Don't you think the rampant degradation of their image in media has played a role in the declining rates? College graduates don't immediately make more than trade careers, and in some cases, the trade careers are a better path to the "American Dream." They deal with more obvious dangers but don't have as much of a sedentary lifestyle which contributes a good deal to health risks both mental and physical.
No I don't. Tradesman are often portrayed as more manly and Americana than the dull office worker. Those pickup truck commercials don't feature rugged accountants pulling into the office park.
The reason young people got out of the trades was entirely due to the Great Recession, which eliminated any opportunity people graduating between 2004 and 2012 had of ever having a career in these fields. There's no reason to take on apprentices when you can get a desperate person with a decade of experience for the same pay.
The people who trained in those careers just a few years earlier retrained for new jobs and new people never bothered to get training for jobs they knew didn't exist. The only people that stuck it out were those who were lucky or desperate.
If it has, then their pay should markedly be rising, and maybe it is. I know I'm paying a lot more for labor in the past few years than before. The difference is, however, that it has to pay enough extra to offset the luxuries of a stable 9-5 office job or what have you, and this could be a lagging indicator.
But do many people want to tell their kid that they're probably not good enough to compete for the cushy jobs, and that they should go for the trades instead?
Perhaps not, but we do (should) tell our kids to do the work they enjoy.
Mine wanted to be a game programmer when he was 12. Now, at 17, he's discovered that he loves welding and is pretty good at it. He wants to get certified and be a professional welder.
Living on a farm, he's used to hard work outdoors at temperature extremes and does it without complaint. If he wants to be a welder instead of a software engineer, I'm all for it.
You may be right if that is how the decision is being framed by their parents or guardians. This is similar to kids who want to go into the Arts. Everyone jokes that the arts are a fast track to being a barista. There exist prestigious private art schools that people are not ashamed to attend, and I think a trade school equivalent without the crippling debt would go a long way to increase employment rates in the trades.
