‘A good, viable option’: More women are choosing to work in the trades for better pay and benefits

Taylor Diaz of Marengo was recently up in a ceiling running piping to encase electric wiring in a newly constructed commercial building in Huntley.

The 28-year-old married mother of two young children works for Lauderdale Electric in East Dundee. She is a journeyman wireman with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 117 and — despite traditional terms like “brotherhood” and “journeyman” — she is among a growing number of women entering the trades.

“Women are seeing the trades, especially union trades, as a good, viable option,” said Josh Sajtar of Sleepy Hollow. Sajtar is a member of the union’s executive board and training director in charge of apprenticeships. “They have the opportunity to get paid the same as their male counterparts when performing the same work.”

According to Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2023 the number of women working in the trades reached the highest level ever — 363,651 working in construction and extraction occupations.

Since 2018, the number of tradeswomen increased by more than 80,000, a growth of 28.3%. Construction careers are attracting an increasing number of women, the institute says.

When Diaz was about 23 and working in the Stryker factory in Cary, she was asked by a union electrician if she wanted to be an apprentice and learn how to do electrical work.

She already had an associate degree from Rock Valley College in Rockford, where she said she attended primarily to play softball. But she didn’t really know what she wanted to do for a career. Diaz said she thought she wanted to go to McHenry County College and become a paramedic, but that didn’t pan out. She knew she wanted to work with her hands, so when the opportunity arose to be an apprentice, she took it.

“It’s been nothing but a positive experience for me,” she said. “You learn every single day.”

Diaz spent five years training on various job sites, receiving positive feedback and support from her male counterparts. She worked, earned an income and had health benefits and a pension from Day 1. She attended night classes twice a week.

Additionally, her training and schooling are free, paid for by the union, Sajtar said.

The electricians union offers two apprenticeship programs, inside wireman for electricians and telecommunications installer technician for low voltage communications techs, Sajtar said. The inside wireman program is the five-year apprenticeship that Diaz was in.

Sajtar said starting pay for an apprentice in the inside wireman program is $22.40 an hour on the check, but about $37 with pension, health care, and other benefits figured in. After the apprenticeship, a journeyman makes about $56 an hour, or about $100 with benefits, Sajtar said.

Wages for an apprentice in the three-year telecommunications installer technician program start at about $21 an hour, or $34.45 with pension and benefits, with post-apprenticeship pay about $46 an hour and close to $82 with benefits. There are six pay rates through each apprenticeship, with raises coming based on hours worked and coursework completed, Sajtar said.

Other trades provide roughly the same pay scale, according to the Construction Industry Service Corporation website.

Sajtar, who has three children, said he encourages each of them to enter the trades, but especially his daughter. Having worked in the field since 1997, Sajtar said he’s seen people switch to careers in the trades after failing to find well-paying white-collar jobs with pensions and benefits, despite having college degrees. In recent years, this includes more women.

“I am seeing more and more interest. It is more a matter of people being aware of the opportunity and not afraid to take that leap,” he said.

Women, in a typically male-dominated industry, “have to perform better because they are scrutinized more,” he added.

Still, Sajtar encourages women who are interested to consider the trades.

Tom McGee of Hampshire, dean of manufacturing and advanced technology at MCC, said the uptick in men and women getting into the trades led to construction of the new Foglia Center that opened at the main campus in Crystal Lake in 2024.

The nearly $30 million center offers nine associate degrees and 39 certificates at costs much less than a four-year college, McGee said.

In-district costs for a two-year degree are $9,300 and $21,000 for out-of-district students.

In planning for the 45,000-square-feet center, McGee said MCC sat down with 100 local companies to learn what they needed most. The response was more skilled trades workers. There has been a decline in decades past of people going into the trades, and companies need to replace retiring workers, creating the current demand for skilled labor, McGee said.

Programs offered include architectural and engineering design technology; automation, robotics and mechatronics; construction management; engineering technology; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; industrial maintenance; industrial management and technology; precision machining; and welding and fabrication.

The programs are “employer-driven curriculum” that provide hands-on experience, MCC precision machining instructor Tom Pleuger said in a recent news story.

Those applying for the programs are a mix of high school students and recent high school graduates, as well as older, returning students, McGee said.

“There is no rhyme or reason to it, people in different walks of life just starting out or looking for a new career, due to a change in their current job or dissatisfaction in current job,” McGee said.

The COVID-19 pandemic also played a role in the shift.

“Through COVID, people had their eyes opened to the cost of a four-year degree verses a potential income. … The future, I think we are going to see a far more diversified workforce,” McGee said.