TheFabricator.com and The WELDER Magazine
Josh Welton is endlessly grateful to the editors at FMA for publishing his articles on this topic.
https://www.thefabricator.com/author/josh-welton
Playing With Fire: The welding trade pays well, eventually
A manufacturing career can look less appealing when it requires years of personal financial risk before it pays off
April 9, 2026
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/blog/arcwelding/the-welding-trade-pays-well-eventually-1
Playing with Fire: Assume young people don’t want to work? Here’s the truth
November 13, 2024
Proper compensation, flexibility, respect lead to happy employees of all ages
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/blog/shopmanagement/assume-young-people-dont-want-to-work-heres-the-truth
Playing With Fire: A challenge to metal fabrication’s skills gap conversation
Revisiting the need to address the true labor problems facing the manufacturing sector
August 29, 2023
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/article/shopmanagement/playing-with-fire-a-challenge-to-metal-fabrications-skills-gap-conversation
Future Welders: What to know about welding as a career
February 3, 2023 (*Originally published December 5, 2018)
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/article/arcwelding/future-welders-what-to-know-about-welding-as-a-career
Playing With Fire: The skilled trades need more truth, fewer fairy tales
Manufacturing industry as a whole, and the individuals in it, would benefit from facts
August 8, 2021
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/article/arcwelding/playing-with-fire-the-skilled-trades-need-more-truth-fewer-fairy-tales
Manufacturing is facing a wage gap, not a skills gap
If unemployment rate is at or above real wage growth, skills gap doesn’t qualify
January 14, 2020
https://www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/blog/shopmanagement/manufacturing-is-facing-a-wage-gap-not-a-skills-gap
To tackle failing U.S. infrastructure requires an ‘Arsenal of Recovery’
Long-term infrastructure recovery plan requires investment into skilled workers
August 5, 2020
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/article/arcwelding/to-tackle-failing-us-infrastructure-requires-an-arsenal-of-recovery-1
Interview with Anna Waldman-Brown, MIT Researcher
A discussion about how wages, automation, and perception are affecting careers in welding
August 28, 2023 – Josh and Darla Welton
Part 1: https://www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/blog/shopmanagement/mit-researcher-on-the-welder-skills-gap-vs-pay-gap-debate
Part 2: https://www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/blog/shopmanagement/what-automation-ai-and-other-tech-mean-for-welding-careers
*Filling the information gap when discussing the skills gap
by Dan Davis, editor-in-chief, The Fabricator, October 19, 2018
Honesty is needed when talking about career opportunities in manufacturing (Encourages readers to keep up with Josh’s writing on the subject)
https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/blog/arcwelding/filling-the-information-gap-when-discussing-the-skills-gap