subject: The Decline Of Skilled Labor [print this page] America has transformed its economy from one of manufacturing and agriculture to one of intangible services and software. We sell consulting, training, web services, analytics, and other such things that you cannot touch or hold. We used to build things in this country. We used to lead the world in steel production, automobile production, even lumber and other goods. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with this switch we have made; service jobs are cushy and pay well. They are good middle class jobs. The problem is that there will always be a need for skilled labor positions, and we now have a deficiency in trained people who are willing to get their hands dirty and do a bit of work. read on to learn about the decline of skilled labor in America.
A Good Living
People who work in an office may look down on plumbers, power lineman, and sanitation workers, but the truth is that these positions are necessary for modern society to function. And not only that, it is not a bad way to make a living either. Sure it may not pay as well as and office managers position in most cases, but it offers a solid salary, and freedom from being stuck in an office all day. This freedom is a draw for many, as is the ability to work with ones hands everyday. For some, life in a cubicle is just pure torture. So these are good jobs, but why can we not find enough people to fill them?
The College Problem
Back before the Seventies, college was something that only a portion of the population attended. It was for those who wanted a formal education so that they could learn specialized jobs such as engineering or to become a professor. It used to be that no one ever thought that you needed to get a formal education to learn business. If you wanted to go into business, you simply found someone who owned their own and became their apprentice, learning the tricks of the trade from them on the job. But around the time of the Vietnam War, and for other reasons, college became open to the masses, it was encouraged that everyone get a college education as you would need it and it brought the added benefit of getting you out of the draft. Of course having everyone get a college education devalues it.
Now that it is almost expected for everyone to go to college, the degree means very little, especially vague degrees such as communications or business. Employers often use college as proof that a prospective employee knows how to show up on time and write coherent sentences, rather than a badge of some specialized skill.
This all leads to people shunning the skilled labor positions because they think they have to go to school to get a real job. But these are needed positions and they offer fair wages. We need these people and these positions, and the fewer people that know how to do them, the more they can charge (to a certain point of course). These jobs are those such as automobile repair, tow truck driver, air condition technician, construction workers, plumbers,
