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I can find a competent plumber trivially. Hiring white collar jobs are much harder, especially specialized tech work. I think the anti-college popularity ties

I can find a competent plumber trivially. Hiring white collar jobs are much harder, especially specialized tech work. I think the anti-college popularity ties directly to the incredible cost of it in the USA, not that its necessarily a bad thing.

otterley 5y ago
> I can find a competent plumber trivially. You must not live in any major U.S. coastal city. Plumbers and other skilled tradespeople are in extremely high demand right now.
- Domenic_S 5y ago
  To say nothing of _competent_ ones. It is a great deal of work to find a tradesperson that is 1) available and 2) competent. Unsurprisingly the most available ones seem to be the least competent.
- briffle 5y ago
  If you look, most trades limit the number of new students they will accept for apprentiship programs. Even if everyone suddenly wanted to be a plumber (or electrictian, etc) they can't get into the programs that will allow them to become certified. Its not just the trades, in my state, we have had an epidemic of retirements since 2008 for teachers, nurses, and police officers. yet the programs that are required to get your licenses don't accept any more applicants per year than they did 15 years ago. The gatekeeping has to stop, or at least be increased to allow the market to actually meet demand. But the groups benefiting from that mismatch in demand have no reason to increase capacity.
icelancer 5y ago
>> I can find a competent plumber trivially. Hiring white collar jobs are much harder, especially specialized tech work. This is broadly not true in most US cities. Skilled tradespeople who are insured, licensed, and bonded have major backlogs of work - especially electricians, but also plumbers, carpenters, etc.
anovikov 5y ago
But incredible cost is because of the inflated demand. Too many people go to college who don't need it. Reduce demand by, pun intended, educating people that they don't need college unless they can make it to the top, and prices will fall.
- 8note 5y ago
  Needing it is defined by employers considering them as base qualifications
dijit 5y ago
> I can find a competent plumber trivially. I kinda doubt this. My mother wanted me to learn plumbing or to become an electrician because they were always in much more demand than supply and can effectively determine their own rates. Most are self-employed. (UK).

otterley 5y ago

> I can find a competent plumber trivially. You must not live in any major U.S. coastal city. Plumbers and other skilled tradespeople are in extremely high demand right now.

Domenic_S 5y ago
To say nothing of _competent_ ones. It is a great deal of work to find a tradesperson that is 1) available and 2) competent. Unsurprisingly the most available ones seem to be the least competent.
briffle 5y ago
If you look, most trades limit the number of new students they will accept for apprentiship programs. Even if everyone suddenly wanted to be a plumber (or electrictian, etc) they can't get into the programs that will allow them to become certified. Its not just the trades, in my state, we have had an epidemic of retirements since 2008 for teachers, nurses, and police officers. yet the programs that are required to get your licenses don't accept any more applicants per year than they did 15 years ago. The gatekeeping has to stop, or at least be increased to allow the market to actually meet demand. But the groups benefiting from that mismatch in demand have no reason to increase capacity.

icelancer 5y ago

>> I can find a competent plumber trivially. Hiring white collar jobs are much harder, especially specialized tech work. This is broadly not true in most US cities. Skilled tradespeople who are insured, licensed, and bonded have major backlogs of work - especially electricians, but also plumbers, carpenters, etc.

anovikov 5y ago

But incredible cost is because of the inflated demand. Too many people go to college who don't need it. Reduce demand by, pun intended, educating people that they don't need college unless they can make it to the top, and prices will fall.

8note 5y ago
Needing it is defined by employers considering them as base qualifications

dijit 5y ago

> I can find a competent plumber trivially. I kinda doubt this. My mother wanted me to learn plumbing or to become an electrician because they were always in much more demand than supply and can effectively determine their own rates. Most are self-employed. (UK).