Employment prospects for the next several years are very good, and, although not many additional workers will be needed thereafter, the outlook will continue to be good for those already at work in the trade.

Prospects for structural workers are improved by developments in the use of steelwork intended for buildings with light floor loads. There has also been increased recognition of advantages of steel construction in some kinds. of one-story nonresidential buildings. The possibilities of a fairly new type of unconventional design ("rigid frames") are likely to be realized much more fully than in the past.

For ornamental metal work, prospects are likewise good. It is admirably suited to recent trends in architectural design; there has been steady progress in its fabrication; and it is likely to be used more extensively in buildings where cost is an important consideration, because for many uses there is now a fairly wide range of stock and semistock parts (such as extruded mouldings). Strictly utilitarian uses are likely at least to be sustained, if not increased.

8

For many years ornamental metalwork has been used to some degree as an exterior covering on buildings. Within recent years this has consisted mainly of panels for covering the spandrels, but the Equitable Savings and Loan Building (mentioned in the section on bricklayers) established a precedent in having an exterior of ornamental metal rather than masonry above the second-floor level. This is likely to be the forerunner of more extensive use of exterior metalwork, but the effect will be gradual rather than sudden. So great a departure from conventional practice as that embodied in the Equitable case requires revision of building ordinances and is in a field of strong conflicting interests.

Some workers will also be needed to replace those who leave these trades because of death, retirement, or shifting to other kinds of jobs.

Wage Rates and Working Conditions

Minimum wage rates established by collective bargaining agreements for structural iron

8 A spandrel is that part of the exterior wall directly above the head of a window, extending upward to the sill of the corresponding window on the next story.

Workers in the erection crews receive much higher wages than do shop workers. However, structural and ornamental workers in construction are not as steadily employed throughout the year as shop workers. Since there is little maintenance and repair work that they can do during the dull building season, annual earnings usually are low relative to the hourly wage rates.

Accidents are infrequent but in structural work are likely to be quite serious. Safety standards have been greatly improved over those prevalent 25 years ago, and safety measures, such as nets and scaffoldings, are used much more extensively. Nevertheless, it cannot be expected that accidents will be completely prevented. Men occasionally fall from high places, and that is likely to be fatal unless they are stopped by a safety net; men are also occasionally hit by falling objects, and once in a long

Rodmen set the re-enforcing steel for reenforced concrete work of all sorts. Most of this is in the form of steel bars, which, by the time of concrete pouring, must be assembled in proper relation to each other and supported in the forms so that each piece is in the position where it gets the intended structural load. Re-enforcing for round columns usually comes assembled from the plant, but collapsed, and is merely spread out to the proper shape, tied, and then placed inside the column forms. Other bar re-enforcing comes as separate bars, cut to length and bent as necessary at the plant, but not assembled. The rodmen are guided by a drawing on which all re-enforcement is indicated, and the code numbers used for the different pieces are given. They select the pieces, put them together into framelike assemblies for beam or rectangular column re-enforcement, tie all intersections securely with wire, and place these assemblies in the forms on wire supports ("chairs") as necessary. When occasion arises, they weld the pieces together. They assemble the re-enforcing rods for slabs and concrete joists in a somewhat similar manner, but by building up the assembly in the forms. As necessary, they cut and bend the bars, when the shopwork of cut

or incorrectly. Some re-enforcing is in the form of a coarse mesh made of heavy steel wires. The rodmen cut the mesh to the desired size and set it in place with overlapping edges where pieces join.

There are of course many structural uses for "plain" concrete - i.e., concrete without reenforcing steel. These applications provide no employment for rodmen.

This is one of the less highly skilled trades, acquired through a 2-year apprenticeship. It requires dexterity, familiarity with established usage in re-enforced concrete construction, and a full realization of the necessity for assembling the bars accurately, and fastening and supporting them securely so that each will in fact bear the structural load for which is was designed.

Where Employed

Rodmen are employed almost entirely in the contract construction industry. The employers include general contractors for re-enforced concrete buildings, general contractors for other structures (bridges, dams, some types of sewer and water projects, etc.), special trade contractors for re-enforced concrete work, and (in large cities) special trade contractors for the setting of re-enforcing steel. There is no doubt some force-account employment on new construction, and probably a little employment (for utilities, municipal public works departments, etc.) in force-account maintenance, but very few maintenance and repair jobs involve rodmen's employment.

Outlook

Because of the increasing use of re-enforced concrete, the outlook for this trade is good. Seasonal variation in employment is important, however, because almost all re-enforced concrete work is done outdoors and is hindered by cold weather. Employment in many cases is intermittent, because setting of re-enforcing is only one of many activities fitted together in the over-all construction process; in a multistory concrete building, the rodmen are finished when a given floor is ready for pouring and often do not start again until pouring is completed, column and beam forms for the next floor are completed, and floor forms are almost

Outlook Summary

The short-range outlook for boilermakers is fair only, because of continued reduction in railroad employment, as the replacement of steam locomotives by Diesel locomotives continues. The outlook in other employment fields, including construction, is good. Additional journeymen must be trained for this trade before many years, but there must be an adjustment of the number of journeymen to the reduced employment field. Because of the fairly high average age of present journeymen, this adjustment will probably be achieved within a comparatively few years by deaths and retirements, without the necessity for present journeymen to transfer to other occupations.

Nature of Work

Boilermakers constitute mainly a shop rather than a construction occupation and are engaged in the building of ships, barges, etc., and in the manufacture of steam boilers (power, marine, and locomotive, and also low-pressure heating boilers), pressure vessels for industrial uses, some kinds of tanks, and numerous other products. They are employed extensively in maintenance and repair of ships, locomotive and marine boilers, powerhouse boilers, and some kinds of industrial equipment. Construction employment consists mainly of the assembly in place of power boilers too large to be shipped completely assembled, the building of some kinds of tanks, and the building in place of many types of industrial equipment (other than pipe work) operating under pressure or vacuum, particularly for oil refining and other chemical operations, but in other industries as well. Factory manufacture of boilers, tanks, stills, etc. is not regarded as construction employment, although the products are to be used in construction.

Outlook

The outlook for boilermakers' employment in construction is good, but for the present this is overshadowed by the quite poor outlook in building and repair of steam locomotives, and by reduced employment in shipbuilding. This trade is basically in active, healthy condition and should be marked by some degree of ex

Nature of Work

The types of work vary in their requirements of training and skill probably more for operating engineers than for any other trade. These men operate construction machinery of almost all sorts for practically every type of construction: buildings, highways and streets, airfields, sewer and water lines, underground utility work, tunnels and subways, railroad work, bridges, dams, dredging, harbor improvement, and numerous other types. This machinery is used for many purposes, including excavating, grading, and earth-moving; mixing of concrete and other materials; hoisting; loading, unloading, and handling materials; pile driving; rolling of earth and pavement; pumping; and providing of power in the form of compressed air and in other forms. There are many different types of machines. Some are quite complex, requiring coordination of numerous motions motions and controls; others are simpler but require constant active attention; and still others are simple in operation and require infrequent attention. These differences in a sense break the trade into several levels of skill.

Among the machines operated are shovels; pull-shovels; draglines; cranes; derricks; hoists; pile drivers; stationary concrete mixers; paving mixers; bituminous paving mixers and paving machines; numerous types of rollers; trench excavators; elevating graders; "pans" (tractor-drawn scrapers); bulldozers; graders (self-propelled and tractor-drawn); tractors; pumps; and air compressors. In addition, there are many others. For the most part, operators learn their work quite informally and in the course of experience become familiar with a number of kinds of machines; a capable operator can ordinarily learn to handle other machines of the same general types as those on which he is experienced, within a fairly short time. Differences in requirements for operation of the various types of machines are recognized by differences in wage rates, mentioned later. Operators are often known by titles, based on the machines which they are using, as shovelman, craneman, hoistman, etc., but these titles do not indicate separate occupations. The more experienced and capable operators, able to handle a wide range of machines, frequently

when such jobs are available but at other times work on quite different machines. Naturally, the differences in wage rates cause all men who are qualified to confine themselves to the top grade of machines (shovels, cranes, trench excavators, paving mixers, a number of others) as much as possible, and men who are employed on machines carrying lower wage rates want to transfer to the more difficult machines as opportunity affords.

Where Employed

Operating engineers are employed in the construction industry by general building contractors, by special trade contractors (for excavating, steel erection, and other special trade fields), by highway contractors, and by heavy construction contractors for the remaining kinds of nonbuilding work. They also work for utility companies, government bodies (highway departments, public works departments, etc.), and other organizations carrying out their own. construction. In addition they work in many industries not engaged in construction. In some cases the machines and the duties are about the same in these other industries as in construction; operation of a crane to unload cars of coal at a factory or a power plant is very similar to operation of a crane to unload cars of sand or gravel for a påving job. In other cases the machines are the same but the duties rather different; manipulation of the controls for handling heavy assemblies by crane at a factory is the same as for handling heavy objects by crane at a construction job, but the conditions governing the work are different. Still other kinds of jobs have no close equivalents between construction and factory employment, although the coordination of numerous controls make them the same general kind of job.

Wage rates in factory employment are usually much less than in construction, but greater regularity of employment is likely to make annual earnings greater in a number of cases.

Training and Qualifications

In some localities there is a formal apprenticeship for operating engineers, but this arrangement is not general. For machines oper

circumstances for the operator to have a stationary engineer's license. When all machines of any size were driven by steam, possession of a license tended to distinguish journeymen from others. At this stage there was usually a fireman on the larger machines, and many of these men were able to qualify for licenses and to advance to operating engineers. Replacement of steam power started more than 30 years ago, and has been virtually complete for all but a very few types of machines for almost 20 years, so that this means of entrance to the trade has been almost completely closed. Oilers are employed on the larger machines under some circumstances, and some of these men advance to operating machines under some circumstances, and some of these men advance to operating engineers just as firemen did under earlier circumstances.. For the most part, however, entrance has been quite informal; a man with aptitude for machinery and often some relevant experience, such as driving a truck, may get a job operating one of the simpler machines (a pump, an air compressor, a tractor without attachments, etc.) and obtain union membership. As opportunity affords, he may get more exacting jobs (on a bulldozer, a tractor with other power attachments, a roller, various other machines) and then with more experience get a job on one of the top-grade machines.

The jobs vary greatly in their requirements. Some are quite easy, while others require continuous attention throughout the day, with careful timing and accurate coordination of numerous controls. There has been great improvement in grouping the controls for convenience and in reducing the physical work of moving them, but operation of the more complicated machines is strenuous work. Some machines (particularly bulldozers and some types of scrapers) are physically wearing, because of the shaking and jolting which the operator receives all day long.

Pile drivers are the principal machines for which steam is now used, and for which the operator must have a stationary engineer's license in most localities.

Outlook

The long-range outlook is for an increased