Sure, but you have to look into why the skills aren't available. With trades, it's typically because nobody is willing to train people from scratch, so it's not

Sure, but you have to look into why the skills aren't available. With trades, it's typically because nobody is willing to train people from scratch, so it's not surprising that they can't find anyone willing to spend several years getting paid minimum wage to do manual labor while simultaneously paying for trade school. A lot of the older guys working in trades learned their skills in the military, but with declining enlistment and the military increasingly farming out that work to contractors, that doesn't happen as much anymore. Tradesmen definitely do make good money eventually, but by then they're in their 30s with debt and a sore back.