Noone likes to work……

with their hands anymore.

There seems to be a growing hole for general and skilled laborers in today’s society. Every construction trade guy I speak with can’t find good help. A few mechanic shop owners I know can’t find any there. Couple fab shops as well, noone to work. Kids coming out of these tech schools are literally having bidding wars on them before graduation.

What’s going on? General consensus is nobody wants to work hard nowadays for money. Younger generations who would usually fill this gap are nowhere to be seen. These companies, including mine want to grow but can’t because the labor ain’t there!

This is busy season for most, but much of it ain’t same ol same ol, there is an issue starting to rear its ugly head IMO, and that’s unmotivated youth/workers.

Thoughts?

I agree 100%. The trades are becoming a thing of the past. I am glad I encouraged my kids to go to trade school rather than spend 6 years at $30,000 a year university. Both had good jobs before they even finished school and now have their own houses. If they had gone to “college” they would be just getting out now and have huge student loan payments.

I have encouraged friends and family to have their kids follow the trades also. The market of tradesmen is dwindling fast and they are in high demand.

Seems everyone wants drive a desk all day and stare at the computer. I have an excuse, I am old and used up from 30 years of production work

From what I’ve seen there is the same ratio of skilled workers to non skilled in all age groups. You get what you pay for, go out to the oil fields and see how many young people are out there. They follow the money. Companies are having more trouble keeping good help rather than finding good help.

I think the shift started in the 80’s when at that time labor working parents wanted better for their children and a 4-year education was pushed hard. So, this has been coming for a long time. We also have more service orientated employment opportunities than ever so there is a shift from trade opportunities to service opportunities.

This is just a quick observation without digging real deep into this.

Solution? More immigrates.

Crap! Did I just type that?

sticker wrote:

I agree 100%. The trades are becoming a thing of the past. I am glad I encouraged my kids to go to trade school rather than spend 6 years at $30,000 a year university. Both had good jobs before they even finished school and now have their own houses. If they had gone to “college” they would be just getting out now and have huge student loan payments.

I have encouraged friends and family to have their kids follow the trades also. The market of tradesmen is dwindling fast and they are in high demand.

Seems everyone wants drive a desk all day and stare at the computer. I have an excuse, I am old and used up from 30 years of production work

I’ll agree that trade schools are a great option for many people and that there is a strong need for skill laborers, but a 4 year college is also a great option for many people as well. Sure you can certainly blow a lot of time and money, but it’s all a matter of what you study and put your efforts towards. I graduated in 2008, in 4 years, paid for school 100% on my own, didn’t even work part time during school, had a full time job with benefits lined up before I graduated (keep in mind that was in May of ’08, so that was rare), and had all of my student loans and truck paid off before I was 28, again 100% on my own. Both post secondary education routes have their pro/cons, but it all comes down to the individual.

If there is anyone who is looking at trade schools, take a look at Mike Rowe WORKS website. He’s a huge supporter of trade schools and offers a lot of scholarships. He’s a great guy to follow online, not only on this topic, but everything.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Crap! Did I just type that?

Nothing wrong with that at all, that’s what they have done up to now is fill the voids.

That’s the only regret of screwing up in school I have, it wasn’t freakin history class, it was paying attention in Spanish! They are the best damned workers I have seen on almost every site.

The pay is a good point. Looking over CL at your average warehouse job a guy can get $12-15hr. That’s pretty inline with to what general labor jobs are at, except for the easier workload. Prices will have to jump, and that will fall directly on consumers in order to get these workers to come back from whichever field they went.

I fall under this age group you speak of and I am seeing it first hand in the manufacturing industry I work in. I was one of them who went to college instead of a trade school. If I were to do it again, I would 100% pick trade school. No, I don’t have huge student loans, but I see many friends who decided to pick a trade and they are not necessarily better off by any means, but are much happier in their decision.

Another argument worthy of noting along the same lines…Could it also be a push by colleges to enroll in their “liberal arts” degrees? Yes, there are a few liberal arts degrees that have good outlooks, but not many. Look at someone who put the time in to get an engineering degree vs someone who decided it was a good idea to get a Gender and Women’s Studies or political science degree…So many Colleges and Universities offer useless degrees to people who “just want a degree to start their career”. I am by no means saying someone who got a degree in Ethnic Studies can’t find a good job, but it is much harder. I’ve seen it first hand of people who got a degree in Philosophy and are now answering phones at a call center…

Men, Women, purple, blue or orange, there are endless opportunities awaiting anyone. People just want the easy route and they will pay for it in the future…

No one wants to hear my rant on the workforce but the young people are out there, in a place no one would want to be, working hours no one would want to work, strings of days that are unreasonable, living out of their trucks and run down hotels, making more money than they can spend. The other 98% are stocking the shelves of abercrombie part time.

Really?? Now why would anyone want to work when they can do this all day…

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Heavy equipment operator. It’s kinda like playing video games all day. Funnest job I’ve ever had. Sitting on my backhoe or dozer all day moving dirt. I do something similar now but with more responsibilities, and more risk. Still pretty fun when I think about though.

I’ve worked hard my whole life. Correction: I’ve worked hard for somebody else my whole life. Now I’m old, broken down, beat up, and full of arthritis. Constant pain is a normal part of life. And I’m pretty much broke. I’ll probably never retire because I’ll never be able to afford it. And tomorrow morning I’ll be right back here at 6AM.

So why would any young person look at me and say “I want to work my rear end off and be just like that guy”. They’re not stupid. For 40 years now working middle class working people have been taking it in the neck. The kids see that the system is rigged and the only ones coming out ahead are the ones wearing the suits. So off to college they go, not trade school.

I’m not bitter. Just very, very disappointed.

SR

A client of my firm, a chain of auto body repair shop has spent years and millions of dollars trying to address the issue of the labor shortage in skilled trades. In their case it’s a multi-million dollar case of life or death because the equation for them is: No New Technicians = Business is Dying.

They studied the problem extensively and here are their main findings:

1. Parents and young people do not understand the nature of skilled trade work. In the case of auto technicians, parents and students today believe it is low paid, dirty, dangerous, and a dead end job.

The reality that our client has amped up communication on is this: 70% of their auto body techs make more than $80,000 per year, and of that 70%, 20+% of that group makes more than $100k per year. The work in neither dirty, nor dangerous, they needed to show people what working in an auto body shop is like these days.

2. Schools do almost nothing these days to support or encourage young people to consider skilled trades. Most schools have downsized or eliminated the programs that gave students trade-related skills in the past. Moreover, teachers especially have an outdated and negative view of the skilled trades and they link these views with their belief that suggesting the trades to students is a form of economic class-isim.

3. As more and more people become less and less able to do any of the many things we rely on skilled tradespeople to do these days, they loose a connection with what’s involved and how fulfilling it can be. This is a long way of saying that parents tend to encourage their kids to do what they (the parents) know. They don’t know anything about skilled trades, so parents today encourage kids to be “knowledge workers” and to pursue service industry jobs.

BTW, I wanted to give a shout-out of appreciation to the Forum’s own Maestro of the Hardwood Floor, Nick (Nhamm). He laid a cork floor at my mother in law’s this week and it’s a work of art.

Grouse

Shut the spigot off in Washington D.C. and you will have people looking for work.

Grouse absolutely nailed it.

Perception matters, is a tradesperson a well skilled and compensated individual or are they confused with non-skilled labor aka low pay jobs?

I once used my hands to make a living, albeit unskilled. Now I make my living using my brain and a keyboard. As I get older, I’ll still be able to work. My back, knees, fingers, etc can mostly go to hell but I can still work. Heat and air conditioning can be nice too on the crappy weather days.

p.s. I’m a proponent for trade schools for many kids. However there can be advantages to making a living in other ways.

I am one of the skilled trades people and a union person. We work hard to recruit new tallent and have new programs called construct tomorrow where we hold job fairs and invite highschool aged kids to see what we have to offer. We have every trade there and we all have some kind of hands on display for the kids to try out. The bricklayersd actually have them lay brick, the electricians have them pulling wire terminating computer cables etc… the welders and painter have vurtuial painting and welding, the 49’ers have a video game type to simulate running equipment etc… this helps expose them to what is out there and we also explain how much you can make and the benifits etc..

The construction trades have come along way and progressed with new techniques and tools to make the job easier on your bodies and not wear you out as has happened in the past. Do not mistake you will still sweat some and give a little blood due to scrapes and cuts but overall the trades have made great improvements to keep our older workers healthy and working effecitently. As 48% of our current work force is over 40 years old so we need to retain their experience and knowlege so they can pass it on to the up and comming trades people. Some ask why is it so expensive to get an electician or plumber? How much does it cost to have your computer fixeed? Your taxes done? How much have groceries and meat gone up in th epast few years? It is all relitive and the skilled trades will continue to provide good paying jobs that people can make a really good living at as long as one is willing to show up every day and put in your time.

Tuma wrote:

I think tv has helped this in many ways. The blue collar worker is always made fun of in shows and men are dumb. Also it’s the entitlement younger generations have. Thanks everyone gets a trophy.

I would agree with the younger generations having an entitlement attitude. I work in a small shop of skilled mechanics and all of the young people that are hired urine and moan all day about having to do the jobs that all the older guys had to do when they started. I get tired of hearing “why do I have to clean all the parts when so and so doesn’t” why don’t I get to do this or that”, and the list goes on. A generation of cry babies.
There is travel in my line of work- lot’s of it in my occupation- to service, upgrade, test new concepts on equipment around the world and the second it requires more than an 8 hour day, the “why do I have to work longer” whining begins. Cry, cry, cry!

“young people that are hired urine and moan all day”

“A generation of cry babies.”

“whining begins. Cry, cry, cry!”

Wonder who they learned that from???

Really appreciate the comments Grouse, Thank You. Although the MIL is still under the assumption that’s your handy work right?

Pride, I just don’t see pride put into what alot of people do nowadays. Things get done in a manner which allows the person to get back to whichever form of entertainment they partake in. Whatever happened to “something worth doing is something worth doing right”? If a guy/gal has no motivation to want good things to materialize from their own two hands, then I’m at a loss.

And this is my main concern, if we start to see a large portion of society becoming unwilling to work hard, and the small percentage of people who actually do just don’t care about the quality all that much, where are we headed? It scares me quite frankly.

When those oil fields gonna dry up so those people can come back.

awesome response mark!

The ironic thing with so many people yelling to close the borders, is that this country is facing a real shortage of workers in the not too distant future. As the baby boomers retire or die there aren’t enough people to fill the jobs they are leaving. I am talking about jobs across the board not just trade jobs, but all jobs. I too have had a terrible time trying to find good workers the last few years, and that is a big reason after 26 years in business I am looking to sell and be done with it.

Mookie Blaylock wrote:

“young people that are hired urine and moan all day”

“A generation of cry babies.”

“whining begins. Cry, cry, cry!”

Wonder who they learned that from???

Certainly not from me. My response to the cry baby crap -If you don’t like the work and you don’t like the hours- don’t let the door hit you in the arse on the way out!

tbro16 wrote:

I am a prime example. My great grandpa, grandpa, and dad are/were all farmers. I grew up on the farm, watching how hard they worked to make their money. I also saw my grandpa work his tail off nearly up to the day he died. Not *many* people want that. I finished up high school, balked at the idea of continuing the family farm, and moved onto college where I will be graduating with a Nursing degree in December. I personally would not change a single thing, and would urge every person graduating high school to go to college to further their education and expanding their opportunities.

Travis, I understand your direction on what you want and that many others follow that same path. Thing is, we still need farmers. Food wont grow on it’s own and then harvest itself and appear on grocery shelves. If every person graduating high school goes to college to further their education and expanding their opportunities, we might be running out of food! Actually this just a small sample of “hands on” work that is still essential in our world. There have been huge advancements in automation but we still need humans to “hammer the nails” so to speak.

Great thread BTW, interesting to hear from different camps without us bashing one another.

i dont think there is a correlation between the lack of skilled laborers and peoples unwillingness to work hard. The world is changing and maybe this is a small part of that. As others have said, throughout history no one has looked at the man covered in dirt or grease who worked 14 hours that day coming home and saying “i want to be like that guy”. As a matter of fact “that guy” is the first one to say to his son “dont be like me, go to school and save your body”. My grandpa owned his own auto body shop back when they fixed cars by hammering the dents out by hand. I would see him sagging over in his chair clenching his hands eating Tylenol at the end of the day and he was always saying to me that same thing; “go to school boy”. If you can make X one way and you can make the same amount by doing labor and “working hard”, as you put it, why would you choose manual labor over the other opportunity?

Personally i work in an office but i dont like it, its just what i have skills in. I dont have skills working labor otherwise i would much prefer that. Ive done landscaping and worked as a helper in construction for 3 years and both were exhausting but i liked the work environment. I can tell you one thing, i dont miss being 60 ft in the air on a ladder painting and killing wasps out of cedar shakes. Ill sit in a chair in an office over that any day.

Most of the jobs that you use your hands people have stigmas about. I am 32 and to maintenance work for a living. I would say you don’t need tech college degree just join the military. I wish I would have went in the Navy to be qualified to work on high pressure boilers and turbines.

Key of my own decision. I really do love working on cars but the money and the benefits are not there. Accounting is something I have grown to enjoy and a great career field. The way to make a trade seem more attractive is straight pay and benefits. The only great trade I have seen people my age go into is welding. Granted a lot of people my age are just lazy but not all of us

There are some union diesel mechanics knocking down some serious coin.

Francis K wrote:

I think the shift started in the 80’s when at that time labor working parents wanted better for their children and a 4-year education was pushed hard. So, this has been coming for a long time. We also have more service orientated employment opportunities than ever so there is a shift from trade opportunities to service opportunities.

This is just a quick observation without digging real deep into this.

That also coincides with when labor related industries, along with growth and wages started to stagnate, and it was becoming harder to live like your parents did on a labor wage(generally speaking). It was at this time also that “go big or get out” was hitting the farmers I grew up working for. If you didn’t have the means to expand acreage and the equipment to work it, you sold out or went under and the “family farm” went away. Historically speaking, that is.

Was just talking to a plumber this morning that is offering a $7500 sign on bonus. Only has had one person apply. Guess its much easier for folks to sit around whining and being poor than get to work. Between parents and the government the teets strech a long way in this country. On the flip side for those young folks that want to work the future is bright for them.