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America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

(www.wsj.com)
185 points hhs | 2 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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nine_zeros ◴[13 Oct 24 17:35 UTC] No.41829855[source]▶
It is true that trades work has picked up quite a bit. High school kids and their career counselors say the reasons are:

- Well-defined career path.

- High pay as you keep going ahead.

- Union pay and benefits. Incredible stability. Incredible healthcare.

- No outsourcing.

- Lots of paid leave. None of that unlimited PTO scam.

- Lot of camaraderie. None of the corporate nonsense where execs take it all at the expense of people.

- Opportunity to start your own business at a certain point.

- No large student loan to get started.

While not all kids articulate all these points well, but they can tell how their seniors in college are grinding too much for little return - while trades people are working hard, taking vacations, raising families - and buying homes.

The average tradesperson in a HCOL is a millionaire by age 40 simply because they could buy a house earlier in their lives. And they are able to start families and live a very stable life. Kids are picking up on this.

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linotype ◴[13 Oct 24 18:09 UTC] No.41830148[source]▶
You failed to mention any of the downsides:

- competition from non-Union labor

- broken body by 50

- fewer jobs than programming (there are multiple times as many programming jobs than plumbing, for instance)

- working conditions (no office work, expect hot/cold environments potentially far away from family)

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throw234234234 ◴[13 Oct 24 22:29 UTC] No.41832277[source]▶
> fewer jobs than programming (there are multiple times as many programming jobs than plumbing, for instance)

Every blue collar worker I know would counter that with "AI". i.e, "at least my industry doesn't shoot itself in the foot"

replies(1): >>41833224 #
1. ThrowawayR2 ◴[14 Oct 24 01:10 UTC] No.41833224[source]▶
The miniscule fraction of people in the software industry who are building AI are not the people in the software industry who are at risk of being replaced by AI.
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2. throw234234234 ◴[16 Oct 24 22:15 UTC] No.41864382[source]▶
Do agree with that, at least in the short term (not the long term). But most industries tend to band together, form unions, associations, licenses, etc that would unify and put the workers in the same boat one way or the other especially blue collar which is what this article is about. The point still stands - other industries are "smarter" and wouldn't do this to themselves and have controls against this sort of thing.