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While some jobs in construction might not need vocational training, it would be pretty difficult to build a single house to code without at least journeyman Mason's, framers, plumbers, HVAC techs and electricians making up the bulk of the crew. Do you actually think your home was just slapped together by a bunch of walkons who just happened to be passing by a new housing tract.
Again here is the looking down ones nose at those in skilled trades.
From another website talking about average pay for construction workers--just where is this 50K starting salary???:
Highest
The top 10% of Construction Workers in the United States earn:
$28.80 an hour $59,900 per year
Senior
The top 25% of Construction Workers in the United States earn:
$20.30 an hour $42,230 per year
Experienced
The top 50% of Construction Workers in the United States earn:
$14.95 an hour $31,090 per year
Junior
The bottom 25% of Construction Workers in the United States earn:
$11.89 an hour $24,740 per year
Starting
The bottom 10% of Construction Workers in the United States earn:
ONE person you know made it big without a relevant degree (he does HAVE a degree though per your anecdote) makes all the reams of data based on many THOUSANDS of individuals with and without college degrees and their relative earnings potential worthless...
Good to know...
Exactly. Anecdotal evidence doesn't tell the story. Actual statistics do. While a college education is certainly not a way out of poverty for everyone, it's pretty effective for many. And compared to a HS diploma is, statistically speaking, a much better bet.
In any field there is a starting salary, mine is really awful compared to hours worked, but you got to start somewhere.
Read back in this tread where people are claiming you can make 50K right out of high school if you work in a trade....or many of the other threads claiming the same thing...
Just surveying general construction worker salaries is not an effective way to gauge the earning power of skilled trades. Does that poll include unskilled labor? If so, that is going to skew the numbers downward.
Construction and skilled trades pay varies greatly by location, whether it is unionized, in a RTW state, high COL area, etc. A national average isn't going to tell you much.
When I started college in 2004, there were two dorms for men (one had previously been a women's dorm) that were old, dated, and I'm not even sure they had air conditioning. I stayed there one semester and moved back in with my parents as it was so bad, a lot worse than regular apartments in the area.
A few years later the school tore these dorms down and built a new complex that is downright palatial. It has a huge lobby with arcade, WiFi cafe, TVs, etc. - it resembles a hotel more than a dorm. The elevator require a keyfob to go up. It looked like a fairly large, upscale apartment in any major city, and was probably the nicest complex in the small town it was in.
I can't help thinking that place didn't add substantially to the costs.
I disagree; 10-15 years ago a person was almost, almost being the key word, guaranteed some sort of professional type position, whether it was an admin assistant, one of the million variations of "business analyst" or something in sales meaning at a tech company or something. Even with the government it was easy to get in.
The market was hot, the federal government had problems hiring, and the military had problems recruiting and retaining.
Now it is the reverse; college grads even with advanced degrees are working retail or something along those lines. The federal gov receives numerous applications for every open position. The military is turning people away for about anything and people are fighting to stay in the military.
There are many jobs in the government 10-15 years ago did not even require a college degree. Now those same positions require a degree at a minimum to even qualify to apply for the job. Ironically, many of the managers do not have a degree because they started back when it was not required.
Places like the DC area are flooded with applications from across the country as everyone fights to get anything, even volunteer, non-paid positions are flooded with applicants, all trying to get any kind of relevant work experience.
And no, I am not on a "the economy is bad" tirade, the economy is not bad at all, it is that the pipeline of educated people has been building for years, and it is now just moving along, but rather slowly and not fast enough to even keep pace with current grads, let alone the backlogged ones.
if you ask me the military is the reason the government is in debt. trying to put money into an unwinnable war
Just surveying general construction worker salaries is not an effective way to gauge the earning power of skilled trades. Does that poll include unskilled labor? If so, that is going to skew the numbers downward.
Construction and skilled trades pay varies greatly by location, whether it is unionized, in a RTW state, high COL area, etc. A national average isn't going to tell you much.
Maybe not, but as stated below, a lot of people on these boards claim a person can make $50K right out of high school. You know that's an outlier situation. That's unskilled labor at that point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Qwerty
Read back in this tread where people are claiming you can make 50K right out of high school if you work in a trade....or many of the other threads claiming the same thing...
Yes, there is an incredible anti-education bias on this "Colleges and Universities" board for some reason.
Just surveying general construction worker salaries is not an effective way to gauge the earning power of skilled trades. Does that poll include unskilled labor? If so, that is going to skew the numbers downward.
Construction and skilled trades pay varies greatly by location, whether it is unionized, in a RTW state, high COL area, etc. A national average isn't going to tell you much.
people do the same for college degrees... random sampling of people usually in mid career from all over country...
Maybe not, but as stated below, a lot of people on these boards claim a person can make $50K right out of high school. You know that's an outlier situation. That's unskilled labor at that point.
Yes, there is an incredible anti-education bias on this "Colleges and Universities" board for some reason.
I think there's an incredible anti-education bias everywhere. And it didn't start with all the "OMG Student Loans" reporting we get to hear about on a daily basis nowadays. Some people just don't believe that education past HS is necessary or important.
My grandfather felt that way. My mom was valedictorian of her HS class and even though he could have afforded to send her to college, he refused because "A college education is a waste. Especially for women". Sadly, dear old grandpa's point of view is alive and well even today.
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