Skilled labor shortage and another opportunity to ask, "Is college worth it?"

[LongTimeListener]

NPR brings it. Similar to other articles that have been cropping up lately in WSJ, Forbes and elsewhere.

Our oldest son goes off to college this fall -- state university, reasonable cost, headed into a computer field. We're pleased. Some of our friends are spending upwards of $60K/year, and some of their kids' chosen fields of study sound awfully dicey in terms of earning potential. Also, I could totally see at least one of our kids taking the route described below and never thinking twice about college.



Seventy-percent of construction companies nationwide are having trouble finding qualified workers, according to the Associated General Contractors of America; in Washington, the proportion is 80 percent.

There are already more trade jobs like carpentry, electrical, plumbing, sheet-metal work and pipe-fitting than Washingtonians to fill them, the state auditor reports. Many pay more than the state's average annual wage of $54,000.

Construction, along with health care and personal care, will account for one-third of all new jobs through 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There will also be a need for new plumbers and new electricians. And, as politicians debate a massive overhaul of the nation's roads, bridges and airports, the U.S. Department of Education reports that there will be 68 percent more job openings in infrastructure-related fields in the next five years than there are people training to fill them.

 

[User 149557]

I know it isn't easy, but I think more people should consider doing both. Get that liberal arts degree, but also find time to learn a trade. We exaggerate how much time and energy it takes to get a college degree. College for me at least was 60 percent leisure time. And I graduated in three years.

I kick myself for not picking up other skills while I had relatively few family and financial obligations.

 

[Dick Whitman]

My best two high school friends are a union plumber and an auto mechanic. The plumber does very well. Probably $70-80K a year, though he does work his ass off for it. My mechanic friend makes in the $65-70K range, though he's never been laid off - stead employment for two decades now at the same place. Another guy is a union pipefitter and that seems much more of a roller coaster.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Usually when an industry whines about a labor shortage, it's actually a compensation shortage.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Usually when an industry whines about a labor shortage, it's actually a compensation shortage.

Yeah, seems like they could solve the labor shortage in fairly short order with one simple step.

 

[User 149557]

We have a large local employer that uses every public forum available to whine they don't get enough qualified applicants who can pass a drug test — while paying four dollars less an hour than everyone else in the region.

You truly get what you pay for.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I did two years of JUCO on a track scholarship plus a stipend for editing the newspaper. Then finished at a state school with good financial aid and a some money doing journalism stuff. My parents gladly paid like 8 grand for me to get a degree.

On the flip side, I don't know if we will ever finish paying off my wife's student loans.

 

[User 149557]

I had my college paid off in two years after graduation.

Status of my wife's law school loans: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[LongTimeListener]

Usually when an industry whines about a labor shortage, it's actually a compensation shortage.

Yeah, seems like they could solve the labor shortage in fairly short order with one simple step.

I don't think so.

In the Bay Area -- and in Seattle, which has a similar market situation though not as dire -- construction projects are being stalled right now because companies can't find workers. They are paying top dollar and even paying living expenses for people. There was one story quoted that the company paid rent for the family of a foreman to move, and then when the family decided they didn't want to be there anymore the company started paying rent for the foreman and plane tickets back. Other workers are being put up in hotels at company expense. The total cost of employing these guys, including all those short-term measures, is probably in the $150-200K range. But there simply aren't enough of them to go around.

As noted by **** earlier regarding pipefitting, a lot of these jobs are cyclical and that can hurt the pool since there isn't a steady flow. But the apprenticeships and other pipelines are severely lacking right now, and there are also a lot of kids in college who aren't being served well.

At the power company out here, after a three-year apprenticeship, a lineman can make $200,000. Yet it's out of the question to a great many parents.

 

[Dick Whitman]

All of this said, we're talking about education under a straight economic analysis. My education has enriched my life and my thinking in ways that far exceed what it brings back on paper. I love the plumber and the mechanic. Hell, I would love to do the work they do, sometimes. But it's pretty clear when we're together that they don't think about things the way an educated person thinks about things.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Here's a tip. If your kids want to go to med school, that's awesome. Just make sure they pick a high-paying specialty. Some kind of surgery, urology, something like that.

 

[swingline]

My uncle was a union pipefitter, master level. I poured and finished concrete on a huge plant expansion project, and he was a pipefitter on that job. I worked 10-hour days five days a week, and he worked 12-hour days seven days a week making ungodly money with all that overtime. Of course, once that job was over, he might be out of work for six months.

He offered to get me into the union, but this was right after college when I had my J-school degree in hand. I figured I owed it to myself to see if I could make it in journalism. I've often wondered in the nearly three decades since then if I made the right choice.

 

[User 11148]

All of this said, we're talking about education under a straight economic analysis. My education has enriched my life and my thinking in ways that far exceed what it brings back on paper. I love the plumber and the mechanic. Hell, I would love to do the work they do, sometimes. But it's pretty clear when we're together that they don't think about things the way an educated person thinks about things.

My education has led to me receiving dozens of emails a week from college students. Many use the subject line "Hey." You can't put a price tag on that.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I hate trying to come up with email subjects, but I usually do a bit better than that.

 

[User 11148]

I hate trying to come up with email subjects, but I usually do a bit better than that.

That's because you finished your degree!

 

[TyWebb]

My education has led to me receiving dozens of emails a week from college students. Many use the subject line "Hey." You can't put a price tag on that.

Hey.

 

[BTExpress]

Here's a tip. If your kids want to go to med school, that's awesome. Just make sure they pick a high-paying specialty. Some kind of surgery, urology, something like that.

Your USMLE scores pick your specialty.

Score a 205? Forget about the cushy, high-paying dermatology job. Welcome to family medicine.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

But sometimes people who could do anything choose a relatively modest child psychiatry position while their husband makes next to nothing in journalism. Or so I've heard.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

My mom once suggested I become a dermatologist so I could make a fortune giving acne treatments to cheerleaders who don't have acne.

Worth noting, my mom was the officer manager for a dermatologist.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Usually when an industry whines about a labor shortage, it's actually a compensation shortage.

Right now there is huge demand for truck drivers. We have tons of companies who can't produce or are behind schedules because of inabilty to relaiably recieve and ship materials.