[tracker1]

There's also plumbing, a/c and electrical work... general repairman stuff, etc. Assuming you're okay working hands on and potentially in more stressful environments (weather).

I'm largely with Mike Rowe on this one... it's been a shame the level that people have not been directed into more vocational fields and the level of skilled labor shortages as a result. Higher education has largely been self-serving, not community serving.

[bbradley406]

Unless there is an actual effort to pay people well for this work, the shortage is a myth and you are spreading a false belief. Mike Rowe is the last person you should be listening to about hard work and trade jobs. He's correct about people getting pushed into college, but he is wrong for trying to make trade work glamorous and manly on TV.

I'm in a skilled trade and see lots of dudes getting their bodies shredded (with no insurance) for $40k a year (in HCOL). Why do that when pushing paperwork or bartending gets you the same money? Yes there certainly are outstanding individuals that can run their own small company and do well, but they probably could do just as well in another field anyway.

As long as the pay stays the same, companies are just gonna gouge harder. You'll be forced to buy worse work for more money since they can't keep good employees on. If you want to actually fix things talk to your GC's and subs heart to heart about paying their guys better

[tracker1]

Then become a bartender if that's what you want. I know several plumbers, electricians, welders, etc. that make six figures.

[bbradley406]

It's not what I want. I like my trade and with a few more years, some effort and luck I'll be getting there to six as well.

My point is that for every 1 successful electrician and 1 plumber on a job, there's a handful of guys at the concrete plant. There's 3-5 guys on the roof laying shingle and getting cooked in the sun. There's usually a team of 3-5 guys hanging sheet-rock. A lot of trade work absolutely does suck for the money that's offered. In some situations the money is really good, but the work is even more extreme (oil rigs, heli work, crane ops, etc)

If the plan is "be smart, learn, get skilled and successful" and it works, I am sincerely happy for those guys. I know more of the guys it didn't work for though, there's a lot of them.

[tracker1]

That's the split between skilled and unskilled labor... I'm talking about trades for skilled labor. And no, it's not for everyone...

But using your own example, how many people with bachelor's degrees are asking if "you want fries with that?" Not every, or any path is guaranteed success... I've worked with plenty of degreed programmers who aren't able to function at all.