“Battling the Trades Stigma” – How the AWS is right on this

Professional societies are typically beneficial; it is for this reason that people elect to join them in the first place. I would be remiss were I not to mention I belong to two: the American Welding Society and the American Society for Nondestructive Testing. Aside from the professional connections, new research can be found and delivered to those adherents which propel their careers. It’s interesting to me that April 2020 should yield such fruits; Materials Evaluation, ASNT’s periodical had a great article on Neutron Radiography, prompting me to write about it, found here.

I really really like this picture

In the Welding Journal, The American Welding Society’s periodical, I found an article titled “Battling the Trades Stigma” and it’s not surprising it aligns with much of what I tout from the skilled trades perspective. I have been singing the praise of not just the skilled trades but also the opportunities afforded them for some time now and it would seem the American Welding Society validates these points quite nicely. Let’s dive right in on what I found worthy of underlining and including in this post.

“Today, much of the nation’s infrastructure is aging and requires the expertise of skilled workers to rebuild bridges, highways, and underground pipelines. However, older tradespeople are nearing retirement age much faster than they can be replaced by younger counterparts. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests more than half of all skilled trades workers, such as welders, are 45 years or older. As a result, jobs that require trade skills vastly outnumber the available workforce. The American Welding Society predicts a shortage of more than 375,000 skilled welding professionals by 2030.”

The above is PACKED with relevant information, which I have been saying for quite some time now. Is there a shortage of skilled trades labor? ABSOLUTELY. Is that shortage being exacerbated by the retirement of the baby boomer generation? Yes, it is. Does this mean increased demand in the skilled trades with decreased supply, resulting in increased wages? BINGO. Supply and demand is at play here, folks. This creates a stellar opportunity for those who are entering the skilled trades at this time. I have been saying this for years now. In fact, a primary purpose of this website is to tout the exploits, skill, craftsmanship, and benefits of the skilled trades and the opportunities therein.

That being said though, I’ll defer the above for another post – or simply leave it to be the introduction for this article. The truth is, I wanted to focus on WHY this supply and demand problem exists in the first place. Yes, the baby boomer generation retiring contributes to it but it is not the cause. Instead, as the title of the AWS article and this post suggest, it is the stigma that is inadvertently, and, in many cases, intentionally placed, on the skilled trades and their respective professions.

The stigma of skilled trades work

The ice-cold chain of stigma binds us all

The stigma against the skilled trades is real and damaging; anyone who tells you otherwise is ignorant at best and intentionally deceptive at worst. Of course, there is to be considered the lies that are often packed into not just our schools but also society itself; that is, you have to go to college to get a good job. By extension, this means those who are in the skilled trades do not make good money, work less than desirable jobs, and those jobs are often seen as beneath many “intelligent” individuals. Evidence of this is a survey done by Metal Supermarkets, which is telling, to be sure. Let’s have a look at what they found.

• 56% say they’re not – or never were – interested in going to a trade school
• 55% said people with office jobs earn more respect than those who work with their hands
• 74% said traditional college gives you a better future than trade school
• 65% believed that student debt was the price you pay for a college education
• 62% revealed they didn’t learn about trade schools options in high school
• 68% said trade schools were never discussed by their guidance counselor
• 51% said they would rather work as a barista than as a welder

What are we left to conclude from these findings? Can we not see the inherent bias against the skilled trades when so many say skilled trades were never discussed by their guidance counselor? Aside from the fact that vocational training has been cut in many schools across the country, what of those who said they didn’t hear about trade school options? Can you not see the stigma alive and present in the dissemination of information about alternative paths – even viable ones such as the skilled trades? Is a survey such as this not indicative of the current trend that college is the only viable option? Indeed, I am left to conclude the cultural hazing experience that is college is alive and well. Click here for America’s Ultimate Hazing Experience: The College Degree.

My favorite is the 51% who said they would rather be a barista. This clearly highlights their ignorance and the stigma they hold toward the skilled trades atmosphere. Plus, I bet many still live in their parent’s basement and do not feel the weight of necessity crashing down on them. Give ’em a dose of responsibility and a different tune is sung.

Again, there is the need to remind those who may think I’m callous and abrasive to college I AM NOT. What I am opposed to the stance that you have to go to college to get a good job and, in line with this article, opposed to the idea that college is the only viable option. IT IS NOT. Being pro-skilled trades is different than anti-college.

Again, if you want to look at the survey, click here to check it out.

Where the stigma originated

With regard to where the stigma originated from, I’ll defer to the American Welding Society here and the author of the article. I can only say that as long as I have been alive and cognizant I have been told I needed to go to college to get a good job, which I have written about summarily in other posts. The article asserts that “the start of the trade school stigma can be traced to the 1980s with the release of A Nation At Risk, a government report that stoked concerns about the American education system.”

The reason for the report was because of “years of declining scores on international exams,” which I do not have the time or fortitude to address here. Rather, I want to add emphasis and weight to the fact that a stigma not only exists but also can find its genesis in more than said report. It can be found stemming from guidance counselors steering kids to college because of an unseen bias against the skilled trades. It can be found when parents tell their children to go to college so they don’t have to work with their hands (I personally find this exceptionally distasteful since it comes from within). There is also the culture at large that has adopted the thought process that skilled trades are less than desirable – which, I believe anyway, does not find its origin in the 1980s report. Instead, there are several avenues that have brought us to the roundabout of skilled trades derision.

Stigma – a personal example

For my part, I can come up with two very specific examples I was privy to, which demonstrate that yes, those of us in the skilled trades can be our own advertisement – for good and bad.

The first comes from an OSHA class I was taking years ago. As we sat at the round table discussing the various aspects of our trade, I distinctly recall one guy who said “you know, we often tell our kids they need to do better than we did but this hasn’t been a bad life at all.” Do you see what he was saying? Can you grasp his intent? He not only acknowledges we tell our kids to do better (what parent wants their kids to have it worse than them?) but also the life afforded him by the skilled trades has been a good one, indeed. Generations of families have been involved in the trades and have provided a good living – with something else many others do not obtain – job satisfaction. Click here to read my post on Job Satisfaction: What’s It Mean To You? post.

How is your job satisfaction?

The second example comes from a former colleague, who, much to my surprise, told an apprentice he should find another occupation – that this isn’t what he would want to do for the rest of his life. Never mind the fact that he has supported his family in comfort all of those years prior, or the fact that he paid for his son’s tuition for college, either (Although to be fair, that same individual claimed multiple times to have sold drugs to pay for college – so there’s that). In any case, I reproached him for his statements and gave him some of the evidence as to why the trades have been good for him personally.

The example above, sad to say, isn’t an isolated incident either; it is but one of many that give the skilled trades a bad image. Scores of parents inadvertently, and in many cases, intentionally, steer their kids away from the skilled trades, telling them they want better for them. The subjective nature of this is at play here. After all, what constitutes “better” in the first place? Then, of course, there are parents who tell their kids you don’t want to do what your parents do – you don’t want to work with your hands. This is gross misdirection and steals the nobility that is intrinsic in the trades. Overall, when you couple the internal drivel that is spewed at the skilled trades with the bias from those on the outside, it is any wonder the trades carry the burden of a stigma? I think not. We would do well to understand our words can yield tremendous effect – for good and bad.

How to correct the stigma

Correcting the mistakes that stigma creates

Since we know there is a skilled trades shortage, and understand there is an ever-present stigma adding to the problem, the question remains: what can be done? What course can be taken to upright the ship? Perhaps the tide is too great, or the climb too high?

I’m not convinced it is too difficult a problem to overcome. There are certain things we can do that will impact the skilled trades for years to come. Some originate from the current and growing shortage. For example, according to Nicholas Bratton Hardy, writing in AWS’s May issue of Welding Journal, “the lack of skilled labor also plays a role in the cost of existing skilled tradespeople to contractors that need them on the job. With low levels of new talent entering the skilled trades, those that currently occupy such positions are demanding premium wages.” I would only add there are a number of companies who are voluntarily paying higher wages. They understand the nature of headhunting and do not want to lose that which they have.

*See my post on headhunting here*

The author continues: “This lends concern to contractors, and those concerns were reflected in a 2018 survey conducted by USG + US Chamber and published as the Commercial Construction Index. As with all recent Commercial Construction Index quarterly publications, multiple concerns were listed, but cost of skilled labor was seen as a concern by 90% of reporting contractors.”

I’ll save my opinion largely for myself with respect to the US Chamber of Commerce. Instead, I would point out that attempting to correct the stigma and actual shortage of skilled labor are one and the same when you read something like this. It is a ripe and fertile field for H1B visas which, in case you didn’t know, does nothing for the worker but effectively makes indentured servants of the H1B visa holder as well as lowers the wages overall. One way to overcome the stigma, as seen here, is to simply import cheaper labor. It goes without saying this is a distasteful option we do not want to see employed.

Another way to battle and overcome the stigma is for us to learn from our mistakes. Simply put, we would do well to recognize what a blessing the skilled trades have brought about. It is high time we stop denigrating the trades to those in our realm of influence and build them up instead. The author of The Challenges of Finding Skilled Labor in the Construction Industry (May issue of Welding Journal, the AWS periodical), writes, “A paradigm shift is needed to make real progress on the skilled labor front. The next challenge is to improve the image of trade schools and craft training programs to place them on the same plane as four-year universities in terms of earning potential and prestige. The antiquated thought that the only path to a successful and prosperous life is a bachelor’s degree has to be changed.”

While I do not think it’s possible to place skilled trades and universities on the “same plane” (there are some steep hills to climb i.e. perception, HUGE societal restructure), I certainly agree with the paradigm shift he talks about. I second highlighting good earning potential and feel it is vital the “you have to go to college to get a good job” mentality dies a thousand deaths. Overall, he brings up solid points I can get behind and have been touting here for some time at The Wealthy Ironworker.

There is one other point I wish to expound on and that is upward mobility. In the vast majority of the corporate world, entry starts at the bachelor’s degree level. Eventually, many find themselves hitting a glass ceiling and they must pursue a master’s in hope of ascending further. They place a heavy emphasis on the educational component. This isn’t to say I agree with the model; it’s simply how it’s done. Personally, experience always wins out over education but in the corporate world, this is how they do it.

A recent screenshot from LinkedIn I captured – what in the world are they thinking???

I have noticed and others have remarked how in the construction industry someone can start at the bottom and work their way to the top. From apprentice to owner and everything else in between, there isn’t an industry around that allows you to experience such a wide array of positions and situations and affords someone the opportunities available. I have met several business owners who started in the skilled trades as an apprentice and worked their way up, eventually starting their own company. Many did this without college degrees – instead, they utilized a concoction of experience, failure, learning from others’ mistakes, and their own all the same. This should be celebrated not looked down upon.

I’m encouraged to see others join in touting the skilled trades and promoting a message that is positive. Build Witt Media talks about the “dirt world.” The Art of Manliness touts the skilled trades in much the same way this website does. Of course, there is Mike Rowe who is certainly on the side of skilled labor. If we are to change the stigma against skilled labor this is a good place to start and I’m glad to be in good company.

UPDATE: Jim Rogers, a great construction professional prominent on LinkedIn, has weighed in on this subject, too. I recently read his piece on why Higher wages are not the answer to our shrinking workforce and, while we may differ on the subject of money (I have seen people do some really stupid crap for more money – like stay in an industry because they make bank), he does bring up a very relevant point: the trades need to be respected. The respect does not just come from the public either; it also comes from the General Contractors, Owners – anyone who has a stake in seeing construction projects done. The trades do put up with some piss poor job site conditions and Jim is right: they are not respected. I contend the need for respect is much the same as breaking the stigma which surrounds the trades. Give the article a read – Jim is a great construction advocate.

Moreover, I also think part of the construction industry’s woes in dealing with recruitment aside from money is also generational entitlement. For my money, I believe many in the younger generation need a healthy dose of responsibility; keyboard warriors who reside in their parent’s basement feel as though all is safe. They need to feel the need to provide – at least for themselves – and you can watch as they HAVE to do something maybe they don’t want to, clearing the way for an opportunity to shine bright. They have been lied to repeatedly; you have to go to college to get a good job, the world owes you, and even you can do anything you want. They are all wrong: you do not have to go to college to get a good job, the world owes you nothing, and you CAN’T do anything you want. Millions of people go to a job they don’t particularly care for or even like and you know why? It provides for them and their family. Residing in a cushy basement where you have time to postpone launching into adulthood coupled with a lack of want and you have a recipe for entitlement.

Momma Robins kick the baby out of the nest, forcing them to fly. If you see a correlation here, it’s because it makes sense.

Money talks

Everyone is chasing the dollar

Let’s get down to brass tacks for a minute. We all know money makes the world go around. Money talks, as they say. Money is what brings people to the table and is what will have, in my estimation, the best effect on the stigma against the skilled trades. When the wages rise, people become attracted to making more money and capitalize on the opportunities. In some form or fashion, this is why entire fields experience increases in interest. For example, the medical field is finding a large influx of personnel and you can be sure one of the reasons is because of pay. To be sure, individuals are following opportunities, which can net some nice gains. Read my post about passion vs. opportunity here.

What’s more, as the crunch of inflation and lack of prosperity grow, the opportunity to make a better-than-average living looks more attractive. Make no mistake: the opportunity is definitely there and some are smart to capitalize on it.

In truth, supply and demand are at work here. The supply of skilled labor is short and getting shorter, the demand is increasing, and therefore those in the game have the ability to make more money. This doesn’t merely apply to those already in the field – it also is applicable to those coming in. Money is a great allure for those who are up in the air about what they want to do for a living.

Conclusion

There are a lot of reasons why the stigma against skilled trades exists and a lot of ways to counteract it; there is no simple solution or easy answer. Even so, there are reasons why we should try to right the ship and eliminate the stumbling blocks which currently exist. The health of the skilled trades depends on the collective effort to hold it in esteem because, after all, many of us have found them to be rewarding, fulfilling, and satisfying.

Here are some other posts you may be interested in dealing with skilled trades:

• Let’s Talk About the Skilled Trades
• Why Skilled Trades Have the Best Game in Town
• The Benefits of the Skilled Trades
• The Pros and Cons of the Skilled Trades (My most popular piece)