Why Aren’t Young People Considering Blue Collar Jobs?

It's ironic that every manufacturer or contractor that I talk to have plenty of work to do but a limited number of qualified people to do it. Mike Rowe recently pointed out that young folks can make up to 100K a year working in a factory according to a recent article on CNN Money.com. The same holds true for other tradesmen like plumbers, electricians and HVAC contractors. Theses folks can make 60-80K a year and they can't ship those jobs across the pond.read more >

“Right Skills Now” Provides Fast-Track Training for Tradesmen

The biggest issue I hear from both contractors and manufacturers is lack of work isn't the issue, but lack of qualified people to do it is. Right Skills Now may not be the end all but it's a model that can work for both on a regional basis. I know one of Mike Rowe's passion is training the professional tradesman and this is a step in the right direction.read more >

How Will Professional Tradesmen Jobs of the Future Be Filled?

There's a lot of talk about manufacturing jobs continuing to go away in this country. But when I talk to manufacturers, one of the biggest issues they talk about domestically is finding qualified help. Apprentice programs for tool and die makers are shrinking due to lack of interest. Even factory production jobs aren't menial labor jobs anymore. It takes skill and training to run CNC or other sophisticated machines. The same is true with professional tradesman in the contracting field. Talk to a plumbing or electrical contractor and they same the same thing. There aren't enough young folks getting into those trades as well.read more >

Mike Rowe’s Trades Hub

Mike is pretty well-known from “Dirty Jobs.” You likely see him quite a bit on commercials these days, but lots of folks still don’t know about MikeRoweWorks. Basically, Mike’s mission is to not make work the enemy. Our country seems to forget the value of hard work: we are ignoring infrastructure, we are getting rid of shop classes, etc.read more >
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