Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine September 2024

HVACR NewsMagazine September 2024

and only 54% of adult men lived to that age. In 1990, 72% of adult men made it to age 65 and then have 15.3 years of remaining life. More news, according to AARP, the Social Security Trust Fund Surplus will be exhausted in 2035 and then recipients will only receive 83% of their entitled benefits. Forbes estimates exhaustion of the excess funds in more like 2032 and you ’ll only receive 76% of the promised payout. Retirees will only receive their fair share of that which workers pay in. Now here is where these two roads come together. What if the number of workers drops like a rock by 2060 — it is going to. If those in retirement depend on the workers to be their direct support without an existing reserve, pardon the expression, “The y up the stream without a paddle. ” So what is the purpose to this article and giving you this distressing information? Fore-warned is fore-armed. This is especially important to our industry. If your Social Security will only be 76% to 83% of that promised, what will you do? Do you think you can crawl around attics and in crawl spaces after you retire. If you are in your 50s and have have been in this trade for 30 years, you know your knees and back are wearing out. You ’ve made some good money but have you given serious thought to retirement? When you look at retirement, will your house be paid for? Will your car be paid for? Will you have a retirement fund giving you some income or at least some cushion money. OK! Anyone can scream at the night or curse the day. We, as an industry, must have a plan to educate our folks and to prepare a career path that includes

retirement. We must stop having jobs and start having careers. A career path includes the beginning, the progression, the attainment, and the retirement. That, my good friends in the HVACR industry, is what apprenticeship will give us. It will cause us to slow down and plan our futures. Not just for the worker but also for the business owner. We all know that this industry is changing so fast as to run off many of our legacy members. So what will we do when they are gone, we are short of help, and even more short of skill? We must give the new generation a path to success which includes, a livable wage based on production, insurance, retirement, and, just as important, respect and pride in ones career. All this will give consumers safe, efficient, effective comfort and refrigeration--the goal of everyone in the HVACR industry. In the next few months, you will hear a lot about apprenticeship. The Association is working with select HVACR college instructors to establish a program that establishes goals, skills, assessment, and attainment. I ’ll never support a program that wastes an appretice ’s time by taking them away from their family for classes without providing them skills that assures them of success. We need an approved program that benefits the apprentice, the business, and ultimately the consumer. So, if you hear about apprenticeship, know this. Right now it is all talk but there is a lot of talk. I don ’t think it is possible to have apprenticeship before 2026 and maybe not that soon. Oh, yes, there are those racing to establish programs that are disconnected and without a basis of specific skills and competency assessment. Stay away. Wait on a word from the Association. We ’ll keep you informed.