High-Paying Trade Jobs Sit Empty, While High School Grads Line Up For University

[LosDaddie]

There seems to be a miscommunication here regarding pay. Good trade jobs pay well generally if your in a union. Non-union obviously is less pay.

For example (local unions to me), a journeyman (either 2 years of trade school or 5 years apprenticeship) starts around $35-40 an hour with a pension and great benefits. This is in the Midwest which usually pays less than the coast states.

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Unless unions really skew wages to a large degree, I have a (very) difficult time believing someone with only 2yrs of schooling is making $80k/yr as a Journeyman Electrician.

Here in FL, a licensed Journeyman is typically the person leading a project on site and working 50-60hr weeks. Depending on the company, I'd say their salaries top out around $50-$60k on average.

No not solely based on their degree, cost of living matters too.

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Right.
But I'm saying that these $100k salaries aren't being handed out like candy to anyone with an engineering degree. It takes experience and/or certifications/licenses to get to that level.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

I think a lot of people would rather sit in an office and make less money as compared to doing a trade or anything that is physical.

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And this line of thinking is and has been disastrous for many people's career development and the skill pool within the overall domestic economy (contributes massively to the student debt bubble and misalignment of natural talents and tendencies, leading to labor/skill shortages in those trades)

 

[chickenandrofls]

One of my friends is a welder in his late 20s. Picked it up right out of HS. The hours he works are insane but he's not even 30 and making 6 figures while completely debt free.

He's constantly on the road living out of an travel trailer but it's good money if you can/willing to make the sacrifices for it.

 

[Alcoremortis]

I know my backup career is wrecking ball operator. Like, if this science thing doesn't work out, I'm going to smash big buildings for a living.

 

[Deleted member 4413]

Unless unions really skew wages to a large degree, I have a (very) difficult time believing someone with only 2yrs of schooling is making $80k/yr as a Journeyman Electrician.

Here in FL, a licensed Journeyman is typically the person leading a project on site and working 50-60hr weeks. Depending on the company, I'd say their salaries top out around $50-$60k on average.




Right.
But I'm saying that these $100k salaries aren't being handed out like candy to anyone with an engineering degree. It takes experience and/or certifications/licenses to get to that level.

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2 years of full schooling, it's not your traditional college situation where you are taking 12 credit hours a week. This is 7 hours a day, 5 days a week for two years. Idk if this is normal or not for trade schools, just the ones I've looked at.

It could be that these jobs are in high demand in my area too. This was looking at the local Plumbing and Pipefitters Union and HVAC union. I didn't look at Electrician.

 

[ScoutDave]

A lot of truths in here for sure. We have a 3rd generation company and i happen to be a carpenter for over 23 years personally now. I have 3 ruptured discs in my back. Not allowed to lift anything at work anymore. We are also situated in Northern Ontario Canada. The demand is definitely up there for workers of all sorts. We ourselves have a problem finding workers. Usually teens or young adults come in, and barely make it a week or two. And i cant say i blame them honestly. Try telling a young guy when it -25 outside we have to frame a turret overlooking a frozen lake with brutal winds. The look they give you is utter disbelief. You work when you can, 10 hour days...6 to 7 day weeks. Especially in the spring/summer/fall when weather is nice enough. Because the winters can be tight sometimes as not much building happens then.

The government here has been putting up billboards and radio ads trying to encourage growth. Dunno if its having any impact.

I should've found another career choice outta high school. But feel trapped now as this is all i know. Its a tough go. Im in my 40s. I don't wanna go back to school for 4/5 years. We need workers, but the incentives don't seem to be enough.

 

[IfSleepoversCouldTalk]

$50k/year is high-paying?

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Era is such a fucking bubble

 

[LosDaddie]

Once again, it depends on the location. In border cities, it's a race to the bottom. Where lowballing and undercutting leads to lower wages. I know first hand that in the El Paso/Las Cruces area, electricians might make a max of 40k, maybe, working for a local electrician. Which brings everything down with it.

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Exact same situation for the projects I've worked on in FL and GA.

 

[PixelatedProphet]

One of the issues no one talks about is how a lot of high schools back in the day had classes people could take and graduate fully incensed as a electrician,handyman etc etc. Politicians either got them removed or de-funded those programs as part of their war on poor people.

 

[Ominym]

Not to take away from the trades, they're a worthwhile field for many to pursue. But I will say as someone who grew up in a Blue Collar family that shit will destroy your body, which some people are able to mitigate by transitioning their skillset into teaching later in life but not everyone is so lucky.

 

[Felt]

Worthwhile? When only one category of STEM has openings matching the population aiming for it?

I incorrectly read the word "worthwhile" as "worthless" and it would have made more sense that way. STEM is the empty panacea of this culture, almost as toxic as the idea of an infinite job supply that will save us from an automation apocalypse.



When nearly 40% of the American population struggles to make anything greater than $24,000, yes, it's actually high-paying.

I think it speaks to the precarity problem however, seeing as $50k is high because so many people are poor in a first-world nation like the US.

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This is a misguided analysis of this chart. The majority of life and physical science majors go on to professional schools like dentistry and medicine. If you cut out all the people who got the bachelors but applied to medical school, it'd look very different already.

Job prospects are crappy for PhD physical sciences for various reasons, but I don't know a single unemployed PhD student. Most of the time it's just they don't like the opportunities available.

 

[Angelus Errare]

$50k/year is high-paying?

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It is when you realize that many college graduates don't get that as a starting salary in addition to having student loans to pay back.

 

[Siyou]

Serious inquiry, but if anyone has a trade job that's good for starters and it's in a low-population city, feel free to pm me (I'm 31, US based, and willing to learn).

 

[Lat]

Maybe more people would be interested if most trade jobs didn't seem unsafe, unhealthy, and hard to do day after day.

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Which trade jobs are unsafe and unhealthy? Days of working coal mines, asbestos filled warehouses are long gone and sitting on your ass 80 hrs in a pay period is way unhealthier than physical labor.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Ain't working a manual job that honestly should be replaced by a machine.

 

[Bee.Cups]

$50k/year is high-paying?

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It's a lot better than the $25,000 a year I make as a fraud investigator

 

[Smitington]

50k a year and benifibe isn't much in Seattle.

 

[Stick]

Bunch of my friends are welders. They make ridiculous amounts of money. I might have to rethink my career.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

I wish I was crafty, good at making or fixing things and liked to work with my hands. I could be making good money.

 

[Angry Grimace]

That's because lot of tradesman positions are rapidly becoming obsolete and it takes a lot longer than people think it does to qualify as a master electrician or whatever

 

[It’s Time To Go]

We all seem to have these really strange perceptions that every person in the world has to go to university or be forever doomed to the lowest paying worst jobs.

 

[Masoyama]

It's a lot better than the $25,000 a year I make as a fraud investigator

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My stipend in grad school was higher than that living in a cheap part of upstate NY. Are you making close to the average your co-workers and people in your profession are making?

 

[Mammoth Jones]

People turn they nose up at folks that work with their hands. I been saying fuck college a lot of folks need to get into trade jobs.

 

[Deleted member 11626]

Seems to be the same around the US. Nobody wants to work a trade job or doesn't realize how well it pays. A lot of the local unions around me will even help pay for schooling so you come out of a 2 year trade school as a Journeyman already.

Edit: Non Union jobs pay far less than union generally.

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I tell anybody that will listen to pursue a trade. I personally want college for myself because the kind of work I want to do means I need a degree. But too many people are giving up and resigning themselves to a lifetime of retail or something because they don't know about the opportunity that exists with trades. Especially electricity. Even elevator technicians pay for you to train and learn, they'll never be out of a job and they get paid very well to do what they do. If you doubt for even one second that school is for you then take the time to learn about training for a trade.

 

[scotdar]

Trades are great I did a couple before I went back to school. That being said if your going to be a tradesman do it for yourself. Trades long term working for someone else is not ideal.

 

[Geirskogul]

I tell anybody that will listen to pursue a trade. I personally want college for myself because the kind of work I want to do means I need a degree.

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What a surprise.

It's always the white collar workers telling people to pursue trades, never the people actually working in the field.

Wonder why that is.

 

[Baji Boxer]

Thats how I always looked at it.

I think a lot of people would rather make $10/hour to fuck around in an office and post on ERA instead of $25/hour to bust their ass for 10 hours a day.

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Your choice here is false, as most college educated desk job workers are making more than $10/hour lol, but there is a quality of life tradeoff. As someone who has been beat up by his job, I'd take a paycut for an office job any day of the week if I could. Walking around with hurt tendons and joints is no fun, along with a host of other problems. The reality is that with college most can get a better quality of life and pay. Not everyone is suited for it though.

 

[Baji Boxer]

Personally, if I could start over with a plan, I'd do both. Become an electrician and then go to college part time.

 

[Jerm]

I talked to a plumber about being a plumber and he said that basically everyone in the trade gets sick sooner or later. Stomach parasites, hepatitis, stuff like that. There is a massive hazard exposure to the job. Even if you make a decent wage it's not worth the long term health problems, in his opinion.

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After working in a law firm that helped people with issues like these continue living somewhat after their bodies are broken down, this is my biggest concern with these positions. I've seen people destroy their own health in these positions to the point the money would never matter. I know a lot of safety regulations have been put into place over time but hearing the calls from people who had been out of work for years and were physically disabled from the work they did, desperate for any kind of financial relief, was heartbreaking.

You would think it's only people 50+ as well but we had clients under 30 seeking the same relief who will never be able to work again.

I think a lot of these posts are unfair in why people aren't taking these jobs and aren't coming from people who have ever worked in these fields long term or at all.

 

[WarLox]

Unless unions really skew wages to a large degree, I have a (very) difficult time believing someone with only 2yrs of schooling is making $80k/yr as a Journeyman Electrician.

Here in FL, a licensed Journeyman is typically the person leading a project on site and working 50-60hr weeks. Depending on the company, I'd say their salaries top out around $50-$60k on average.




Right.
But I'm saying that these $100k salaries aren't being handed out like candy to anyone with an engineering degree. It takes experience and/or certifications/licenses to get to that level.

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but I said AVERAGE salary not EVERY salary.

 

[Airegin]

If I could work as a mechanic part time 30 hours a week and earn more I might consider switching careers but employers are only looking for full-time workers unfortunately.

 

[Deleted member 11626]

What a surprise.

It's always the white collar workers telling people to pursue trades, never the people actually working in the field.

Wonder why that is.

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1. I don't have a degree yet. I want to work in with technology. The goal I'm pursuing is in law enforcement (though things and opportunities change) They won't take me without a degree. I've already talked to several people about that.

2. I have served in the military and worked blue collar work for years. Out in the elements, inside in shit conditions and everything in between. I have never had a white collar job in my life.

So you can take this shit elsewhere and to someone else. All I'm trying to say is that trades represent a great opportunity. Get the fuck over yourself.

 

[Lmo2017]

Depending on where you are blue collar work can be a meat grinder and you'll make less in non-union areas. That's the cost of your higher entry level pay, the pay will eventually taper off and by the time you retire you spend it all on being able to walk again. Mike Rowe makes it look fun on TV, but he makes millions dancing around while others do the real work. It's not fun when you're loved ones end up not being able to walk/breath/etc. anymore.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

We all seem to have these really strange perceptions that every person in the world has to go to university or be forever doomed to the lowest paying worst jobs.

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Exactly. Propaganda pushed by for-profit interests as far as I'm concerned. We treat "college educated" like it's some label of societal validation.

Era is such a fucking bubble

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Real talk. My reply was going to be "get out of your bubble" But you beat me to it.

 

[Geirskogul]

I think a lot of these posts are unfair in why people aren't taking these jobs and aren't coming from people who have ever worked in these fields long term or at all.

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This is ALWAYS the case. It is always people with high-paying office jobs wagging their fingers at millennials and telling them they need to embrace careers that pay like shit for the most part and destroy your body in the long run. The biggest cheerleader for the "just go into a trade" meme is Mike Rowe. A Hollywood media personality with a communications degree who has never worked one of these jobs long-term for a living.

About the only way to make a career in the trades work in the long run is to pivot into owning and managing your own business, while other people do most of the backbreaking work. But not everyone can do that. It takes a special skill set beyond just being knowledgeable and experienced to successfully build and grow your own business.

 

[Desi]

Contracting jobs go to the person with the smallest quote. It's not entirely a contractor's fault that the workers are getting paid little

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I did contractor work for a electric company in Baltimore for about a year. I would do a bath and a foot massage every Thursday or Friday (end of week) because my body was just so drained every damn day. Coming out of retail though the pay job was great and the ones who moved on to working with the actual electric company got a pay bump even higher but that job wasn't for me or my frame.

 

[Deleted member 9486]

Yep. Even as a college professor I fully support finding ways to remove the stigma from trade jobs. Too many people end up in college who just aren't cut out for it (be it lack of ability, motivation, maturity etc.) and take on debt and get no degree to show for it as they flunk out. Others get degrees that don't lead to jobs that pay enough to justify the debt they take on.

All that adds bloat to university budgets as they have to provide so many services to try to keep retention and graduation rates up (tons of administrative positions in departments dedicated to those kind of services), adding non-tenure track faculty who aren't bringing in grants to help support their salary to deliver all the extra credit hours high enrollments bring in etc.

Manual labor jobs are hard on the body for sure as others note, so they shouldn't be an optimal goal. But not everyone has the ability to do well in college or an office job and we need to do better of finding ways for high school counselors to do better in steering people on the career path best suited for them.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

This is ALWAYS the case. It is always people with high-paying office jobs wagging their fingers at millennials and telling them they need to embrace careers that pay like shit for the most part and destroy your body in the long run. The biggest cheerleader for the "just go into a trade" meme is Mike Rowe. A Hollywood media personality with a communications degree who has never worked one of these jobs long-term for a living.

About the only way to make a career in the trades work in the long run is to pivot into owning and managing your own business, while other people do most of the backbreaking work. But not everyone can do that. It takes a special skill set beyond just being knowledgeable and experienced to successfully build and grow your own business.

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Bullshit. I know too many people without degrees been saying the same shit for a long time and not just for physical labor jobs.

This conversation been going on before millennials.

If you don't want to do physical labor then don't. Just don't bitch if you not making 70k first year out with a liberal arts degree.

 

[PaJeppy]

Worked as a carpenter for 8 years. It was mostly residential and wasn't union so the pay wasnt too great ($25/h). I just really enjoyed building houses. Plus I walked away with a bunch of skills that are incredibly useful.

I've moved onto bigger and better things but im still looking at going to school to get my journeyman ticket because why not. Put all that work in, might as well get something to show for it.

It blows my mind that people are willing to go into a lot of debt, spend years in school, only to walk away working in a field unrelated to there academic career. This probably isn't the most common thing (hope not, at least) but I have seen a more than a few friends go through this or something similar.

I think if I were to go back 10 years I would have become an engineer or an electrician. Got friends in both fields and they all make over 6 figures. They might be a bit more.ambitious than your average tradesmen, but still. The money is there for the taking. It can be a fulfilling job as well.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Worked as a carpenter for 8 years. It was mostly residential and wasn't union so the pay wasnt too great. I just really enjoyed building houses. Plus I walked away with a bunch of skills that are incredibly useful.

I've moved onto bigger and better things but im still looking at going to school to get my journeyman ticket because why not. Put all that work in, might as well get something to show for it.

It blows my mind that people are willing to go into a lot of debt, spend years in school, only to walk away working in a field unrelated to there academic career. This probably isn't the most common thing (hope not, at least) but I have seen a more than a few friends go through this or something similar.

I think if I were to go back 10 years I would have become an engineer or an electrician. Got friends in both fields and they all make over 6 figures. They might be a bit more.ambitious than your average tradesmen, but still. The money is there for the taking. It can be a fulfilling job as well.

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Having a job in a field unrelated to ones degree is incredibly common...

 

[PaJeppy]

Having a job in a field unrelated to ones degree is incredibly common...

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I wander if this has more to do with going into post secondary education without truly figuring out what you want to do or it's a shit degree with low employemebt due to lack of demand? I don't know. It's always baffled me.

"I spent 4 years of my life chasing a psychology degree only to end up as a waitress. " The fuck....?
- girl I know.

 

[Deleted member 179]

$50k/year is high-paying?

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I'm almost 23. I just quit my $10.72/hr job I had for 2 years AND spend 2 years before that getting in debt 10k for a degree in it, so that I could jump in IT instead and am now making $12/hr. Yes, 50k is high paying at 20 years old.

 

[Deleted member 9486]

I wander if this has more to do with going into post secondary education without truly figuring out what you want to do or it's a shit degree with low employemebt due to lack of demand? I don't know. It's always baffled me.

"I spent 4 years of my life chasing a psychology degree only to end up as a waitress. " The fuck....?
- girl I know.

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It's all the above depending on person, plus things like not making any connections in your field (internship etc.) or getting any relevant work experience while getting the degree.

A lot of it is people in college just as they think they have to and get some degree that's pretty much useless unless they do great and want to go on to grad school, law school, med school etc. Lot's of people just pick easy majors to be doing it and partying for 4 or 5 years while delaying adulthood.

 

[Sulik2]

This is the problem with highschools in the USA. They are viewed as four years of college prep instead of being a way to expose kids to different types of jobs to help them pick a career. There is zero reason some 18 years shouldn't be able come out of highschool trade job ready with four years in school.

I wander if this has more to do with going into post secondary education without truly figuring out what you want to do or it's a shit degree with low employemebt due to lack of demand? I don't know. It's always baffled me.

"I spent 4 years of my life chasing a psychology degree only to end up as a waitress. " The fuck....?
- girl I know.

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Nope the economy just sucks in reality. All the metrics saying the economy are biased and bullcrap basically. Most people coming out of college are saddled with huge debts and have no job prospects, there are simply not enough jobs for the degrees people are getting. Automation, outsourcing and simple greed to squeeze desperate workers for more productivity has radically changed the job field. Garbage contract work, part time positions and no benefits are the norm. Until laws are in place to force companies to spend some of their money on hiring instead of profits to shareholders and CEOs even people with college degrees are going to have a harder and harder time finding work.

 

[Whistler]

I'm applying to be an electrician apprentice this week. I did 4 years of college, nothing to show for it but debt and options to hustle for a job that pays 12 bucks an hour.

I'd rather suck it up and go work on a site somewhere and make enough money to live on my own.

 

[Thatguy]

Trades are booming now. It was really hard to stay afloat post housing crash though. Work can and will dry up fast.

 

[Helot_Azure]

If you can tolerate tough working conditions and shitty hours, by all means. Personally, I have no regrets about sticking to the white collar side of the work force.

 

[Deleted member 9838]

If you can tolerate tough working conditions and shitty hours, by all means. Personally, I have no regrets about sticking to the white collar side of the work force.

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where does this shitty working hours myth come from? You work an eight hour shift usually starting between at 8 to 10 and ending around 5 or 6. Holidays and weekends off too.

 

[Deleted member 24907]

"Fuck college, get into trade jobs" is just as vacuous a generalization as is "college is your only option".

With trade jobs you run a higher risk of worse working conditions, long-term health problems, they're first on the chopping block of layoffs, and you need to make sure you're unionized at all times.

Neither option is a one-size-fits-all "everyone should do this, fuck the other option".

 

[Kthulhu]

11 million jobs will exist in the future that require a college degree. The fuck college narrative is a dangerous one. Not to mention blue collar jobs are the most likely to be automated.

The main issue with college is cost. If prices are significantly reduced or outright eliminated then far more people could persue higher education.