Not trying to justify helicopter parents but I understand the reasoning for some.
The middle class opportunities are not good.
In my day you could be a skilled trades guy or get a degree from a big 10 school and expect to make a decent living.
Now that’s much less likely. So the parents desperately try and get their kids into primo schools so they can become masters of the universe.
By "skilled trades," I'm guessing you mean "union?" Because the truly skilled jobs like machinist, tool and die, welder - those jobs are still here and still very much in demand.
But the grossly-overpaid union jobs have by and large left these shores for Mexico, Taiwan, China, etc.