kinglin

With the increase of people going to college, and going on to perform service jobs, there tends to be a short supply of labour jobs. So if theres a short supply of workers, pay rises. So really if you want to become a carpenter, it's not that bad of a job.

What do you think?

Lbtg47

actually carpenters get good pay.

as long as its a skilled trait... plumbing/woodworking over lawnmowing

and perhaps that could lead to a personal business

joev

Getting into the trade unions is almost as competitive as college. Usually you obtain an apprenticeship, which consists of 2-5 years of schooling and work experience (paid around $12-$15 an hour) before you get your journeyman card which lets you pull in around $25-$40 bucks and hour depending on your trade. VERY nice money.

mosby

Good point, kinglin. But there are a lot of il/legals coming into this country that are keeping the supply of workers up.

mediocretes

mosby makes a good point. my father is a carpenter and he is extremely skilled and owns ALL his own tools (a big plus in the trade). however, he's often undercut by people, usually contractors who hire illegal immigrants as semi-skilled day laborers, who will do the work for less much. Of course they do inferior work, but people are stupid and will trade quality for price even when they live in a $5 million townhouse in NYC. also, some "blue collar" professions are so unionized that they produce six-figure annual salaries (not huge ones, but still six figure). for instance, I know specifically about dockworkers in Hawaii (yes, very random, I know someone from Hawaii whose father is a dockworker) who make that kind of money. if you want to get into that work, you have to get into the union and it's basically impossible unless you have a real inside connection. it's so fortunate that we have unions to protect the impoverished and abused proletariat.

Lbtg47

my dad knows a tugboat captain in NYC who makes 6 figures