The CNY NKBA has been invited to this year's Cicero N Syracuse High School Career Day.  Christie Dixon, CKBD, and Aaron Gould, AKBD CLIPP™, will be representing our chapter on October 4th.  

The following reports and charts will encourage students to look into the Design and Construction trades as potential career paths.

Careers in Kitchen & Bath

Scope Out a Career With Exciting Jobs and Great Earning Potential!

Are you a recent graduate or currently in school? Are you creative, hands-on, and do you have a passion for design? Does the thought of sitting behind a desk for the next 40 years gives you the shakes?

Let the National Kitchen and Bath Association help you channel your talents toward exciting career opportunities in the kitchen and bath design and remodeling industry. There are lots of stimulating, creative jobs — and high demand for well-trained, highly skilled professionals — in this lucrative industry.

You can give yourself a big head-start by joining the NKBA as a student member. It’s the best way to get insider info and helpful advice from pros already thriving in the business, and search for an internship or job at the best companies in the business. Put yourself on the fast track to a rewarding career — work for a design firm, in showrooms or clients’ homes, or start your own company.

Looking at the Future

Revenue in the kitchen and bath industry is seven times greater than that of the movie and music recording industries combined — at nearly $150 billion!

And that’s only getting bigger — the demographics are in your favor. There is and will continue to be a high demand for kitchen and bath designers, as the nation’s 75 million Baby Boomers age. This group has the financial wherewithal to remodel their kitchens — more than 36% of empty nesters today opt for kitchen projects — and many will need to redo their baths to accommodate physical limitations as they get older. Baby Boomers may be downsizing to smaller spaces, but they still want great design and creature comforts.

Another growth area is sustainability, with the green movement motivating many homeowners to remodel to reduce electricity and water use — so they’ll need savvy designers and craftsmen who are well-versed in highly efficient systems and products.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

In the past decade, 5 million new professional services positions were added to the economy, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — and more are expected in the years ahead. And kitchen and bath design and remodeling is an employment category that can’t be automated or outsourced. Jobs are on-site and hands-on — and certified kitchen and bath designers carry the credibility to earn more income than non-certified designers.

Required Education

Attending an NKBA-affiliated kitchen and bath design program assures employers that you have specialized knowledge. A growing slate of colleges and universities offer programs that earn the NKBA’s approval.

Considering a New Career?

The Timing Couldn’t be Better for Skilled Trades

The National Kitchen & Bath Association(NKBA) projects kitchen and bath
remodeling and construction is headed for a record year, but a shortfall in
skilled trade workers is preventing it from reaching even greater heights

By Dianne Pogoda | 4.26.2022

Key Takeaways:

 Construction-related industries currently have 380,000 jobs open

 These fields are expected to add nearly 168,000 jobs annually through 2030

 The cost in dollars and time of post-high school training in the trades is a fraction
of a traditional four-year college program

 Trades offers the opportunity to build a career at a decent wage with long-term
job security

The kitchen and bath design industry is one of the few that has not only weathered
the COVID-19 storms but actually thrived over the past two years. There are few signs
of a weakening market but some challenges loom due to labor shortage in the trades.
The NKBA, which serves the design, building and construction, manufacturing, and retail
sales sectors, notes that the kitchen and bath industry is closely tied to the strength of
home construction, sales, and remodeling. Each of these areas represents vital, well-paying career opportunities for anyone possessing skill sets involving problem-solving,
creativity, technological acumen, manual dexterity, or detail orientation.
A career in trades is more than just a job. Individuals are given the opportunity to apply
their strengths and do what they enjoy while at the same time knowing that using their
skills has made a difference in people’s lives. This rings particularly true for kitchen and
bath, as these rooms are central to the lives of virtually every homeowner family.
Drawing on its exclusive research, NKBA projects sales of kitchen and bath products
and services will skyrocket to nearly $200 billion in 2022. That’s a 19 percent increase
over 2021 spending. Unfortunately, there are not enough skilled tradespeople to keep
pace with that strong demand.

It’s a familiar story to most people in the design, construction, and remodeling industry.
For starters, attrition is shrinking the workforce. For every five workers in construction-related fields who retire, only one joins the skilled-trade community.
The pandemic made the situation worse, as millions literally dropped out of the
workforce for numerous reasons. Some retired, some couldn’t juggle child-care
arrangements when schools went remote, some didn’t want to be exposed to potential
health hazards, while others were forced to shutter their businesses because of COVID-related closures.

The so-called Great Resignation took a huge toll on employment in early 2020, and
while many jobs have been recovered, recent figures released by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) show that employers are still looking to fill over 11 million jobs across all
occupations. The construction industry has 380,000 open jobs, accounting for 3 percent
of those vacant positions. Since the projection through 2025 is for zero population
growth among Americans ages 20 to 64, those who make up the primary workforce,
labor issues are going to be a long-term industry challenge.
A major factor holding our industry back through the years has been that the vast
majority of U.S. high schools have pushed traditional four-year college tracks for their
students. One reason is that higher percentages of graduates opting for college earn
the school higher ratings. With fewer students choosing post-high school training in the
trades, there is an even lower likelihood of growing the numbers of
trade professionals, with repercussions translating into construction jobs taking longer to
complete, or even to schedule.

To break that cycle, an awareness is needed that a four-year college track isn’t for
everyone, especially when it comes to costs. Traditional college tuition and fees at a
private school average around $38,000 a year, according to studentloanhero.com. The
in-state rate for tuition and fees at a public institution is about $10,740, while the out-of-state cost is about $27,000. These figures exclude room and board. Student loan debt
in the U.S. stands at $1.75 trillion, spread out among about 46 million borrowers. That’s
about $440 billion more than the total U.S. auto loan debt.

Making matters worse, many recent college graduates are still struggling to find jobs in
their field, yet those loans still have to be paid back. According to Monster.com, nearly
half of 2020 graduates are still looking for work, and are now competing with 2021 grads
and other entry-level workers who were laid off during the pandemic and are trying to
reenter the workforce.

Conversely, at trade schools, average tuition and fees range from about $3,600 to
$14,500 a year, depending on the type of institution and the program chosen. Many
programs can also be completed in two years or less. Plus, many trades offer paid
apprenticeships while students are training. NKBA’s quarterly Kitchen & Bath Market Index, a survey of industry professionals used to determine current conditions and challenges and future prospects for K&B, revealed that builders are busier than ever, with 57 percent anticipating increases in project requests. However, nearly two-thirds said backlogs stand at three months or more. A lack of subcontractor labor is a key factor. This worker crunch resulted in double-digit labor rate increases across 72 percent of building and construction firms in the fourth quarter, with the majority of firms increasing wages by double-digits to attract and maintain employees, another reason why this is a good time to be in the trades.

The BLS projects overall employment of construction laborers and helpers will see a 10-
year growth of seven percent through 2030, with an average of 167,800 openings for
construction laborers and helpers projected each year over the next decade.
The good news for the construction industry is that a growing majority of Gen Z believe
skill-based education makes sense in today’s world, and 30 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds now believe trade school is a better option than college. The challenge is for high
school guidance counselors and parents to take a second look at the opportunities
within trades. With a very favorable supply and demand equation for the foreseeable
future, decent wages, and long-term security in construction-related fields, not to
mention the potential of becoming business owners after gaining the necessary
experience, students should be encouraged to consider these lucrative skilled career
opportunities. —-----

Sources:
NKBA John Burns Kitchen & Bath Market Index, 4Q 2021
NKBA 2022 Kitchen and Bath Market Outlook
John Burns Real Estate Consulting
National Association of Realtors
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook
Monster.com

The Council looks forward to cooperating in many more of these activities in the near future.