Comments by "alex smith" (@alexsmith-ob3lu) on "WSJ News" channel.

Most employers have forgotten what it means to compete for workers. Employers just want to hire someone with 10+ years work experience who is willing to work for cents on the dollar.
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Very well said! I’m a journeyman electrician and turning 27 years old in two months. An apprenticeship in a skilled trade is not an easy pathway as most people would like to believe. You are spot on with the schooling, field experience, and all the overtime required.
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@Valorince No money for training people? Corporate profits keep going through the roof while labor keeps getting kicked to the curb. And no, most contractors won't just take you with no prior experience and train you. Many now require pre-apprenticeship training at a community college before taking you on.
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@MrToradragon I and many others had to figure things out for myself while dealing with all the guilt tripping, shaming, insults and bullying from other people around me when I chose pre-apprenticeship way back in high school. Also, you older folks back then could work any type of job (blue, white, service collar) and still make it to a comfortable middle class level or even upper middle class with relative ease. These days, not so much for my friends and I. For example, one of my mom friends (her and her husband) started working as grocery store clerks/cleaners back in the early 1970s. Eventually they worked their way up to store department managers but by the early 1980s, they both could afford a modest home, two children and a basic car in a city suburb with incomes that were only a few dollars more than minimum wage. These days, if any young person were to do that, they'd be financially broke and would have to work another 2-3 jobs just to barely skimp by.
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@MrToradragon Regardless of where you live in the world, its the same trend everywhere. It amazes me how little you older folks care while demanding the best services be given exclusively to you. I've meet Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean and Middle Eastern students studying here in America tell me the same things too. Their grand parents were all middle school drop outs, but could afford a modest home and a few children. Their parents only had vocational training at college and were able to do well. Meanwhile you've got all these young people with Master degrees from university working low skill or unskilled jobs with skyrocketing student loan debts. It's crazy!
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@silasmartin5210 Because of such poor work ethics and the complete lack of education in America public schools; both union and non-union contractors aren't looking for someone with "no experience". You're basically asked to do a pre-apprenticeship certificate at community college before even bothering to apply for jobs. Then when you are taken on, its 4-5 years of apprenticeship (on the job work and training). Along with going back to school after x amount of on the field work. But during your apprenticeship, you encouraged to ask as many questions as possible (without slowing down work) and to learn as much as possible because when you're a journeyman; you're expected to understand many things going on. Skilled trades isn't for everyone and he was simply giving out a warning to those who think a plumber or electrician or carpenter is an "over glorified, unskilled installers work."
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@silasmartin5210 It's more than just "reducing the barriers to entry." The U.S economy is very different from that of the UK economy. There is only so much tradesmen needed for a given economy, hence why some regions won't train more because its not necessary. Real estate construction/maintenance is speculative in the U.S with boom and bust cycles. Unless your in a big city union, sure you'll get a decent amount of work. But elsewhere, its small and medium contractors taking on the brunt. Our industrial sector is a shell of its former self and many blue collar fields have already been degraded or simply vanished from decades of "everyone to university."
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@tomjewell2509 You can learn plumbing in the army while you’re still there. Join the Army Corps of Engineers and ask for them to take you on as a plumbing apprentice.
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@Jaffer_cake Physical injuries? You can get many health problems (I.e.: heart disease) from sitting in an office all day!
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@Jaffer_cake There is no “perfect career” for anyone. If you work in an office, you should be aware of problems associated with sitting at a desk all day. Just like how guys are trained in safety for doing construction or working in a manufacturing plant.
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