Another Housing Market Crash Looming?

[mtmuley]

This makes me think of the recent cyber attack on Colonial pipelines. During the shutdown they had to operate things manually in order to keep operating at all. Manually - physically turning open valves to keep stuff moving. The CEO told the press (and Congress I think) that the older employees retained those skills and that was the only way it was possible. Those skills were “aging out” as everything went to automation. That is a scary thought, and it got little press. The movie Mad Max enters my mind.

Try finding a skilled carpenter right now. Or someone that wants to learn how to become one. The trades are dying. mtmuley

 

[Nick87]

Try finding a skilled carpenter right now. Or someone that wants to learn how to become one. The trades are dying. mtmuley

Nobody wants to learn. Work ethic is dying

 

[JoltnJoe]

This is why I feel fortunate to work for a company that has clients that don't give a rip how much materials cost, or worry about where they need to work. mtmule

Nobody wants to learn. Work ethic is dying

I’m a working general contractor (right now working by myself). No young people in the trades, which is a shame because it’s a good living that travels well. I see a few young guys in the mechanicals but no carpenters. Makes you wonder what the future tradesmen looks like.

 

[Nick87]

I’m a working general contractor (right now working by myself). No young people in the trades, which is a shame because it’s a good living that travels well. I see a few young guys in the mechanicals but no carpenters. Makes you wonder what the future tradesmen looks like.

Theres plenty looking to get into the trades around here. Very few who want to put in the work and the long hours.

 

[jlong17]

This is what happens when high school counselors push kids towards racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans for a degree in gender studies. I love Mike Rowe's message. He does a lot of work in bringing awareness to trade school and the high demand and salaries associated with such jobs.

 

[SAJ-99]

This is what happens when high school counselors push kids towards racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans for a degree in gender studies. I love Mike Rowe's message. He does a lot of work in bringing awareness to trade school and the high demand and salaries associated with such jobs.

Sure, but electrician trade school is still a couple of years with book study and tests. All the stuff that the kids thought they were rid of when they got their HS diploma and said they were not going to college. It’s a general work-ethic problem. A skilled tradesperson can make really good money - welders, carpenters, electricians. But when you wash off the dust and grime and read the CEO made $30mil last year you are damn sure going to tell your kids to go to school. I’m not sure how you break that cycle. But a bad weld or poor wiring can lead to people dying, so we need those skills.

 

[Nick87]

Sure, but electrician trade school is still a couple of years with book study and tests. All the stuff that the kids thought they were rid of when they got their HS diploma and said they were not going to college. It’s a general work-ethic problem. A skilled tradesperson can make really good money - welders, carpenters, electricians. But when you wash off the dust and grime and read the CEO made $30mil last year you are damn sure going to tell your kids to go to school. I’m not sure how you break that cycle. But a bad weld or poor wiring can lead to people dying, so we need those skills.

Lot of truth to that, I tell my kids stay in school everyday. I guess when I think about it I probably would be making less had I gone to school. ( at least for most things I would of been interested in studying). I think I subconsciously tell them that so they could have an opportunity to make a good living and be able to live wherever they want in the country.

 

[Nick87]

Sure, but electrician trade school is still a couple of years with book study and tests. All the stuff that the kids thought they were rid of when they got their HS diploma and said they were not going to college. It’s a general work-ethic problem. A skilled tradesperson can make really good money - welders, carpenters, electricians. But when you wash off the dust and grime and read the CEO made $30mil last year you are damn sure going to tell your kids to go to school. I’m not sure how you break that cycle. But a bad weld or poor wiring can lead to people dying, so we need those skills.

Also a lot of trades require very little if any school work at least in my experience. 99% is learned on job. Ymmv

 

[jlong17]

Sure, but electrician trade school is still a couple of years with book study and tests. All the stuff that the kids thought they were rid of when they got their HS diploma and said they were not going to college. It’s a general work-ethic problem. A skilled tradesperson can make really good money - welders, carpenters, electricians. But when you wash off the dust and grime and read the CEO made $30mil last year you are damn sure going to tell your kids to go to school. I’m not sure how you break that cycle. But a bad weld or poor wiring can lead to people dying, so we need those skills.

No doubt there’s a work ethic problem. How’s that saying go - Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.

 

[Nick87]

This is what happens when high school counselors push kids towards racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans for a degree in gender studies. I love Mike Rowe's message. He does a lot of work in bringing awareness to trade school and the high demand and salaries associated with such jobs.

Mike Rowe has a couple really good videos addressing workplace safety. Brings up a lot of great points.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Makes you wonder what the future tradesmen looks like.

in most areas that I’ve worked in, the future of the trades is brown and hablars the espanol.

 

[Irrelevant]

I just dumped a vendor of 8 years. They are short-staffed. I offered to pay overtime if they got enough volunteers to work the weekend. Any weekend. I was told 23 weeks to replenish when 3 weeks was the norm. They want to fill the openings that were let go during Covid but those guys moved on so are having to hire and train. But, they want to pay pre-Covid wages so have lots of openings. Sales are about 90% of pre-Covid. Staffing on the production floor is under 60% of pre-Covid. The VP of Sales is almost certainly going to lose his job. I am not the only customer to walk to a competitor that adjusted to the new normal. So, they are saving money on the CAD monkey types and going to jettison the senior guy that has poor judgement, does not have his finger in the wind and is not very persuasive about why wages should rise. A lot of knowledge is gone from that company and few veterans to train newbies. I suppose the frozen wage will work as once they lose enough customers they will have the right amount of employees to meet the collapsed demand.

There's a difference between how you run a company and how you handle Covid. I was talking about the former, you clearly the latter.

 

[BigHornRam]

Listening to all this job talk back and forth makes me damn glad that I have been self employed for most of my career.