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

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

#241

Post by WalterBright »

UncleMeat wrote: post #33

"We need more tradespeople" seems to be an evergreen news article. My brother in law is an electrician. He is paid alright, enough to live on. But there are HUGE downsides. He does not receive health insurance. He does not get paid vacation. In order to match decent white-collar pay, he needs to work overtime. His company pushes hard to get jobs finished fast, causing people to cut safety corners. Many of his coworke…

Every time I employ a tradesman to fix something around here, I get an astonishingly high bill.

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

#242

Post by confidantlake »

nostrademons wrote: post #24

Tradespeople will be the new software engineers in the late 2020s through 2030s. Enough that I'm considering leaving my cushy FAANG engineering manager job to become an electrician. On top of the huge supply shortage, consider that the majority of the U.S. housing stock was built during the Baby Boom suburbanization from 1950-1970, and that the average lifespan of a house's internal systems (plumbing, electrical) is…

You are going to leave your mid 6 figure job to do a physically demanding mid 5 figure job? Good luck!

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

#243

Post by bluedino »

rcme wrote: post #198
bluedino wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can't use that argument because uprooting people blah blah

The funny part is fifty years ago people were moving to the area to work here.

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

#244

Post by bluedino »

cgio wrote: post #199
bluedino wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's not the pay that's the problem. if it was, people that work at McDonald's or Walmart would be beating our door down to double their salary

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

#245

Post by jonatron »

peruvian wrote: post #212
eddsh1994 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why Unions exist, no? Personally I sometimes wonder if I'd have enjoyed plumbing water more than plumbing code as I'd be meeting more people face to face, physically active, and it can get surprisingly complex (Berkeley, I think, offers a postgrad cert in plumbing buildings like sky scrapers which I saw advertised the other day)

Tech people always say this but forget that being a plumber means being on their knees wading thru poop water and likely being unable to work when you reach a certain, fairly young age. I get it, trades are important, but let's not glamorize them.

Not all countries have toilets that block as easily as American / Canadian toilets. So wading through dirty water is less likely in the UK for example.

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

#246

Post by ebiester »

fleddr wrote: post #222

If I had to do it all over again, I'd be a plumber. You're not stationary, you're on the move and your day has variety. You spend a lot of time in the physical world and meet lots of people. Your work might at times be smelly but is rewarding in a very direct way. You helped solve a tangible problem and your customers are grateful for it. The range of problems to solve is large, and if you widen your skills, you can…

Fancy cars also have a function of status. I don't need to prove my status, so I drive an inexpensive car.

That said, my friends in the trades are regretting their choices as they age and their physical ailments add up. I think it's a solid option for the first 15-25 years as long as you have an exit plan as your body ages.

(Note: I want to speak that this is perceived status and this has side effects. That I don't prove my status through a car or that there is a perceived need of those in the skilled trades to do so does not make a value judgement.)

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

#247

Post by prottog »

nullsense wrote: post #220
SoftTalker wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New home/residential wiring jobs are basically the entry point for electricians. It's about as mindless and simple as it gets. I'm not sure what the licensing requirements are but those are the sorts of jobs that an electrical contractor puts their new/junior people on.

I know nothing about the industry, but out of curiosity... what are considered the more interesting jobs?

I only know a bit more than nothing, but I'd wager anything industrial is considered more interesting. Single-family residential wiring, especially for new construction where there's nothing in the way, is so simple that even I, using just what I've learned being a homeowner, could meet code with it.

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

#248

Post by bluedino »

peruvian wrote: post #209
bluedino wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Your current pay rate isn't working — who cares what other jobs pay in comparison? Pay $10-15 more an hour and you will see more applicants.

You can't do that in a union shop. You have to increase everyone's pay and there isn't money for that.

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

#249

Post by MrFantastic »

oceanplexian wrote: post #54
Ancalagon wrote: post #4

Same labor shortage as everywhere that the government likes to pretend doesn't exist. 10 million working-age men can't or won't work. Of the ones willing to work, almost none want to spend their time learning skills for back-breaking, barely-middle class skills jobs which they'll be forced to retire from at 55 because their knees give out. Same answer for the shortage as everywhere that the economists don't want to h…

Fitting pipes together is not "back breaking". We're not talking about framing or roofing, in the contracting world plumbing is a light duty skilled trade that anyone with half a brain can earn a 6-figure income on. If you take care of yourself and wear protective equipment, you won't have a problem with your knees in middle age. There's no "forced retirement", someone working as an independent contractor for 25 year…

Pipe fitters tend to have really strong hands because the pipes are heavy and awkward.

Working with awkward heavy things tends to wear out your joints

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

#250

Post by fleddr »

SideQuark wrote: post #97
moe091 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, have you seen how much pay has gone up in low-skilled jobs? There are signs at all the local businesses in my area offering $15+ an hour for cashiers and fry cooks and whatnot. The same kind of jobs I worked 7-8 years ago for $8 an hour. They are taking advantage of supply and demand to force jobs to pay them a closer-to-fair wage, instead of selling their time for less than it's worth and perpetuating the pr…

>I mean, have you seen how much pay has gone up in low-skilled jobs? There are signs at all the local businesses in my area offering $15+ an hour for cashiers and fry cooks and whatnot. The same kind of jobs I worked 7-8 years ago for $8 an hour. They are taking advantage of supply and demand to force jobs to pay them a closer-to-fair wage, instead of selling their time for less than it's worth and perpetuating the p…

"Fair is what a person can command from competing for jobs, and jobs competing for workers. Anything else ends up unsustainable, which usually ends up hurting the least able workers."

Unsustainable, huh? I'm from the Netherlands where we've had minimum wage since 1969. The job market hasn't exactly broken down in those 53 years. Actually, we have the lowest unemployment in recorded history. Also, minimum wage just got upped by more than 10%.

You know why? Because otherwise people working full-time can't even afford the basics. Even if you have zero empathy in you, how exactly does it benefit society to have productive members of society suffer, become homeless, resort to crime, go hungry and freeze?

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