To keep the lights on across Oregon, you need skilled workers who know how to move electrical lines safely. Utility companies have been reporting a worrying shortage of skilled lineworkers—people who know how to install and maintain power lines or telecommunication cables. Demand for those skills is increasing even as more line workers retire than are entering the workforce.
“The West Coast doesn’t have enough line schools to meet the demand,” said Doug Dalton, president of Baker Technical Institute. To enter the field, people need to go to line school before they can get an apprenticeship and begin work. With so few schools available, people who wanted to become lineworkers had to relocate and travel long distances, which was difficult for students who came from rural areas.
Baker Technical Institute partnered with Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative to launch APEX Elite Line Academy, a new program focused on enrolling students from rural Oregon and nearby states. Lineworkers are desperately needed in Oregon. Importantly, it’s a field where people in rural areas can make a family wage without having to leave their community. A grant from the Roundhouse Foundation helped APEX procure necessary equipment and other supplies.
APEX wants to make training accessible to students but also improve the quality of its graduates. Line work is well paid but involves working around risks like high voltage and heights. The school will offer additional certifications in specialties like heavy machinery operation while keeping a focus on safety in its instruction. “A lot of times these rural students thrive in smaller cohorts with hands-on learning and other students who come from where they come from,” Dalton said. As a result, APEX is intentionally keeping enrollment low, at about 35-40 people per cohort compared to as many as 300 in other line schools.
APEX’s first class will graduate in November 2026. Some students always wanted to be line workers, while others were drawn to the trades and settled on this one.
“It’s one of the highest-paying skilled trades there is,” Dalton said. In rural Oregon, where the poverty rate is over 16 percent, giving people the ability to access jobs like this is vital. “You can get jobs anywhere with these skills,” Dalton said, even close to home.
