State is seeking the modern Rosie the Riveter - By Susan Abram, LA Daily News
Retirements of existing workers loom just as federal stimulus money to repair the state's roads and highways, levies and dams, schools and government buildings, becomes available in the next few years.
That means the supply of carpenters, iron workers, equipment operators and masons won't meet the demand unless 200,000 apprentices are in the pipeline.
So a state campaign called ibuiltit.org has aimed its message at mothers, daughters and sisters, hoping to boost the 4 percent share women now have in California construction.
World War II gave the nation Rosie the Riveter. So why, some ask, can't the 21st century have Bridget the Bridge Builder?
'We wanted to target women because the building construction trade is a viable career,' said Renee Bacchini, assistant to the chief at the Division of Apprenticeship Standards in the Department of Industrial Relations.