[shelterguy]

I agree. I’d wager that (in these parts), $12-$15/hr for trained, qualified workers with decent hours would keep a lot of average HS graduates from choosing the massive debt of college instead of a job.
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I’ve been an employer in the construction business in Minneapolis for many years. For 15 bucks an hour I couldn’t find someone with a pulse. I offered 20 bucks an hour plus overtime for unskilled labor and found nobody.

[central_va]

I don’t believe you. $20.00/hr is very good wage in central Va.

[central_va]

Construction Worker Salaries in Minneapolis, MN

Average in Minneapolis, MN $18.50 per hour

27% Above national average

[grania]

Have you gone directly into immigrant and lower/middle class communities? HS Guidance Counselors for the most part steer their students to college instead of a job. Students are led to believe it's inferior to work when they've completed HS. The reality is that those guidance counselors don't care about the students. They care about the percentage who go to college, whether it's a good idea or not.

Those numbers about how much better a college student does in life than a HS grad? They're skewed. (1) it should be comparing students in the middle third, for whom college isn't an obvious choice. (2) the cost of loans and interest should be subtracted from the lifetime earnings of those who went to college.