re: New figures on apprentice trade pay vs. new college grad pay

Tradesmen make more than college grads, and are probably smarter on average too. They didn't go to college to get brainwashed by no woke libtards so they have a leg up on all those sissies who sit in cubicles all day

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That $69k for college grads is the result of an extremely wide range of degrees and careers. I’d have to imagine there are a lot of low earning degrees that are keeping that average lower.

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What are you talking about? Thats good for a college grad, if anything its abnormally HIGH. Probably NYC/LA/SF earnings throwing it off.

So plumbers and electricians are "top professionals" to you?

I bet you graduated with a useless degree and work as a tiny little fluffer

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You mean when that plumber, electrician, HVAC guy is now a master in their trade and has their own company? They do alright.

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The white collar guys 20 years in who own their own firms make way fricking more than the plumber who owns his, on average.

You added a factor (owning their own shop) to the trades side like it was a given, which it very much isn’t.

Want to compare comp of the plumber with his name on the truck and the lawyer with his name on the door?

Guess I lucked out. When to LSU for Mechanical Engineering and dropped out to pursue a career in Drafting. Went to a tech school and paid off my student debt in 18mos. After 25 yrs, I'm a Senior Lead Piping designer(E3D & PDMS) at a large firm making just as much as engineers. I get the perks of a "college grad" but I get time and a half for overtime.

The fact that people believe that 80k number for apprentice in the trades is also laughable. Maybe if you include all OT and all benefits.

Sorry to tell most of the blue collar guys but bragging you made 150k with all benefits included or 150k working extra 1200 hours and no benefits is not the flex many of you think it is

And terd, I was in the trades and graduated the apprenticeship program and then went and got my engineering degree…trust me much better being an engineer and make 6-8x times as much than a normal journeyman makes.

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I am amazed that the average compensation out of college is $69k.

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Yeah I'm not sure I believe that statistic

I will guarantee anyone interested in listening this. If you take 100 -18 year old kids who go to college and major in a field that actually leads to employment - medicine, accounting, engineering etc. and 100 - 18 year old kids who enter into an apprenticeship...not just a trade but an actual apprenticeship with a formal education component, randomly selected and follow them though full retirement age you will see why former opera singer Mike Rowe is a con artist pushing an agenda he has no experience or ability to fully understand.

The former group will be making about what the latter group is making by age 23 but will most likely have some serious debt that will be paid off by the time they are 33 or so. The latter group will not have any or as much debt and will be making a pretty good salary from about the age of 25 to 35. This is where their worlds will begin to diverge. By the age of 40 none of the former group will be retired due to a job related disability. A small number of the latter group will be. Statistically trade jobs annually fall in the most dangerous jobs in the US. It is damned hard work that takes a toll on the body. Far more of the latter group will have serious health issues by the time they are 40 and a sizeable number of them will find these health problems prevent them from earning as much as those same kids in the first group. The number of the latter group still plying their trade by age 50 will be about 20 of the original 100...this is a group of people who went into a formal apprenticeship program. 80% will be doing something other than that trade by age 50. The vast majority of tradespeople do not enter the field through a formal apprenticeship program....80% of them fail to continue in that trade into their 30s, almost none into their 40s and 1-2% will make it into their 50s. Meanwhile the college educated group is just starting to make some serious money....while their trade counterparts are finding it impossible to continue to ply their trade 17 or more years before they are old enough to retire.

Tradesmen do not work as long in their profession as other professions because it is too much physically to do so. There are an abysmally few management positions to move into, even fewer manage to hang out their own shingle and make a living for long on their own....and the vast majority spend about 8 years in the trade and are unable to ever better their lot in life. This is the reality. It happens to almost ALL tradesmen eventually...it is slightly better for those who do a formal apprenticeship because their employers are slightly better at promoting safety and providing health insurance but the majority of tradesmen get into a trade because someone they know is in it, they do not go to trade school but learn on the job and the vast majority last less than 10 years and start over competing against high school kids for jobs and educational opportunities.

I know anecdotally that we will be regaled with stories disputing this....but the fact is, on average, the vast majority of people who go into a trade do so for about 10 years and right back at square one if not worse because they have wasted 10 years of their lives and most likely have some health issues that prevent them continuing to ply their trade.

I grew up in a family that are tradespeople and I am a 5th generation member of the IBEW. I have spent my entire life around tradespeople and have made a good living managing tradespeople and recruiting tradespeople and training tradespeople. I have NEVER sugar coated the fact that if they do not relish the idea of trying to live on a disability pension, if they are lucky, from the age of 50 until they die, that they may want to consider getting an education. I have to look at the face I shave every morning and if I lied as badly as Mike Rowe does I couldn't do so. It is true, for about 20 years out of high school many people can indeed make a damned good living in a trade.....then the competition from younger, more physically able men and women who are willing to work for less money becomes a very real issue. Learning a trade is a good way to earn a living but it is not remotely close to what an accountant or an engineer experiences because almost no one is still plying a trade at 60 while many accountants and engineers are still earning 6 figure salaries into their 70s.