Mike Rowe’s Oral Testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee (Dirty Jobs goes to Congress)

Chairman Rockefeller, Ranking Member Hutchison and members of this committee, my name is Mike Rowe, and I want to thank you all very much for the opportunity to share a few thoughts about our country’s relationship with manufacturing, hard work, and skilled labor.

His name was Carl Knobel, and he made his living in Baltimore as a Master Electrician. He was also a plumber, a mechanic, a mason, and a carpenter. Everyone knew him as a jack-of-all-trades. I knew him as a magician.

For most of his life, my grandfather woke up clean and came home dirty. In between, he accomplished things that were nothing short of miraculous. Some days he might re-shingle a roof. Or rebuild a motor. Or maybe run electricity out to our barn. He helped build the church I went to as a kid, and the farmhouse my brothers and I grew up in. He could fix or build anything, but to my knowledge he never once read the directions. He just knew how stuff worked.

I remember one Saturday morning when I was twelve. I flushed the toilet in the same way I always had. The toilet however, responded in a way that was completely out of character. There was a rumbling sound, followed by a distant gurgle. Then, everything that had gone down reappeared in a rather violent and spectacular fashion.

Naturally, my grandfather was called in to investigate, and within the hour I was invited to join he and my Dad in the front yard with picks and shovels.

By lunch, the lawn was littered with fragments of old pipe and mounds of dirt. There was welding and pipe-fitting, blisters and laughter, and maybe some questionable language. By sunset we were completely filthy. But a new pipe was installed, the dirt was back in the hole, and our toilet was back on its best behavior. It was one of my favorite days ever.

Thirty years later in San Francisco when my toilet blew up again. This time, I didn’t participate in the repair process. I just called my landlord, left a check on the kitchen counter, and went to work. When I got home, the mess was cleaned up and the problem was solved. As for the actual plumber who did the work, I never even met him.

It occurred to me that I had become disconnected from a lot of things that used to fascinate me. I no longer thought about where my food came from, or how my electricity worked, or who fixed my pipes, or who made my clothes. There was no reason to. I had become less interested in how things got made, and more interested in how things got bought.

At this point my grandfather was well into his eighties, and after a long visit with him one weekend, I decided to do a TV show in his honor. Today, Dirty Jobs is still on the air, and I am here before this committee, hoping to say something useful. So, here it is.

I believe we need a national PR Campaign for Skilled Labor. A big one. Something that addresses the widening Skills Gap head on, and reconnects the country with the most important part of our workforce.

Right now, American manufacturing is struggling to fill 200,000 vacant positions. There are 450,000 openings in trades, transportation and utilities. The Skills Gap is real, and it’s getting wider. In Alabama, a third of all skilled tradesmen are over 55. They’re retiring fast, and no one is there to replace them.

Alabama’s not alone. A few months ago in Atlanta I ran into Tom Vilsack, our Secretary of Agriculture. Tom told me about a governor who was unable to move forward on the construction of a power plant. The reason was telling. It wasn’t a lack of funds. It wasn’t a lack of support. It was a lack of qualified welders.

In general, we’re surprised that high unemployment can exist at the same time as a skilled labor shortage. We shouldn’t be. We’ve pretty much guaranteed it.

In high schools, the vocational arts have all but vanished. We’ve elevated the importance of “higher education” to such a lofty perch, that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled “alternative.” Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job-training opportunities as “vocational consolation prizes,” best suited for those not cut out for a four-year degree. And still, we talk about millions of “shovel ready” jobs for a society that doesn’t encourage people to pick up a shovel.

In a hundred different ways, we have slowly marginalized an entire category of critical professions, reshaping our expectations of a “good job” into something that no longer looks like work. A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber – if you can find one – is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we’ll all be in need of both.

I came here today because guys like my grandfather are no less important to civilized life than they were 50 years ago. Maybe they’re in short supply because we don’t acknowledge them they way we used to. We leave our check on the kitchen counter, and hope the work gets done. That needs to change.

My written testimony includes the details of several initiatives designed to close The Skills Gap, all of which I’ve had the privilege to participate in. Go Build Alabama, I Make America, and my own modest efforts through Dirty Jobs and mikeroweWORKS. I’m especially proud to announce “Discover Your Skills,” a broad-based initiative from Discovery Communications that I believe can change perceptions in a meaningful way.

I encourage you to support these efforts, because closing The Skills Gap doesn’t just benefit future tradesmen and the companies desperate to hire them. It benefits people like me, and anyone else who shares my addiction to paved roads, reliable bridges, heating, air conditioning, and indoor plumbing.

The Skills Gap is a reflection of what we value. To close the gap, we need to change the way the country feels about work. Mike Rowe May 11, 2011

High schools, for example, use to offer classes/majors like auto mechanics, wood shop, etc... They no longer do that.

Many of these same schools would also offer classes to adults who wanted to learn a hobby. My dad learned how to weld from the local high school when he was in his 40s. Try finding something like that today. I want to learn to weld (as we live 1,000 mile apart, and I can't just run over to his place to have him show me), but can't find anything like that here.

Sure, there are full-on welding classes that teach the trade to those looking to go into it as a profession, but I don't want that. I want something that teaches the basics, that I can learn from. Sure, there's a ton of stuff on the web, but the laptop isn't exactly something I want near where I'm welding.

“Whether they learned that at home or at school or both..”

I agree. I guess my parents always said that people work hard at any job they have. Each job has a skill and a purpose. I can only think that it is some form of “elitism” that some hold. Granted, they made the distinction that more education usually means a larger paycheck but in no way, shape or form did they ever diminish someone’s occupation as being less worthy or invaluable.

Here in Chile a couple of the VERY GOOD private high schools started builds 2 or 3 homes each year for the poor. The people for whom the house is going to be built must own their land. Families are selected every year by lottery. Most of the families are from the poorer areas of the country, outside of the Santiago Basin.

The schools use volunteers from the Jr. and Sr. classes directed by skilled craftsmen to do ALL the work, from installing the drainage and most often a septic system to digging the footings for the foundation, the concrete work the framing, wiring, plumbing, roofing, windows, insulation, siding, interior walls, trim and painting.

This has been happening for the past 10 or 12 years. I think we are up to 7 or 8 schools doing this each year. The kids learn a lot. 95% of the kids from these high powered schools go to University but those who choose to participate in these programs learn a lot.

You would be surprised how much the sale of personal shop tools and equipment has grown as a result.

Least we not forget how the trades, specifically the building trades, has been undermined by that attitude. Isn't that one reason of the flow of illegal aliens in this country. (not saying you would take that approach)

A bigger issue is that people are willing to settle for poorer quality for less, if that gets them the bigger square footage. I'd rather pay a premium for a well-built house, knowing it will last several lifetimes, than pay less for a bigger house that's going to fall apart on me.

I am the same way. I would love to know how to put down wood flooring, for example. I am not good in geometry and I feel that this specific skill would be one that had to be shown to me in a hands on type of way. I learn difficult subjects by being shown rather than just reading it in a manual. No such classes that I could find either.

A manager or executive with no experience in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of the products and services sold in various markets around the globe and next door, brings about as much value to a company as Janet Nepalitano brings to the Pinkerton Company.

A general contractor with a financial manager who doesn't know pipe threading, cement work, welding, electrical work, framing, drywall, etc.... is going to cause the company harm to it's books and to it's standing within the industry.

I learn difficult subjects by being shown rather than just reading it in a manual. No such classes that I could find either.

For your particular interest, try looking at Home Depot (yeah, it's a dirty word on FR, sometimes) or Lowe's. The one's in my area teach classes every Saturday on different subjects. They may have one. If nothing else, tell them that if they'd show you how to do it, you'd buy your supplies from them.

I am fortunetly one of those handy guys. I always have been. However, a lot of the things I have learned over the years were self taught or from friends and family. I learned electrical wiring by buying a Sunset book at the hardware store. I took wood shop in high school. I learned hard work and auto mechanics from my father.

One of the biggest problems most people have is that they are afraid of it or just do not know where to start.
The other reason is a lot of these jobs require special tools to make them easier to accomplish. Most of those tools will pay for themselves after just using them once.

When I was in high school in NY they offerd BOCES which were vocational programs for kids who most likely would not be going onto college. The kids who attended these programs were always looked down upon as the dumb kids. There was always a stigma for being a auto tech, hairdresser, etc.
Today you can do very well as a plumming and heating contrator or an electrician.

The local electrician in my town has tickets to the Metropolitan Opera, travels with his family to Europe frequently, has a daughter whose wedding pictures were in “Town and Country” magazine, and oodles and oodles of money.

I sometimes watch “This Old House” and programs on HGTV. I appreciate quality craftsmanship.

I worked as a general laborer for a custom builder for summers during high school and college. The experience I got from that job has proven to be the most valuable education I ever received. The company was non-union, small family owned, and employed old carpenters who knew their trade and were literally dying to teach younger people the basics.

This is exactly right. When I went to school they had all these classes. Auto shop, wood shop, metal shop, drafting, electrical shop, drivers ed, home economics, etc... Now there are none because the schools have no money. Teachers and mainly administrators steal it all. 1 or 2 janitors for the whole school and they are watching child porn all day getting nothing done collecting a huge union paycheck.

I have a friend who teaches machine shop at a VoTec school. He has been saying for years that we are becoming a nation that cannot “make” anything. He blames it in the education industry, whose thinking seems to be ‘if it is not computer tech, it is just a “hamburger flipping” job. He tells me he is able to find jobs for two or three students a year after graduation. At an entry level ranging from 15 to 15 dollars per hour. Not bad for an entry level job sraight out of high school. According to him the rest are just biding their time until they can drop out an get into street level pharmaceutical sales.

One of the main reasons shop classes have been eliminated throughout the country has nothing to do with educating. It is tha same reason they cancel school when ther is 3” of snow in NH. It is the exposure to LAWSUITS.
When I was in woodshop in highschool a burnout kid cut about 1/4” into one of his fingers with the bandsaw. He was as high as a kite from smoking dope. He went to the nurses office and then to the hospital. His parents never even thought of suing the school.
Today if that happened, it could potentially be a multimillion dollar suit.
It is really hard to hurt yourself in art class.

What a great idea! however most of the education industry in this country would sneer at the kids building the houses and call them the losers.
On the same note, in tiny little Houston, Mississippi their VoEd class(es) have built solar powered car that competes in solar races in this country and abroad every year. Not only competing but winning. Good practical experience in both high tech and the trades.

I live accross the street from a couple in their 50's. He is a sociology professor at a local state school, and she is the same at a local high profile and very expensive university.

Their basement flooded, a tree fell on their garage, their lawn is brown with fungus because the moisture is so high, their son sat out front with a flat tire for two hours waiting for the auto club to change it, their gutters are so full of leaves that the water pours over, their wiring on an addition needs to be split to three circuits instead of one, their garbage disposal jammed from a fork, and I could go on..............but not one of those problems is within the grasp of themselves, but is being fixed by an outside company who "schedules" a visit to visit five more times.

The really funny part is that they take a day off from work to be there to make sure the work is done "right".............each time a contractor arrives. I'd say they miss five in twenty days of work waiting for people to do crap they can't wrap their gifted minds around.

Since we don’t have a manufacturing based economy here in the US any more, but a service based economy, we have no need for a lot of managers with college degrees. With the closure of each plant goes those skills and experience. The US is doomed to follow in the footsteps of Great Britain..............

Buy a used chop saw on Craigslist.There have been a lot of contrators going out of business lately, so they are always forsale in the tools section. I would suggest a 12” Dewalt. The flooring nailer(used to nail into the groove of the flooring at a 45 degree angle is typically rented to you by the flooring retailer. If the flooring is harder(denser) than oak , I would suggest renting a pnuematic nailer and a compressor. The other tool you will need is a 25’ Sanley tape measure. A table saw is also required for ripping the wood to width. However, the same thing can be accomplised with a circular saw or even hand saw.
With these four tools you can install flooring.

Buy prefinished.

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