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

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Why are you counting benefits?

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Our employee costs are salary and we generally double salary for total cost of employment (benefits). So to try to compare apples to apples by year 5, our people are making about $100/hour defined that way

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And what is their respective pay 10 years into their careers?

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The bigger question is what is the college grad making at age 50 compared to the tradesman? 55? 60? 65? The fact is that for every 18 year high school kid who goes into a trade right out of high school only about 1% are still working in that trade by the age of 40. Less than 50% will be in the trade by the age of 25.

Go to any place where tradespeople work and find a 50 year old who is not the boss. Good luck. This is not without cause...it is not because the 50 year olds earned enough to retire before the age of 50, it is because younger, more physically able competition in a position to work for less money has replaced them, just as the same will do to those younger workers in a few years. It is a simple matter of reality that the whole "trades are better than education" crowd dismiss because they have no fricking idea what they are talking about having never worked in a trade a day in the life.

It is an anti-education agenda that is being driven that is the same old chestnut that capital has employed against labor since the dawn of civilization. Listen to the rich, wealthy, educated man who has never been outdoors in 10 degree weather for 90 days straight working 12 hours a day 7 days a week extoll the virtues of the money one can earn doing just that and consider why he isn't and has never experienced it first hand. It is because he has money, an education, and has concluded that it just ain't for the lower classes among us...the world needs ditch diggers you know.

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80k for apprenticeship? Where and what trade? I can tell you plumbing apprentices in Lake Charles don’t even come close to sniffing 80k. Even most licensed plumbers here don’t make that.

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I will gurantee anyone willing to listen there is not an apprenticeship program in the United States where the average apprentice is making $80k a year in wages and benefits. Not a one. Not working 40 hours a week but also not working 70. It is an anti-education driven agenda that has been in place since time out of mind....the wealthy and educated are of the opinion that the unwealthy and uneducated do not need either....they should listen to a group of people making salaries in the top 1% of wage earners, most of whom have an education. extoll the virtues of climbing into an attic in August in Baton Rouge at age 60 to replace an air handling unit. That group wants more uneducated dolts in the trades so they can pay less for that 60 year old to keep their AC running.


It is an all too easy thing to sale...young people are not dumb but they also think they are bullet proof. They do not realize that all they have to do is go to the nearest construction site or car repair place and ask "where are the 50 year olds?". There may be a few in management. The majority of the people doing the work will be less than 40. What happened to the majority of the 18 year olds who entered the trade 22 years ago??? They are doing something else other than plying the trade because they are not physically able to do so any longer. It's a damned long time between age 35 and 65.....but no 18 year old kid ever understood that. The Mike Rowes of the world do...and they do not give a flying frick as long as that 18 year old kid who is physically beat to a pulp by age 40 brings their door dash to the house in a timely manner....

Once you top out, you can make money anywhere and if you don’t like it… leave for another job. There’s plenty of work. There’s a shutdown in Texas guys make 1099 $10k a week.

I lack a full degree, and we became successful.

Knowing how to fix things and knowing how to run a business that fixes things are two different skillsets.

It can be done, but it's rare.

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There’s a shutdown in Texas guys make 1099 $10k a week.

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So temporary work where you literally have to live there? Ok cool

If we’re giving anecdotes, I know partners at accounting firms that make more than $10k a week every single week until they retire and their job is to take clients to their standing table at the nicest steakhouse in town

Haha yeah. First hand experience. Now I can see if you start your own business how you could be making over 100k in Lake Charles if you’re a go getter, but if you’re hired by a plumbing company think again.

From what I've seen, most small business owners dont understand the financial aspects (profit & loss, cost of money, cash flow, etc) of running a business.
They usually stay small, but they can make a decent living.

There's a big difference between grossing $1M a year and $20M a year.

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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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And then they hit age 35 and realize their boss is 28 and their co-workers are about 25 and running circles around them and they have 32 years to full retirement age. Me

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Before or after union dues

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Lol union dues aren't shite. I spend more on dumb shite than I do on the $38/mo I pay in dues.