re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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It is a fact that especially welders are in very short supply. Many process equipment fabrication companies could have increased business but are at 50% of needed welders. This has been going on for a decade. They are losing orders to Mexico, China, S. Korea, etc... because they cannot find workers build what is needed. It doesn't matter if the company is located in Upstate NY, Oklahoma, or Texas. The problem isn't price point to be competitive either. If you had been to the Morgan City fabrication yards say 2 decades ago, the vast majority of workers were "Mexican". They certainly were in 2008. At a fabrication yard in Butte, MT owned by Texas based major private industrial contractor, Bay Ltd, they had to import welders from India and the Philippines to produce contract volume of just under $1 billion annually for the several years they were building modules for the Canadian oilfields. They couldn't find enough American welders even with pay scales from $220 to $280 per hour depending on level of competency, which was acceptable price point for the buyers in Canada.

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