Demand for BEAD-Related Workers Out of Whack With Availability
The demand for broadband infrastructure deployment job applicants and the supply of people trained in those fiber installation and construction fields are misaligned to a concerning degree, industry and educational experts warn. Some fear that companies will post many job openings at once, as BEAD money starts flowing to subgrantees, Lindsey Ekstrand, Youngstown (Ohio) State University director-workforce education programs, said. "No one is going to be ready for that," she warned during a Wireless Infrastructure Association event Thursday.
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Industry "is not hiring" now, even as training programs are starting to produce trained and certified workers, Ekstrand said. There needs to be better communication between industry and educators about what workforce skills will be needed. "You know what's coming -- let us know" so educational institutions can help with planning, she told the industry audience.
Perry Gregory, senior vice president, National Center for Urban Solutions, said there needs to be better forecasting of when hiring is happening, so the timing of training programs can be better aligned. Gregory's organization conducts outreach about broadband career opportunities.
BroadbandOhio Chief Peter Voderberg said the state began thinking about broadband workforce needs in 2021, when the legislature approved a $20 million residential broadband extension grant program. The state's priority is that Ohioans land the jobs extending coverage to unserved and underserved areas. Ohio, he said, is concerned that BEAD will push states to poach other states' broadband workforce rather than grow their own. He said every state needs workforce plans or "everyone [is] going to the highest bidder."
While a growing number of educational institutions are starting to fill the pipeline of trained and certified people in broadband fields, "it's not enough," said Shane Matthews, director-training and development for Indiana utility and telecommunications infrastructure firm ElectriCom. He said ElectriCom has instituted an in-house apprenticeship program and does unconventional outreach. "You're not going to go to LinkedIn and find a workforce," he said.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the FCC might have levers to pull to ensure the adequacy of tower crew wages, but didn't elaborate. He said the agency must look at ways "the FCC can be a friend to the tower techs, the linemen." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the FCC can use its role as "convener" of other agencies to help tackle broadband workforce issues. The agency's 5G Fund also could be a tool, he added, but didn't elaborate.
Pole permitting is becoming a deployment impediment, Voderberg said. The state's $250 million broadband expansion grant program resulted in American Electric Power operations in Ohio in three months receiving more permit applications than it had in the prior three years, and BEAD promises to generate vastly more applications. The backlog of pole attachment applications in Ohio due to the state program is leading to a slowdown of work, he added.