatic. He understands the limits of renewable energy like wind and solar. Like Bill Gates, Zeihan says we will need 50% more electricity than we are using today. This doesn’t include electricity needed to manufacture and power electric vehicles. EVs aren’t the environmental solution people may think because of the amount and type of raw materials required in their manufacture, much of which come from China. Planned new electric power plants aren’t sufficient to meet future needs with the retirements of coal power plants.

In his newsletter this week, Zeihan says, “The natural gas field is the Marcellus and the Utica, and they are dry gas fields where people are after the natural gas rather than the liquids, because they’re using it for fuel in every place from Chicago to Boston to Washington, D.C. And so they need it for electricity. But there are still liquids here, especially in the western parts of the play, which move into, say, Ohio.

“(There) you’re getting a fair percentage of something called natural gas liquids, which in layman’s terms means things like propane and butane. That means that in this part of the country, it’s not just that the natural gas is cheap because the production costs in the Marcellus are very low. … The Utica play (has made Ohio) a world leader in things like high-end plastics, because for them … it’s the propane and such.

“That is a primary feedstock into chemicals specifically for things like plastics. And so, we’re seeing dozens of chemical facilities that do secondary processing popping up in the more populated parts of Ohio, taking advantage of what is basically below-global-cost inputs of things like ethylene, propane, butane and the rest. So here we are in the middle of the continent and we’re suddenly seeing an explosion in industrial activity for something that we normally associate with the Chinese coast, the Persian Gulf or the Texas coast.

“Very different situation, very different geology, very different outcomes.”

Jerry James, Shale Crescent USA co-chair, and Nathan Lord, Shale Crescent president, had the opportunity to meet with Peter in Marietta for a couple of hours to discuss macro level changes driving manufacturing opportunities in the U.S. and Shale Crescent Region. Peter’s message is globalization is over and we are shifting to regionalization. The U.S. industrial base will drastically INCREASE over the next 10 years! It has to in order to make up for the onshoring coming from China and Europe.

As the U.S. industrial base rapidly expands, labor will be a challenge. Our region is showing young people there is opportunity for a high-income satisfying career without a four-year college degree. The greatest opportunity of the Marcellus and Utica has always been to create high-wage manufacturing jobs HERE. For decades coal, timber and other resources were shipped out of our region, creating high-wage manufacturing jobs in other places. Natural gas and NGLs, like Peter stated, are creating high-wage manufacturing jobs HERE now. Thousands have already been created; more are coming.

***

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.