What happened to the trades? Why did they take a backseat while college was aggressively promoted in high schools? 

To answer this question we need to really look at when the shift occurred and what happened prior to it. 

After the industrial revolution, this country saw an economic boom, unlike anything else in recorded history. That boom continued until the collapse of the economy in 1929. For the next few decades the economy chugged along, and then WW2 occurred. All the resources in the country were put towards the war effort and companies focused on production to contribute to the war effort. 

After WW2, the United States became a global superpower and the economy started to flourish, which directly led to an increase in construction. Home ownership became more popular. Shortly after, the Baby Boomer generation was being born. 

Fast forward into the 1960’s, and the first real counter culture started to take shape in the United States, as the country became divided on proxy wars in Asia. 

Many blue collar jobs at this time were still focused on manufacturing in many parts of the country, until the 1970’s, when factory jobs started to get moved overseas. At this time inflation hit the economy hard and many trades slowed down.

Roofing, however, stayed fairly strong in comparison to other trades. 

During the 70s, 80s and 90s and into the early 2000s many economic shifts happened, both positive and negative. Construction was a blue collar job that many could enter to get out of the factories and in many cases make a few more dollars per hour. It was a way for some to get into entrepreneurship, and for others, it was a way to build a career in something they took pride in producing. 

High school started adopting vocational trades more widespread in the 1970s and became a great way for students to learn a traditional trade such as electrical or carpentry or automotive. Trade schools them selves started much earlier than that. For many, this was a great alternative for students that did not do well or find interest in a traditional classroom setting. Many thought, if you do not plan to go to college, get into a trade. 

Around the late 1990s/early 2000s, high schools started to shift and promote college to all students. Student loans and access to government money became more readily available and students started lining up to take on debt. Everyone was told, you need to go to college to get a successful career. Trades took on the stigma of being overworked and underpaid and in many cases a dead end career. Trades were not promoted in schools and even the trade schools started to offer different trades such as business management, and cyber security, and started to promote college to their students. 

Today students have more choices to make a living behind a computer screen or become a “soloprenuer”. Also, people live lives that are less physical so many try to stay clear of physical labor. Pair these factors up with the change in how the trades and college is promoted in schools and you have generations or students graduating and not giving the trades serious consideration. 

Ultimately this squeezes the students that would get into traditional trades, that maybe did not see college in their future and left them to attend public schools with no trade component. 

With all of these factors and many others, students started to focus on college and get degrees, however, some found themself with degrees for jobs that were not available. In 2008, the economy had a major negative correction and the Great Recession started. For years, students who were convinced by their teachers and parents to attend college, were graduating with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, but no available jobs. Many were forced to move back with family and find jobs outside of their degrees. 

All this happened, yet the college promotion continued. 

The trades were still not looked at as a good option to consider, or promoted to students in many cases. However, as this college experiment continues and we have decades of results, people are starting to see college is not for everyone and there are better options for some students. 

One of those options is the trades. After having been so far removed from students, the trades almost need a rejuvenation. A new image. 

Students live in a world that did not exist 100 years ago, they don’t even live in a world that existed 10 years ago. Changes are happening fast and the trades must change with the times to attract the next generation of trades professionals.

It's imperative that we create relationships with schools and identify students that do not find interest in school, but show potential with other skills, such as working with their hands, enjoying problem solving etc. 

While working on this we must continue to create a more professional atmosphere where employees feel empowered and valued. A genuine career path. Not a dead end job that will not help them to progress. 

As a millennial, I understand loyalty is not guaranteed. It needs to be earned and reciprocated. Communication must occur to keep people in the know about changes, and their role in the organization. Opportunities must be explored and presented and teams must form for the greater good of the company and the communities they serve, not only for the customers, but for the employee as well. 

We have a generation of students graduating that have never felt true stability. They were born in or around the Great Recession, become desensitized to mass shootings, watched the world stop and isolate with covid, and see the adults at each other’s throats over politics. And yet, we view them as lazy, uninterested individuals. 

Well, I've got news for everyone reading this. All generations have had their own issues and stigmas to overcome. We all had it easier than the generations before us, and all our generations were easy scapegoats to the changes going on in the world. 

As noted earlier, the world we grew up in no longer exists. 

Therefore we must adapt, we must accept this generation for who they are and where they are on their journey. We must embrace their differences and teach them the lessons we had to learn the hard way. 

If we find a way to work together and promote the trades for the opportunity that it is, we can bring the next generation back to be some of the hardest working generations our country has seen in decades.