re: There aren’t enough skilled workers and guys under 40 willing to work with their hands

I started a side handyman business that I work when my work from home calendar is empty. Made $1,860 on a job this week installing lights/ceiling fan junction boxes, outlets behind tvs in a new house. Worked out to over 100/hour and that's my goal.

Did a water softener and whole house filter a few weeks ago.

People tell me that they call electricians and such and no one returns their calls.....if you're handy, there's a market, take advantage.

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There aren’t enough skilled workers and guys under 40 willing to work with their hands



They're coming across our southern border right now.

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No, the Mexicans that can provide skilled labor came across years ago.

What is coming over now, even the Mexicans look down upon.

(All of this were told to me by Mexican-American ICE agents)

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There aren’t enough skilled workers and guys under 40 willing to work with their hands

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I'm licensed and insured and 30 years old. Have made a killing the past year doing side work. Will probably start full time coming this summer if all goes to plan. If you have a good attitude and clean up your mess when you are done your name will spread like wildfire down here.

Just a couple things worth noting:

1. We're about 15-20 years into the "everyone should go to college" trend and there is a real societal expectation to go to a 4-year college. I had to half fight with a Mom the other day in a career counseling session over telling her kid he'd be a good candidate for an associates program that will get him a certification in a blue-collar field. You would have thought I told them her kid was going to be a bagger at Kroger for the rest of his life.

As a society, we have to do better about promoting skilled working jobs.

2. A lot of blue-collar jobs would hire you and then pay a liveable wage for an apprenticeship. I had a kid come in the other day that found a plumber apprenticeship but they were only going to pay him $18,000 starting out and he couldn't afford to live on that in today's economy. Something has to give there.

It's not that the younger generation is lazy. It's that they've found other opportunities.

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You now make $30 an hour only when you are at a job.

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yup

You see it here all the time. Unfortunately these office baws just don’t have a high enough t level to run bead on the pipeline like a real man

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I love working with my hands. I especially love building furniture and rebuilding engines. Neither pays what I make sitting in an office.

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Me too. I am into 3D printing and I do some home welding to make cool stuff but if I sold them it is less than my billable per hr rate doing my actual job.

I am cheap so I do most basic maintenance myself. The only basic thing I pay for is car stuff like oil changes.

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I know a lot of people between 40-45 years old that grew up playing video games.

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A lot still do at that age

people on here overly romanticize trade work, but that's not to say it's not great for some people.

if you get a good degree, you will:
-make more money
-have PTO
-generally have a more stable life
-have significantly better working conditions

What do you do for a living?