Monday, December 19, 2022
Make Skilled Trades Sexy Again
The United States is the midst of a crisis of masculinity. According to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, men without four-year college degrees, ages 25 to 54, have left and continue to leave the workforce in record high numbers. One of the reasons they’re leaving involves their perceived social status relative to men of similar age in possession of a college degree. For more than 40 years, non-college-educated men have seen their weekly earnings fall some 17 percent; at the same time, college-educated men have seen theirs rise by 20 percent, adjusting for inflation. Depleted salaries have fed a perceived decline in social status, prompting an increasing number of men to leave the workforce entirely.
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Trades' pay was lowered by flooding the market with cheap foreign labor. H1B is being used to do that for the STEM workers. Manufacturing was removed outright.
ReplyDeleteWhen can we start outsourcing legal work too? Things won't change until that happens.
Joe's trying to outsource the politicians, but instead of workers doing the work of the US politicians, the US Politicians are doing the work of work of/for other countries.
DeleteOur GDP is now figured on paper profits from borrowed money. For all intents and purposes, America does not produce anything anymore. America's "wealth" is an illusionary byproduct of the petrodollar, and that rigged system and the paper wealth it supports are going away rapidly. Most white collar jobs are BS. Office building full of management wienies doing corporate "stuff" for way too much money. That old sitcom "The Office" was dead on. Employees spend most of the day clowning around and complying with corporate dictates, or pretending to. Managers just rename and repackage process every time there is a change in leadership so they can claim responsibility and get promoted off of the pretend work of others that produced pretend value and leads to pretend paper profits. My point is that those days are numbered. Even if the petrodollar survives, (it won't) and there is merely a severe recession, people are just not going to keep getting paid unrealistic money for merely "adding value" , (intangible value to be sure) to whatever the product is. The white collar jobs will vanish while the skilled trades will merely see a slump in demand. The skilled tradesman who wants to work should have no problem finding it as long as there is something resembling an economy.
ReplyDeleteIn 40 years, my labor rate has gone from $30.00 per hour to $135.00 per hour. I guess I picked the right trade.....
ReplyDeleteHVAC?
DeleteMarine electronics and electrical systems.....
DeleteWotta load of crap. The decline of USA manufacturing is a result of the US tax code and environmental rules and Union wages making it more attractive to offshore jobs.
ReplyDeleteyears ago, knew this kid working at my buddy's junkyard. he was unsure about what to do in life. we told him to learn how to be a plumber. well, the kid did. and after 7-9 years or so.
ReplyDeletehe stopped by the yard and dropped off a couple of cases of beer for my buddy and me.
he ended up running his own shop and was doing great at it.
what we told was , people will prop a door open or put cardboard in a window if need be.
they bring in a lamp if the light doesn't work. but if the shitter not working, they call someone !
Retired Union Plumber here. Last years working were spent as a PM. Last project was a Billion + $ job. Retired at 55.
ReplyDeleteThe work can be hard and demanding but there is a sense of satisfaction when you actually construct something. And if you're good, the pay can be outstanding.
Pornography gives young people an unhealthy and unrealistic idea of how quickly a plumber will come to your house.
DeleteI bounced around from job to job after High school: chicken fryer. warehouseman, parts counterman, courier, lab tech.
ReplyDeleteEach was a step up, I was doing OK.
After preparing by taking night school classes at the JC I took a job as a rookie machinist. That was in 1980. It was a small shop, only a handful of employees. I ran chuckers, engine lathes. manual mills, grinders, second-operation machines and tracers.
The Boss said, "As long as wheels go round in this Country, you'll always have a job."
As I gained competence my wages increased accordingly.
The shop grew, eventually into three buildings. The Boss had two Mercedes; his wife had one as well. By then I was doing less production work and began making fixtures and setups for line machinists.
There were now some 50 employees. A position opened in the inspection department due to the increased volume of work.
I took the opportunity, became good at my (thankless) job. More inspectors were hired, I found myself inspection supervisor, and eventually was promoted to Quality Manager, a challenging job. And I was good at it if I do say so.
I knew the aerospace industry from procurement to shipped product. It took 30 years.
I liked this position and stuck with it for another dozen years.
I am comfortably retired now. Everything I own is paid for: home, autos and toys.
Not too shabby for a college dropout.
I have to call BS on this one. I have a Management of Info Systems business degree. I had 18 years experience and most of the available Cusco and Microsoft certifications where I was a Lifecycle Project manager. I was laid off in 2002 where the last working year I made a $52k salary. For 8 months I could not find anything in the IT market and I started looking in satellite communications, the career field I did when I was in the military. I started at $55k and within 3 months I got an $8k bump in salary. Within 2 years I was making 6 figures in the trade I learned in the military. Sure, having a BS had given me an edge on my coworkers as far as promotions. I was being groomed for a management position until the company jumped on the diversity bandwagon and it went down the tubes shortly after I retired.
ReplyDeleteUtter BS. So their perceived status as unemployed is better?
ReplyDeleteThose males aren't *leaving* the workforce, Boston is likely counting those on handouts that have *never* had a job, including all the foreign invaders (illegal aliens).
Steve S6
Son became a machinist after he left the Army, and never looked back. Shops he used to work at in Washington, including a Boeing affiliate, were already wondering what they'd do as the older guys started retiring, because few going into the field.
ReplyDeleteRight now he, at 38, is the youngest guy in his shop. And they're wondering what they'll do as older guys retire. Good money, but not enough younger people are going into it.
Firehand
I recently left a $160k job in medical sales to become an apprentice lineman. Tired of airports, hospitals, and not really knowing anything useful. Now I'm having the time of my life and don't regret it at all!
ReplyDeleteThe best thing a young man can do a few days after high school graduation: Go to a recruiting office, Army or Air Force preferably. Pick something you'll have fun doing. Any MOS that starts with a 1, you're going to work your ass off, but you will learn stuff, including you can do more than you think, and maybe even you will see that other people listen when you talk.
ReplyDeleteUm....no.
DeleteMaybe back when you or I did it, but now days? Nope. Let Millie and the rest have the brave and stunning LJBTQLOL+-/* crowd and the POCs they love so much. I'm sure they will perform great (much better than wypepo akshully).
3 combat tours, 11 series MOS. No kid of mine will do that.
@SgtBob, really!? You would let anyone you care for join the homofascist experiment known today as .mil?
DeleteI enlisted (see what I did there) several former .mil friends and relatives to talk my son out of "..being the best he could be" Hell, even Matt Bracken chipped in. He is now a very happy nat gas rig welder making crazy $$ doing something truly useful.
maybe 40 years ago, but today? line up, take your experimental shot, salute the blue haired faggot in a dress costume and call him "ma'am", then go die for a distraction war to cover the ruling class criminal acts in ukraine or wherever?
Deleteno.
Gotta love me some intellectuals waxing on about the trades and what "we" need. The royal "we" had better come up with something better than "making the trades sexy again". Sexy for who? The purple haired size 18 man hating demon spawn that infest the FUSA? Thanks, no, we'll just take the money.
ReplyDelete