Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 915 posts

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#191

Post by tpmx »

sct202 wrote: post #169
tpmx wrote: post #2

I do remote software work from a very picturesque but somewhat remote coastal village in Sweden that has been largely left behind by urbanisation. My impression is that there's no reluctance to go into these lines of work for young local people here. I imagine it would be the same in the US. In the cities where there are more office work opportunities for young people, even without any qualifications to speak of: it…

It is the same in the US, but there aren't always opportunities to learn the trades everywhere. I was friends with a welder who learned welding from the garage of an old dude who ran it as an informal school in her town. If she was few towns over, she might have missed out on that career option. Even in this thread there are people contemplating switching to trades and asking how to even start.

Taking on an unknown, quite likely flakey person could be the death knell for a small company in these fields. You vouched for this person and it worked.

The often attempted solution in Europe is commonly funded training in these fields. Germany does it the best, I think with a very formalized education/trainee system. Not sure how/if they deal with older people who need a new job.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#192

Post by JumpCrisscross »

joecot wrote: post #165
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> plumber charges 200 an hour and doesn't make anywhere near that much, because they work for a company who profits massively off their labor and exploits him as far as the law and supply and demand will allow Do most plumbers responding to house calls work for an employer? There aren't many economies of scale in that work.

Being a plumber who works for a company means you are given tasks and show up at those assignments. You need to know how to plumb. Being an independent plumber means handling: marketing, networking, customer service, etc, plus plumbing. Like any other freelance position it's not easy to break in and get enough work to live. And we're not in the days of people just opening the Yellow Pages and calling a random plumber…

Agree that it isn't easy going independent as a plumber. But it's easier than in, say, construction. That leaves room for trade-offs between ambition and risk on one hand and a safe, secure job on the other hand.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#193

Post by pnutjam »

megaman821 wrote: post #114
bryanlarsen wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The median income for a plumber is $50k, only 10% make above $91k. https://insights.workwave.com/industry/plumbing-electrical/p... 6-figure incomes for plumbers are rare.

Where is all the money people paying tradespeople going? If I need any plumbing work done it costs me $200 an hour or more. Even with overhead and expenses, 10 hours a week gets you more than $50k a year. Twenty years ago my grandfather was a marine plumber and made $200k a year. How many apprentices and part-time plumber are in these datasets?

Tools, trucks, downtime, insurance, etc... All expenses I don't have as a corporate linux guy.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#194

Post by yucky »

thevardanian wrote: post #173
yucky wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we've been given the wrong advice for so long we just stopped listening. Shouldn't we recognize that things change and life can be unpredictable? Rather than being jaded that every adult in our lives didn't have a magical crystal ball, maybe there are more productive things that can be done? Gen Z & younger Millennials constantly get shit for blaming everyone else for everything always, and taking no responsibility…

You expect kids to not heed the advice of the adults around them? And when those kids grow up to be adults and realize that the advice they were given was all bullshit to suddenly not see the utter waste of time and energy into worthless goals put before them their entire lives? What are you talking about? The main responsibility of adults is to prepare the next generation. Realizing that failure is not being jaded,…

    > And when those kids grow up to be adults and realize that the advice they were given was all bullshit
You think the advice of going to college is "all bullshit"? It's still great advice for many people, is it not? I think the point is that it's certainly not for everyone, and because colleges aren't holding up their end up the bargain there are plenty of other ways to earn a living. Some people aren't cut out for the trades, just like some people aren't cut out for many paths available from college.

The harsh truth is just because you can get a degree in something doesn't mean you'll be any good at it, and ultimately if you're not any good at something why would you expect people to pay you money to do something poorly? So the real question is: at what point should young adults be responsible for recognizing their aptitude and interests enough to make their own career decisions without blaming others? 18? 21? 25? Never?

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#195

Post by bluedino »

stonogo wrote: post #176
bluedino wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a job with the local power company, or one of their contractors. You will have to work in bad weather, after storms, and travel a little bit. The average salary for a journeyman lineman in Michigan is $161,000 per year

No it isn't. You cherry-picked that single report, which was based on 76 turbotax returns. I suspect their data is wrong or corrupted, because making $160k as a journeyman lineman is only achievable with a decade experience and a truckload of overtime. Look around a bit further, or talk to actual linemen or unions, and you'll see the average salary for a lineman is about a hundred thousand dollars a year less than th…

Read some Reddit posts where people ask linemen how much they make. People reply with over $200k.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#196

Post by gradys »

rednerrus wrote: post #181

It is disheartening to see a recurring theme of individuals expressing frustration over their inability to afford a home or advance in society, yet also expressing reluctance to engage in activities that could potentially bring financial stability. Our predecessors sacrificed their physical well-being in order to construct and maintain the infrastructure and amenities that we now benefit from. In order to maintain a…

People not wanting to work is not the main reason we’re seeing more people find housing unaffordable. It’s the extreme rise in price of housing relative to income.

I make dramatically more than my parents did when they were buying their first house around my age, but as a fraction of my income and savings, housing costs vastly more.

(It’s also not clear that the skilled trades jobs Gen Z apparently doesn’t want actually pay more than the alternatives. See other comments on this post.)

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#197

Post by nibbleshifter »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #128
Ancalagon wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30% is the difference between $100k and $70k. That's a lot of money...

Well relatively speaking your lifestyle isn't likely going to change dramatically between those two incomes. In the US the difference is several hundred percent.

The difference in lifestyle between those two incomes is pretty decent.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#198

Post by rcme »

bluedino wrote: post #167
omginternets wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, has your employer tried paying more? There are a fair few desk jobs that pay $25-30/hr, and it's entirely possible that people are trading job stability for something that isn't so physically demanding.

There's not that many jobs that pay that much around here. However, our Seattle location has that problem. It was almost closed down because of competition. edit: can't reply to the person who replied below, but if you have a contract to sell parts to a company you can't just increase your worker pay to whatever you want and have it be sustainable.

> There's not that many jobs that pay that much around here.

Hiring movers to pack your stuff and move it across the country costs a few thousand dollars, and it's never been easier to rent an apartment via online showings. Your competition is a lot broader than your immediate geographic area.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#199

Post by cgio »

bluedino wrote: post #167
omginternets wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, has your employer tried paying more? There are a fair few desk jobs that pay $25-30/hr, and it's entirely possible that people are trading job stability for something that isn't so physically demanding.

There's not that many jobs that pay that much around here. However, our Seattle location has that problem. It was almost closed down because of competition. edit: can't reply to the person who replied below, but if you have a contract to sell parts to a company you can't just increase your worker pay to whatever you want and have it be sustainable.

If you have a contract to sell parts then your incentive to give higher salary would also be greater, given contracts would have penalties for failure to deliver. The companies are apparently in equilibrium with this situation, so either shortsighted in management or complain because effectively they want to pay less than they currently do.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#200

Post by JacobThreeThree »

rednerrus wrote: post #168
falcolas wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It isn't a bad career But there is a finite end to the career - when your body gives out. That's the biggest problem with the trades, you're selling your health and body. And eventually the body parts will wear out, on a schedule decided as much by genetics as how you live.

This is the reality of all jobs where you work for someone else. You're selling your time, and your body to someone else.

You can be the owner/operator of the business, and are therefore not working for someone else, but you are nevertheless selling your body.
Post reply on HN