While jobs look meek across the nation, for once in Cleveland we’re bucking the trend.
Right here at home there’s a silver lining: Cleveland Construction is booming!
Today we met two dozen young men carefully selected by people in their trade for an apprenticeship program.
Jeremiah Emmett from Geneva has a wife and two kids to support. He says, “Cleveland is booming right now. If you’re looking to get into the trade. Now is the time to do it. A few years ago you really had to battle for work.”
But here in Cleveland with projects like the Inner Belt Bridge, the East Bank of the Flats, the new Medical Mart and Convention Center, this city has become a city where other construction workers wish they could be.
“It just seems like dollars are moving through Cleveland, people are willing to invest here for growth,” said Dan Beckett with Iron Workers Local 17.
Unlike the rest of the country, people who work in construction here have work. In other places, the number of construction jobs is at its lowest since 1946.
Beckett is a business agent for the Iron Workers Local 17. His phone has been ringing off the hook from iron workers around the country looking for a job.
“Last summer we had quite a few individuals from Kansas City, Alabama and the Carolinas,” he said.
But what happens when the big projects going on here right now are complete? The hope of people like Emmett and his fellow iron workers is that the growth will be contagious and continue.
“I know from experience that saying feast or famine didn’t come from no where, I’ve been there.”
http://www.19actionnews.com/story/18678722/construction-business-booming-in-cleveland
Article Courtesy of WOIO 19 Action News
