[mywittyname]

Housing collapse.

You had vast swaths of experienced tradesman that were out of work, essentially, overnight. If you're ~23-28 years old, then you graduated at a time where there were literally no open positions in the construction industry, so you never had the opportunity to get into it. And if you're 29-35, you probably found a different career during the turmoil and never came back.

I saw this a lot first-hand. Any friends that graduated to become tradesman all switched careers, joined the military, or went to college during the 09-10. Being in their early 20s meant they were first in line for the cuts.

Not directed at you but I'm really surprised when I hear people say, "young aren't interested in trades." As if they seriously never connected the dots between "trade jobs disappeared" and "lack of people in trades".