Blue Collar Jobs

I’m at the library today as it gets me out of the house and gets me some truly undisturbed space in which to work. As I was walking here from the bus, I saw a “We’re Hiring” sign on a nearby construction project. The plumbing company working on the project wants an experienced plumbing apprentice. My first thought was how do you get experience if no one will give you a job?

Then I realized there was a bigger question. How many people want that type of work anymore? It’s honest work and from what I’ve heard, once you get through an apprenticeship, you can make good money. As good as or possibly better than some people who’ve gone to college to work in “white collar jobs.”

In the last several years, I’ve seen a big push for people to go to college or some kind of extra schooling above and beyond K – 12. The idea is that if you go to college or a training school of some sort, you will come out able to get a good job that earns more money than you could without the extra training. What they don’t tell you in the advertising is that no one can guarantee that you will get a job in your field of choice. Not only that, but in some cases you come out of school in debt. The lenders are only too happy to lend you money with the promise that you don’t have to start paying it back till six months after graduation. By then, you could be several thousand, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, depending on the degree you chose.

There are ways to avoid the debt. Grants and/or scholarships can help. Also, going to school part-time as you can afford to pay for classes.

But what about those for whom college is not an option? I’m not talking financially, but I’ve known people for whom college was not a good fit. One worked at a fast food restaurant, one worked security, and a couple of others I knew worked in warehouses. I know, some people think fast food is for high schoolers only. Well, guess what. For fast food to be open in the mornings for breakfast and lunch, adults must work those shifts as all the high schoolers are in school! Yet, we as a people look down on those jobs as being less than worthy of our attention and labor. Those kinds of jobs are good, honest work and the people who do them are worthy of their wages. In fact, they should be able to make a living wage at those jobs without going into management.

The same applies to plumbers, electricians, mechanics, etc. Any job that can be taught on the job, is worth doing. Without the people doing those jobs, a lot of the things we depend on would completely fall apart. Think about it. If a pipe bursts in your house, can you fix it yourself or do you need to call a plumber? What about your electrical wiring? If your breaker box blows, what are you going to do? Can you do more than check the oil and water or pump gas into your car? If not, how do you take care of those things? I know it’s easy to look down on people who do manual labor and to look down on those kinds of jobs.

I’ve also learned from our electrician that with all the training and classes he’s taken to stay on top of the new stuff in his field, he figures he’s earned at least a master’s degree in his field. From all the certificates I've seen on the wall at the auto mechanic's  shop, I'd say they've earned at least an Associates degree if not a Bachelors for their job as well. These people are constantly taking classes in an effort to keep up with the changes in technology. I suspect that’s true for anyone in the plumbing field too. Think about that the next time you want to complain about how much it costs to have someone perform a labor intensive, “no college degree” job.

Also think about this. This country was founded by people who had to labor with their hands and the help of their neighbors to build houses, barns, corrals, etc. Small business sprang up to provide goods and services people couldn’t provide for themselves. Very few people had a college degree. Some were lucky if they had any schooling at all. While I’m not discounting the value of a good basic education, I think we need to quit devaluing work that doesn’t require a college degree or requires someone to get their hands dirty. I also think we need to quit pushing higher education as if it were the answer to everyone’s job problems.