More than 500 high school students attended the Oregon Department of Transportation's annual Construction and Utilities Career Day in early May, an event designed to afford students the opportunity to operate heavy equipment in a controlled, safe environment and talk one-on-one with contractors, utilities, state agencies, two- and four-year colleges and trade apprenticeship programs.
"As of today there are 7 million jobs that are unfilled — we don't have enough people to fill the jobs that you will see today," an Oregon DOT spokesman noted at the event. "There is just so much opportunity at this agency."
