Twenty+ years ago, my brother got a civil engineering degree. During school he worked long, hot summers as a grunt on a road-paving crew, plus did some construction and house-painting. People were begging him to come work for them when he graduated, I think in part because he was willing to work those “grunt” jobs. (Of course, graduating at the tail end of Reagan’s economy helped.) He’s making six figures now as a construction project manager. He’s one of the hardest-working people I have ever seen.
My guys have worked construction and manufacturing. They aren’t slackers. Each has a nice retirement account but that can-do attitude isn’t getting them anywhere.
The job market is bad.