Posted on 05/20/2026 3:50:03 AM PDT by CFW
From the Dayton, Ohio, suburbs to boardrooms in Dallas, the employees fueling AT&T’s next wave of growth aren’t fresh-faced college graduates with expensive four-year degrees. They’re skilled, blue-collar workers ready to get their hands dirty — and AT&T can’t find enough of them.
“We need people who know how to actually work with electricity. We need people who understand photonics. We need people who can go into folks’ homes and connect this infrastructure to make it work right,” AT&T CEO John Stankey told CNBC during a recent interview from the company’s Dallas headquarters.
“We find that we’ve got to go out and find them, train them, and incent them to come in,” he said. “It’s not like we’re growing them on trees in the United States.”
AT&T’s dilemma — hunting for blue-collar workers at a time when a record number of college students are projected to graduate this spring — underscores the palpable crisis facing new degree holders as the first wave of the AI revolution hits the U.S. economy.
For much of the postwar era, the American bargain was clear: Go to college, get a degree and claim your place in the middle class. As factories gave way to offices and the U.S. economy increasingly rewarded credentials over physical labor, a four-year diploma became one of the clearest symbols of upward mobility. But as AI spreads across corporate America and begins to absorb the entry-level work that once gave graduates their start, that promise is beginning to fracture.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
I have been promoting this for over a decade and even have several posts at FR strongly encouraging trades over college.
Even without the advent of the AI apocalypse shifting from the near dead and valueless college indoctrination to actual real-world work (blue collar) was obvious for anyone who was paying attention.
College grads leave with a useless piece of paper and no skills, they are near useless now to businesses as they need trained after college, blue collar workers from trade school typically can start working much quicker and adding value.
Not all manual labor is equal. A ditch digger will still have a lousy payday. A plumber or lineman will retire at 50 with a nice home and a boat if he so chooses.
My grandson the electrician in CA makes serious money.
His cars and house are paid for.
Fast-forward to today and in less than two years he's a graduate of Universal Tech Institute with an earned Associates and a mid-level Factory Certification for BMW automobiles. Has a job in Charleston, SC waiting for him starting in June. I'm stunned at what the market will pay for these guys. He'll start as a factory trained auto technician for the largest BMW retailer in SC with opportunities to advance from there.
My first career was the same path. Since he has no historic reference, he doesn't realize (yet) that this was a way better option than college at this time. College certainly isn't for everyone.
You and I both.
Those that go to a one or two year trade school program are well on their way to a middle class life-style while their peers in university are on the second or third year of accumulating more debt.
When you start your career $50k to $100K in debt, you spend the next 20 years trying to dig yourself out of a hole. Unless you are going into a career such as a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc the degree is worth little.
“Fast-forward to today and in less than two years he’s a graduate of Universal Tech Institute with an earned Associates and a mid-level Factory Certification for BMW automobiles. Has a job in Charleston, SC waiting for him starting in June. I’m stunned at what the market will pay for these guys. He’ll start as a factory trained auto technician for the largest BMW retailer in SC with opportunities to advance from there.”
Congratulations to you and your son! I saw an interview with a Ford executive a few weeks ago and it was amazing how much they were paying for entry-level mechanics. He said there was a major shortage. Your son will do well!
Related news:
“Target beats Wall Street estimates, hikes sales outlook as shoppers start to return”
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/20/target-tgt-q1-2026-earnings.html
The average annual salary is approximately $60,587.
For Electrician I, the average salary is around $61,318.
The average salary for electricians can range from $49,300 to $67,600.
Certified electricians earn an average of $80,235.
These figures reflect the competitive compensation in the electrical industry across California.
He is above average. I say again, he makes killer money.
While I absolutely agree in principle my concern is when no one else ca afford to hire tradesmen for anything but absolute necessities and there are more of them what happens
Started my adult life doing construction in a recession and there were far more people willing to work for cheap than there was work
“… said May Hu, a 26-year-old tech consultant turned social media influencer who said she was laid off from Deloitte last year for what she described as nonperformance reasons.”
Just the person you want to hear from in this kind of article, although to be honest, Deloitte laid off tons of people when Elon and his buddies decided companies like Deloitte and Booz-Allen didn’t deserve any more government money.
Congratulations to this young man for getting a hands on job in automotive. I don’t know that I would necessarily pick BMW to work for, but at least it is a real job with possibilities. As a former Toyota tech at a low level dealership, I can easily (now) see that this was the best part of my automotive career. At least in most areas there is a good demand for this type of person.
Both Lowes and Target beat expectations with 1st quarter earnings. SOME consumers are apparently spending money.
“Lowe’s beats Wall Street expectations against ‘challenging’ housing backdrop”
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/20/lowes-low-q1-2026-earnings.html
I’m convincing my new grad to do both. First off, by not selecting a College that is expensive and is a good value. The kid had some name brand choices to be sure but chose the economical route.
Then, hit trade school.
I am still not sold on AI. I look at it this way. If I hire someone name Alex Ingels and he gave me the work product that AI produces, I would fire him.
My wife, by herself, practically supports our local Lowes.
We recently bought two houses and she’s ‘fixing them up’.
Go to trade school, get the job, then go to night school to get the traditional college degree.
Quote: “ Go to trade school, get the job, then go to night school to get the traditional college degree.”
Except College is almost free thanks to a scholarship. I’d agree with you if it wasn’t.
I am a Master Electrician and Electrical Contractor.
It is not hard for me to earn $1k/day.
ComputerGuy - tell your son to just keep focused, have fun and enjoy his life and career.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.