Tuesday, April 9, 2024

WSJ: Gen Z Works With Its Hands

 Generation Z is saying to hell with four-year degrees and student loans as its members instead "pick up the tool belt."   The Wall Street Journal reported April 2: 

America needs more plumbers, and Gen Z is answering the call.

Long beset by a labor crunch, the skilled trades are newly appealing to the youngest cohort of American workers, many of whom are choosing to leave the college path. Rising pay and new technologies in fields from welding to machine tooling are giving trade professions a face-lift, helping them shed the image of being dirty, low-end work. Growing skepticism about the return on a college education, the cost of which has soared in recent decades, is adding to their shine.

Enrollment in vocational training programs is surging as overall enrollment in community colleges and four-year institutions has fallen. The number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges rose 16% last year to its highest level since the National Student Clearinghouse began tracking such data in 2018. The ranks of students studying construction trades rose 23% during that time, while those in programs covering HVAC and vehicle maintenance and repair increased 7%....

A shortage of skilled tradespeople, brought on as older electricians, plumbers and welders retire, is driving up the cost of labor, as many sticker-shocked homeowners embarking on repairs and renovations in recent years have found.

The median pay for new construction hires rose 5.1% to $48,089 last year. By contrast, new hires in professional services earned an annual $39,520, up 2.7% from 2022, according to data from payroll- services provider ADP. That’s the fourth year that median annual pay for new construction hires has eclipsed earnings for new hires in both the professional services and information sectors— such as accountants or IT maintenance workers—ADP says.

Demand for trade apprenticeships, which let students combine work experience with a course of study often paid for by employers, has boomed lately. In a survey of high school and college-age people by software company Jobber last year, 75% said they would be interested in vocational schools offering paid, on-the-job training....

Alezet Valerio, 18, started at a construction site in Phoenix nine months ago, right after graduating high school. She was surprised when, in addition to learning how to hang drywall, her supervisors also began training her to run a robot that assists with site layout.

“It’s not at all what I was expecting,” says Valerio, who now spends a couple of days a week overseeing the robot’s work, making $24 an hour....

In Pennsylvania, the trades have seen an influx of workers since the pandemic, says Michael McGraw, executive director of the Pennsylvania Plumbing- Heating- Cooling Contractors Association. In the southeastern part of the state, where McGraw is based, someone graduating five years ago from the trade schools the association runs might have made $35,000 a year; these days it is closer to $60,000, he says. Enrollment in the association’s trade schools—where tuition costs around $3,000 a year—has risen across the board.

“After Covid, it seemed a lot of people realized the trades are a life-sustaining career path,” he says. As other businesses shut down then, more people realized that the skilled trades were reliable, well-paying paths that weren’t going away, he says.

Michael Krupnicki, president of the American Welding Society, has toured two dozen trade schools in the past year, many of which he says are experiencing full enrollment in their welding programs, as is the case with the school he owns in upstate New York...

A new study by labor analytics firm Burning Glass Institute and Strada Education Foundation shows that roughly half of college graduates end up in jobs where bachelor degrees aren’t needed, and many highschool graduates say they’re disinclined to take on college debt....

Some in Gen Z say they’re drawn to the skilled trades because of their entrepreneurial potential. Colby Dell, 19, is attending trade school for automotive repair, with plans to launch his own mobile detailing company, one he wants to eventually expand into custom body work.

“I always thought it was a hobby,” he says of his love of cars. “Looking into these vocational schools, I realized it was a dream I could really pursue.” Rest of article

There might be some hope after all.  

 

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everyone will always need a plumber, electrician, HVAC repairman and general purpose carpenter, and these people are hard to fine. One that is reliable is worth more than they charge. Contrast that with the scene in any bank you walk into. There are countless empty desks, and you are lucky if you can find someone to take a deposit. White collar jobs are not near as necessary as they once were.

Anonymous said...

When my grandson graduated last year this was his choice. He works full-time as a desiel mechanic and goes to Hinds CC for the same trade. He has a brilliant mind and borders on genius but this is what he wanted. He will have no debt to have crazy Joe to forgive. He is doing great and is happy with his choice.

Anonymous said...

I just wish I made as much as my plumber does! And yes, a good one that is also reliable is difficult to find.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I are white-collar with post-graduate degrees. Our son enlisted in the Army and his MOS is Allied Trades Specialist, meaning he was taught how to weld, and was introduced to many other trades. Once he's completed his service, he will have a trade to enter the workforce. I only wish I'd have thought of this!!

Anonymous said...

I would encourage any young person to learn a trade and go to Jr College to hone that skill at most.
I wish I had.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like Gen Z is a lot smarter and will be financially sounder than Millennials.

I read where Dementia Joe's team is rolling out a new student loan plan for people who rolled up huge debts with worthless degrees. How about forcing the schools who provided the worthless degrees to eat the loans?

Anonymous said...

Both of my sons are pursuing trades post high school, and I commend them. I would never recommend that they get into the same white collar industry that I'm in.

Anonymous said...

AI won't be coming for these jobs anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

When my plumber gave me his bill I told him that was more than what I charged as a lawyer. He said that is more than he made as a layer also.This is a joke you have probably heard.

Anonymous said...

Refreshing post, fish. Of course this is just generational pendulum swinging back again. Societies don't learn lessons. We as humans are doomed to repeat history. Sometimes, it comes around in more positive way.

Anonymous said...

Just simple supply and demand. For years the professional bureaucrats and the academic elites have inflated their value and their salaries but it has become apparent that they are not as scarce or essential as their salaries indicate. Let's get back to reality.

Anonymous said...

When I was in school the so-called counsolers told me that if I didn't go to college that I would be a Drain on my family & Society in general. I have been a Diesel Mechanic all my life raised two kids & my home & 36 acres all paid for & ready to retire with a nest egg. A GOOD Mechanic is NEVER without work!
I didn't say JOB, I Said WORK!

Anonymous said...

In the trucking industry, you have drivers and diesel techs making around $100,000 if they get on with the right organizations. The benefit packages are also top notch as the employers are constantly trying to recruit for both positions.

Anonymous said...

I would like to see Mississippi figures rather than national averages and comments about an electrician in Phoenix.

I've long advocated for young people acquiring skill trades and taking advantage of high school AND community college career education programs.

Our grandson opted to go through a Community College program with a scholarship from an employer and he's now a mechanic working on agricultural equipment bumping $64,000.

It would be OK with me if the State Auditor explored and reported on these types of occupations instead of whining about not being able to hire accounting staff at $32,000 a year, state wages.

Anonymous said...

When I was young I never could think of a job I would want. I did enjoy having money to spend. My parents, who didn't finish high school, wanted me to go to college. For two long years I went to college. Finally decided that there was no future in going to school. I decided I would apprentice for an electrician. Got paid while I was learning a trade. I got my journeyman electrician license. I was young so decided I would do the same with welding. Got paid while I learned another trade. I did the same with surveying and power plant operation. I was paid while I learned a trade. Never was out of a job. If one job was over I could have another job the next day. None of the jobs were something I really wanted to do but I still liked having money.
Too many kids now days want a job without working for one. They want a job given to them because they deserved it. I was lucky, I was willing to work for a job.

Anonymous said...

There may be a problem in the near future for legal citizens to find positions in the trade industry. There have been millions of illegal immigrants coming over the southern border that will gladly take these jobs for less pay. Of course, that was the plan from the beginning.

Anonymous said...

This is not at all surprising since Zoomers are as tech illiterate as boomers. Few college aged Zoomers know how to navigate a computer file system, type basic terminal/shell commands, or basic HTML. Just like the tech illiterate boomers who comment here and can’t create a proper URL

Anonymous said...

@1:52, I don't completely disagree with you, but for those trades that require a license (electrician, plumber, etc.), it's going to be much harder for the illegals to get those.

Anonymous said...

It's great to work in the trades when you're young. It's a lot tougher when your in your 50's and 60's. Just something to think about.

Anonymous said...

Just be sure you're actually learning a trade. That is, a broadly applicable set of skills like plumbing or electrical, etc. As opposed to learning how to operate a specific machine or perform a very specific task. Those can and will be replaced as soon as they can be automated.

Also, if you want to see more people doing this kind of work, support universal healthcare. So people who work in the gig economy, as opposed to being tied to one employer, don't have to worry about getting sick and having their entire savings wiped out.

shadyal said...

Betcha these folks won't be voting for the likes of Daddy O or Uncle Joe!

Anonymous said...

Good for him 10:43am, hopefully your other grandchild doesn’t need crazy joe to forgive their student loans for teaching, nursing and protecting you and your community as a public servant and makes less than what they deserve. If you are happy for him why would you care what crazy joe do for others?

Anonymous said...

There is no question that we need all our citizens to have a chance to do well in their chosen job.

We have not valued teaching or nursing as we should because, in the past, they were usually tasks done by women.

But, the assumption some of you are making that those who chose professions or degrees in engineering or business management or finance or any other job you consider "elite" are NOT among those who had student loans groups, you are wrong.

Even doctors first have to get a 4-year college degree. More than a few of the people I know who became dentists, doctors, stockbrokers, bankers or lawyers had student loans. Their first jobs paid very well and they able to earn enough money quickly enough to pay it back.

They were smart enough to read the "fine print" and go with a loan from a reputable company or and make payments larger than was required to reduce the principle sooner.

The average college graduate's salary is $58,862 but they do get promotions if they do a good job.

Many of the "elites" I know studied hard and had part time jobs in the summers and got scholarships. You can even get "stipends" for graduate school and not pay a dime.

Many of my friends had fathers' who had "blue collar" jobs in the local factory. The ones whose father's didn't spend their salary on themselves put money aside for their kids to go to college and now being well cared for by their children. The I earned it, I can spend it and deserve the expensive guy "toy" or souped up auto or going to the car races or games or bars fathers either visit their sons in Parchman or rehab or they do exactly what their fathers did for work.

I also heard the " I ain't sending them off to come back thinking they are smarter than me" fathers.

And, there's the absent fathers.

The truth is that the fathers who learned a trade and sent their kids to college ended up with owning and expanding the business beyond their town and state rather than working for the business. That is true for every contracting business of any size in THIS state.

So, your success and failure is usually completely related to your "smarts" and your "effort" and " tenacity".

It's related to your mental health, a few of my towns brighest kids who went to college and were doing well into grad school, had simple schizophrenia hit them in the early 20's. The one who stays on meds is doing ok and makes a decent living. The one who refused was last seen at a shelter years ago.

So, y'all keep perpetuating the myths that 1) elites think they are " superior" to everyone else and 2) that an education has no value and 3) that the student debt of today is like those nice loans some of you got back in college when all loans were sanctioned by the college or university or had government backing so that interest rates never went up and each payment paid down the principal.

In politics today, everybody thinks whatever their party's paid hacks tell them is accurate and nobody bothers to get the facts or find out how things got screwed up and who screwed it up.



Anonymous said...

Good for those in this generation who are going this route. Skilled trade laborers are much needed and respected.

HOWEVER...the majority of this Gen Z are arrogant and entitled and do not want to work. They pity generations that worked/work hard for a living and state that they require work life balance. They do not take into consideration that those who work hard created these positions for them, yet they want to come in only when it's convenient for them, while their bosses slave away.

Anonymous said...

Why are people upset about student loans they should be upset about schools over charging them!

Anonymous said...

9:30 PM, one reason we are upset is because we have to pay the bill for the dead beats. There is no forgiving the loan. It is a transfer of payments to people who did not borrow the money.


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