As graduation nears, future job markets are on the minds of many high school seniors.
A recent report by consumer consumer finance site Wallet Hub states welding ranks as one of the worst entry-level jobs however Diana Spann with the Peninsula Job Center disagrees.
Spann: “Welders are really paid well and welders are very valued in the oil field. For job shadows I personally took two of the juniors out to Peak and they were job shadowing welders and so they were in the welding shop with them and got to be with them for a half a day like what they do with the job shadow and they came out so pumped.”
Perhaps the danger of the field lowers the desirability, as the report states that welders are ranked 107 out of 109 in the category of ‘Most Dangerous Jobs’.
Spann said the Kenai Construction Academy is using new technologies in welding training.
Spann: “He has a welding simulator, what that does is like a game almost that they can be welding, it’s just like welding but they are not burning the rod so that it’s more efficient and they can learn faster and then when they actually go to test and do burn the rod they waste less materials. It’s a great practice tool for them.”
The top entry level job was reported to be a Web Applications Developer, followed by Information Security Analyst while the most job openings were reported to be Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Software Engineer.
To read the entire report, click here.