BARAGA COUNTY – According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 14 of the 20 fastest-growing occupations in the United States require an associate’s degree or less.

“The number of skilled trade jobs (are) up from 2013 by 185,000,” Shawn Kolbus, Career and Technical Education (CTE) director of Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District. “We have a slightly higher concentration of skilled-trade jobs employment. Our skilled-trade occupations – have a union, hourly wages (average) of $20.66, which is above median for all occupations.”

Kolbus said skilled-trade workers are in high demand, and that the state is now focusing on CTE and the students who will graduate from those programs and fill a lot of the gaps in the employment market.

“Short-term projections call for a 5.6 percent increase. Long-term, 15.9 through 2022,” Kolbus said.

Express Employment Professionals, a staffing provider in the U.S., Canada and South Africa, has a primary objective to help job seekers find work and businesses to find qualified employees. The company conducted some research on the need of CTE programs in the United Stated.

A 2013 survey of Express Employment Professionals franchises revealed the top 10 jobs that are hardest for Express offices to fill. The results validated the BLS findings, according to the survey.

Employers are having a hard time filling many jobs that require CTE credentials. The survey is contained in the staffing agency’s “The Hard Truth About Higher Education: An Express Employment Professionals White Paper: A Comparison of Higher Education Options.”

According to the Express survey, the top hardest jobs to fill due to lack of qualified, skilled workers are CNC programmers, (manufacturing engineers), welders, machinists, accounting (accountant, auditor, accounts receivable/payable), sales, commercial-licensed drivers, information technology (technician, web designer, programmer), engineers, medical professionals and administrative skills (office manager, administrative assistants, bookkeeper, payroll specialist).

The Express survey results are similar to those of a survey currently being conducted by George Stockero of the Copper Country Intermediate School District.

Stockero’s survey is only being sent to Copper Country businesses.