You may have seen the charts that I made in this post on Tile Geeks. The data came from this post which asked the simple question “How long have you been in the tile trade?”
What it tells us is that there are way too many people with 30+ years in the trade and not enough young people coming in. This isn’t just with tile but with all of the trades.
Elon Agrees
In a recent interview with Joe Rogan, Elon Musk says the following:
[We need] fewer [smart] people in law… and finance and more people making stuff.
and he follows up with yet another headwind of our industry:
[Manufacturing] is often looked down upon, which I think is wrong
His point is that people in finance and law aren’t creating anything. He feels that making cool new things is more important than studying law and moving money around.
Is College the Answer?
Popular GTP admin Robert Davis recently featured this post from a young construction worker on his timeline. This is an excerpt:
All my friends went to college. Some of them have liberal arts degrees that I didn’t even know existed. A couple more dropped out. The ones who graduated can’t find jobs and have a lot of student debt. But they still look at me like I’m on the wrong path. When I tell them I can help them get a job in construction, they always say the same thing: ‘Why would we want to do that?’”
Conclusion
The attitude towards construction and manufacturing is just one of the barriers to entry that young people have to contend with.
But the ones that fight through that and help pave the way will be rewarded. The future is bright for young people in the trades.
The trade school vs college debate is beginning to change. Young people without a clear vision on their future are going to be in trouble if there’s no student loan bailout in the works.
The simple law of supply and demand dictates that the prices of trade labor and goods will be going up sharply in the years to come.
For those that are looking to evolve in their career, becoming a forensic tile consultant might be just what you need.
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