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To bad I am in the twilight of my years teaching industrial trades. I have been ringing this bell for years, maybe someone is finally listening! Students I have taught now make upwards of 190k a year with overtime(that is a lot of overtime mind you), the average is easily over 100k and the best part, no college debt!
1 posted on 03/11/2023 7:08:39 AM PST by Skwor
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To: Skwor

My nephew is a one-man highly-skilled construction company. His rate is $125 an hour. He is fully booked through the first quarter of 2024.


2 posted on 03/11/2023 7:11:31 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: Skwor

“Massive skilled labor shortage sparks nationwide refocus on technical education”

Take that, Putin!!! We have the BEST Queer Studies program in the world, and all you have are military factories, brimming with skilled workers.


3 posted on 03/11/2023 7:12:04 AM PST by BobL
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To: Skwor

Learn to wood. Make $$$.


4 posted on 03/11/2023 7:12:10 AM PST by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
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To: Skwor

HuH. This goes against everything taught in he skollz - that “all children must to go to college.”

No, they don’t.

Called a plumber lately? I had to call three before I could find one to repair my broken toilet (lots of family arriving the next day)- they were all booked solid for months.

When I finally did manage to find someone - he charged me over $200 to replace a broken part - a part he had in his truck. Took him less than 10 minutes.

We had a master carpenter living in one of our rentals - always paid six months in advance, in cash - drove a new Porsche - worked in Malibu and Beverly Hills and said he was always booked.


5 posted on 03/11/2023 7:13:33 AM PST by Bon of Babble (What did Socialists use before Candles?..... Electricity)
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To: Skwor

Wasted effort if they don’t eliminate H1B. And there is no current shortage, but they should give more focus, yes. I’ve been doing job search over the past couple of months and every job post has 200+ applicants some hundreds more. There are workers out there, companies just want to pay low India-level wages, thus, claim no Americans, put the H1B in the job. Best thing we could do for current and future workers is end H1B immediately and send all Indian workers home within 60-days as the law sets out.


6 posted on 03/11/2023 7:13:40 AM PST by Reno89519 (DeSantis or Sanders, Anyone But Trump in 2024. Time for Trump to Stand Aside and Retire.)
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To: Skwor

It is all about supply and demand, historically most people didn’t go to college and anyone who wanted a decent life went into trades. The massive number of people who were interested in doing these trades drove down wages.

But everything has changed, now nearly everyone wants to go to college and very few want to work trade type jobs. This has caused a shortage and thus driven up wages for those type jobs.


8 posted on 03/11/2023 7:14:26 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: Skwor

No, nothing has sparked. Us intelligent people with a working knowledge of how a proper civilization works have always said skilled labor is needed and should not be looked down upon. These idiots who write these articles and so far behind the curve that they make us suffer with their stupidity and woke.


9 posted on 03/11/2023 7:15:10 AM PST by New Perspective (As Leonard Cohen said once in an interview, “You won’t like what comes after America”)
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To: Skwor

It’s easier to get a college degree than an actual skill. The market will compensate those who make a more valuable contribution. That’s why tradesmen are earning more than college graduates. It’s as it should be.


11 posted on 03/11/2023 7:16:04 AM PST by Spok
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To: Skwor

I am in a skilled trade, own my own business and make about $300K a year, my one employee made $125K last year. I literally have too much work, and am in great demand. I also happen to be the only person that does what I do in all of SoCal. Here in California, the norm is Land of the Stupid and home of the lazy, oh and where’s my check and whens my break.


12 posted on 03/11/2023 7:16:50 AM PST by eyeamok (founded in cynicism, wrapped in sarcasm)
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To: Skwor

A decent handyman can easily earn 100k a year for a 40hour week schedule. That gives you time to enjoy life with your family.


13 posted on 03/11/2023 7:17:29 AM PST by 5inch38gunner
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To: Skwor

Mike Rowe should be named Secretary of Education. After heun-does all the crap and puts shop classes back in every school, give him gas and matches so he can burn the Dep’t of Education to the ground.


16 posted on 03/11/2023 7:19:04 AM PST by bigbob
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To: Skwor

Most of this “skilled labor” requires some degree of math skill. Public schools around the country are teaching inclusion, tolerance, diversity and CRT. Not much math though


17 posted on 03/11/2023 7:20:02 AM PST by albie
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To: Skwor

Easy fix...just require a work requirement, for ANY and ALL welfare checks/deposits...and, an immediate cut off, without proof.

Offer a one month extension for those submitting certification confirmation to a skilled trade, along with pending job acceptance.

This could also help provide the *diversity* goal, that so many woketards are requiring.

Win, win, win. 🙃


19 posted on 03/11/2023 7:21:11 AM PST by Jane Long (What we were told was a “conspiracy theory” in 2020 is now fact. 🙏🏻 Ps 33:12 )
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To: Skwor

But we just import uneducated, untrained and non English speakers to address those high skill jobs, right Joe?


22 posted on 03/11/2023 7:23:53 AM PST by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting)
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To: Skwor

“Students I have taught now make upwards of 190k a year with overtime(that is a lot of overtime mind you), the average is easily over 100k and the best part, no college debt!”

Their trade skills can also lead to even higher income. I know a carpenter who in his 20s saved his money, bought houses, fixed them up at night after work by himself, and flipped them. Once he assembled enough capital from his own sweat and labor, he started his own construction company. Today, in his 40’s he is a multimillionaire property developer. No college degree. Strong marriage and wife keeps the books for the business.

A neighbor, non-college grad, started at 18 as an apprentice welder. In his 20’s he started a welding company that today works on projects from schools to high rises as well as industrial jobs. He also has another business customizing vehicles for commercial applications. Another self made multimillionaire who has no degree but comes across as more well spoken and educated than most woke graduates of prestige universities.

A third acquaintance started in HVAC. Saved his money, went out on his own and has built a large commercial and residential HVAC business with over 50 technicians in trucks. He told me he would hire another 25 people today if he could find workers with skills. He said the evolution of the state’s 2 year college system from focusing on technical training to liberal arts was criminal.

One of our area 2 year state schools had an outstanding woodworking and cabinet making program. Every graduate was immediately employed upon graduation and most ultimately ran their own independent businesses doing finish carpentry, cabinet work or custom furniture. A new president of the college over a decade ago ended the program to shift funding to expand the liberal arts program. The rationale was the area furniture industry was in decline (moving offshore) so in the future there would be no demand for the graduates of the woodworking program. The ignorance of this “educator” is demonstrated by the fact none of the graduates of the program at the time were going to work in furniture factories, they were going into higher skilled jobs for which there is still huge demand today.

Professional educators have destroyed primary, secondary, and higher education over the past 60 years. They also destroyed technical and skilled trades training. The nation suffers greatly as a result.


26 posted on 03/11/2023 7:28:20 AM PST by Soul of the South (The past is gone and cannot be changed. Tomorrow can be a better day if we work on it.)
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To: Skwor

My grandson just got out of the Army and starts welding school in Houston later this month. Do welders do OK?


31 posted on 03/11/2023 7:34:49 AM PST by jospehm20
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To: Skwor
I wore many hats during my working years,but I was mainly a meat cutter. I'm retired now but looking at meat cases in supermarkets they look like Sh!t. Dirty,no product rotation,half empty,etc. I now see signs of a 1000 dollar sign on bonus for skilled cutters in some stores. I was in a local meat market about two weeks ago and mentioned to the boss lady that I was a retired meat cutter and she offered me a job on the spot to start the next day. I still have all my knives,steel,stones and a hand saw too. (I have my first 10 inch Forschner steak knife I bought in 1975.) I had to tell the lady thanks,but no thanks.
40 posted on 03/11/2023 7:59:06 AM PST by 4yearlurker (Arise and shine,and give God the glory!-A trail cook's morning call.)
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To: Skwor

We have a local technical college that has been here since 1958. It started in one mid-sized building and has grown through the decades into a large campus with satellite locations in three nearby counties. They are constantly growing and expanding their offerings. Tuition is reasonable and they have students clamoring to attend each semester.

The school offers a GED program for high-school drop-outs and assists them in finding a career that will be a good fit. It’s amazing to read articles of young men and women who thought they had no options in life only to graduate with a degree and a job already lined up as a dental hygienist, auto tech, x-ray technician, electrician, or some other such field. The classes are taught by those who actually have hands-on experience in the subject matter they teach.

We need more such schools and many (most?) students should be encouraged to attend a technical school rather than a college that does nothing to prepare them for a career in the future.


47 posted on 03/11/2023 8:14:50 AM PST by CFW (old and retired)
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To: Skwor

Who needs skilled workers when we have legions of people who can shake a fist and scream “racist” while holding out their other hand to demand free money? We also have no shortage of perverts and criminals.


48 posted on 03/11/2023 8:16:33 AM PST by euram (allALL)
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To: Skwor
Same here. I taught vocational electronics for 16 years and my students never had a problem finding jobs right out of high school, some even before graduation.

There was a constant battle with administrators and counselors to show all students didn't need to follow an ivy league college prep program to find a lucrative career.

BTW, the local community college was our staunchest adversary. They wanted that tuition money that comes with the mindset that "You have to go to college to be successful".

55 posted on 03/11/2023 8:48:14 AM PST by pfflier
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