<p>*An aspiring machinist – a popular factory job – can start training at 18 and then do a one- or two-year manufacturing apprenticeship. In five years, he or she could be making more than $50,000. In 10 years, that could double to $100,000.</p>
<p>Not a bad salary for a 28-year-old.</p>
<p>“If you’re really good at your work, you could remain employed for a very long time, because there are so few of us,” said Sedlak.</p>
<p>Sedlak’s top worker makes $30 an hour. And annual pay at his company ranges between $70,000 and $80,000 with overtime. In 31 years, only three workers have retired from his factory.</p>
<p>…“There’s no easy answer to how we can change manufacturing’s image problem,” said Paul. Companies themselves have to be up to that challenge, he said.</p>
<p>One idea is to turn to pop culture, said Paul.</p>
<p>“Maybe we need someone cool like Clint Eastwood to say, ‘Go work in factories’ as a follow up to his Super Bowl Chrysler ad.”*</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of giving far more attention and status to non-university paths and occupations that don’t require a university education. University is just is not for everyone. I really wish kids were given or encouraged to consider far more options. </p>
<p>Though with this job, I do wonder if one challenge is the mismatch-- what does it take to get trained to do the work vs. what is the nature of the work once you’ve mastered it. There is far more to ‘cool’ and inspirational work than salary. Do you have autonomy? Does the job require any creativity or complex thought once its mastered? Is it remotely intrinsically interesting? Maybe it is of course, but from the outside, it looks deathly boring as do many things that sound like “factory work”.</p>
<p>admittedly I didn’t read the article, but how do you make $100k if the top workers get $30/hour? That’s just over $60k/year at 40 hours a week. I guess if you want to work 90 days of overtime?</p>
<p>that said, I fully support not going to school and learning a skill instead, if that is what someone wants to do, or if they don’t think college is right for them.</p>
<p>My h works in a factory & makes $33 an hour. Ten years ago he was making $28 an hr. He is really on the fast track! He has worked there 25 years & topped out his job title long ago. He has an interesting job( he is the composite specialist at Boeing & makes custom parts), but it is very physical and stressful. Part of why salary is as high as it is, is because every three or four years the union contract comes up- most years resulting in a strike for one or two or even three months. So the salary from overtime has to go into the bank to cover those months without a paycheck.
They didn’t mention that part.</p>
<p>Preparation for machinist apprenticeships appears to be about two or three semesters of full time study at a community college (or equivalent study part time). So “don’t go to college” is not quite true for this type of career.</p>
<p>More people need to start pursuing non-university paths. But I’m not sure where these six-figure manufacturing jobs are coming from. Is the supply of workers so low?</p>
<p>The article neglected to mention what happens when the money that states put out (obscene amounts sometimes) run out and the jobs either never materialize or evaporate in a few years… After all, why pay $100k if you can pay $20k offshore?</p>
<p>The same thing happened in my native Elbonia 30+ years ago… My hometown landed a plant by the National Elbonian Munitions Corp. (or some such) to manufacture foreign light weapons under license. Thousands of locals applied for the obvious positions (gardener, janitor…) and few, if any, for the skilled positions (machinist, etc). Far as I can tell the plant is still going strong, but I would not make the same assumption for a US based machinist position.</p>
<p>Haven’t we learned anything from the two-tier UAW wage debacle?</p>
<p>Note that $100,000 per year is what a machinist “could” make, according to the article. The article described pay of $70,000 to $80,000 per year with overtime at one company.</p>
<p>Although a typical machinist may not make that much (especially if there is not overtime), a job of that type would still likely lead to a solid middle income. But the article’s exaggeration of pay rates is misleading and may set up some people for let-downs.</p>
<p>^^^'fraid not. Elbonia is in Europe, and the -istans are in Asia :)</p>
<p>The Germans have some seriously good apprenticeship programs, but as ucbalumnus pointed out, they often require the equivalent of community college level training as a minimum. Plus several years’ worth of on-the-job, etc. Such programs easily run the time duration of an undergrad program and are funded partially by companies and partially by the government. I would not expect this to work in the US any time soon. </p>
<p>In Elbonia we had a similar issue in that everyone wanted to attend college, and there was little leeway for tech/voc education. With no unions or guilds (like the US, and unlike Germany) to push for training and related partnerships, it’s a miracle anyone actually learned enough machining skills to turn brake rotors, let alone do anything more complicated. We offered vocational tech high schools (3 years worth) but these were glorified shop courses, not very useful job skills, and little opportunity for industry placement.</p>
<p>Unless government, the industries, trade associations, unions and community colleges all take a role in offering, funding and supporting such programs, we can write headline-catching articles all we want… There will be a handful of $100k positions available in important industries, and that’s it.</p>
<p>A Boeing machinist starts at $16 per hour. How you make the “big bucks” is to max out your pay scale and work mandatory 60-70 hour weeks. And guess what, the 4th weekend in a row that you work, your overtime rate goes up. You can also get a little bump for working swing shift a 3pm-2am schedule - good times. The longevity might be more than an NFL player, but it is not easy on the body, particularly working at that pace.</p>
<p>College can be removed from the equation by starting the technical education in 9th grade. Four years of mechanical and technical education could do miracles for our society.</p>
<p>Surely beats our current system that fails most everyone in high school. We are producing a nation of imbeciles who have no marketable skills but a great self-esteem. The Walmart generation!</p>
<p>Many apprenticeships are on-the-job arrangements run in concert with unions or manufacturers (or both). Formal college coursework is not required.</p>
<p>Less than 10% of applications from Boeings current workforce are accepted into the apprenticeship program.
The people H is currently training have a two yr degree plus 10years+ with the company.</p>
<p>The backbone of our country is composed of small businesses. It would be nice for the kid who works on your Jetta to be a bit more trained than a high school dropout, for the kid who builds your addition to have learned to read a plan somewhere else than at Lowe’s clinic, for the plumber assistant to what a millimeter is, and so on.</p>
<p>Home construction is a disaster in good and bad times. Quality does not exist because we have little to no formal vocational schools. </p>
<p>We could do so much better if we only could bring us to admit we do not need more college graduates. We really need people who can teach and learn something valuable to our average citizens. Of course, in America everyone is above average.</p>
<p>My grandfather owns his own business designing and manufacturing electronic instruments, (I don’t want to be anymore specific for privacy reasons.) He has a phD in electronics engineering, but I don’t need a degree to work for him. He has already taught me to use the CNC, lathe, etc. It is challenging. A day in his shop and I am exhausted. I know this kind of work pays well too. </p>
<p>One of the businesses my parents own is an auto body shop. Painters make about $40-$60/hr. Painting takes so much skill and talent. I would much prefer that my painter spend 4 years refining his skills than sitting at a desk.</p>
<p>My uncle owns a plumbing company. His employees don’t usually have bachelor degrees and they all earn a good living.</p>
<p>The average household income is somewhere around $40,000; most of the people who I’ve met that have skilled/non-degreed jobs are typically exceeding that measure. They may not be making investment banking numbers, but since when are millions necessary to live a good life?</p>
<p>Forever58-that $40K/year would qualify that family for food stamps in our area…</p>
<p>Even the trades here need to have CC classes before they can get an apprenticeship. Those apprenticeships pay between $10-15/hour…see above. You can’t get into the union without an apprenticeship and you can’t work in the state for most contractors without being in the union, mainly for liability reasons. Forgoing college or community college really isn’t an option any more. The specialized manufacturing jobs in the OP’s post are just that, specialized and require special training and are not offered to just anyone. Most people that chose to go into “manufacturing” are taking assembly line jobs at $10/hour. </p>
<p>Now, my plumber makes a very good living, but he has been at it for 30+ years. The same level of responsibility in the corporate world, say CEO of a small business, is going to make 4 times what my plumber makes, minimum.</p>
<p>"… how do you make $100k if the top workers get $30/hour?"</p>
<p>To understand, you first have to drink the Kool-Aid … namely that any reasonably capable person can get those jobs and make that kind of money on a consistent basis. In CT we have state police who make $125K/year. And we have sheriffs (who deliver foreclosure notices and the like) who make over a million. And we have thousands of unemployed machinists.</p>
<p>So there have only been 3 openings in 31 years? Rather competitive I’ll say. (yes, they’ve had some more due to normal attrition, but the point is the same.)</p>
He has worked there 25 years & topped out his job title long ago. He has an interesting job( he is the composite specialist at Boeing & makes custom parts), but it is very physical and stressful. Part of why salary is as high as it is, is because every three or four years the union contract comes up- most years resulting in a strike for one or two or even three months. So the salary from overtime has to go into the bank to cover those months without a paycheck.