Where I live, Alberta, Canada, the trades are well paid and in
demand.  We have had a decade long construction boom though.
Nothing wrong with being an journeyman here.  If you are willing to
work in the field, like three weeks on one week off, then a welder or
pipefitter can make over 6 figures easily.  In town you will still do
close to that or more.  They are spending billions up there at the
tar sands, trying to get the oil to feed our vans.

Gary Lee

"Don Hanson" <dhanson@GORGE.NET> said:

> Young people today (especially in the USA) don't need look very
> closely at
> life to know that those who do stuff with their hands, as in "the
> Trades"
> are now mostly living  below poverty level.
>  Remember those professions?  "Tradesmen"?  You know, Carpenters,
> Electricians, Plumbers, Mechanics, Painters..etc?.  Not "Happening"
> any
> more. Learning how to do something like fix a car or hang a
> door...That is
> considered a waste of time and beneath a "real person"..All the
> trades seem
> to be handled by the illegals now, because they are jobs
> "Americans" won't
> do any more (for the money that's being paid, anyways)
>

Um, you live in a different universe than I do.  Some of the most
well-to-do people I know are electricians and plumbers.  I'm talking
six-figure income, lavish homes, and working when they want to, for the
most part.  Well above my income as a software developer.  If any of my
kids don't want to go to college, I'd definitely steer them to
electrical or plumbing vocational training.  These professions are not
going anywhere soon.

Allan