The Pros And Cons Of Trade Schools

Manpower Inc.’s recent survey showed thirty five thousand employers reporting a shortage of skilled tradesmen (“Manpower”). That’s a huge number of jobs to fill and a lot of business to decline and possibly give to companies in other countries. The future of skilled trades isn’t looking promising. HR experts predict the shortage of high-tech and other skilled workers in the U.S. to worsen over the next decade (Wright, Greg). Luckily, companies and schools have the power to draw young people into the skilled trades by making a few changes. Because of the shortage of skilled tradesmen in the workforce, high schools should present trade schools as an option while employers make their workplaces more appealing.
Ten thousand workers per day …show more content…
Young people don’t think of a trade as a “sexy vocation” (Winslow in Kavilanz). People don’t respect tradesmen the way they did fifty years ago. “The honor of doing and going through a vocational technical training program has diminished” according to Jeff Joeres, ManpowerGroup’s CEO (Roberts). The lower class stigma turns people away from jobs in industry (Whoriskey). The respect of society goes to white-collar office workers. Jobs in industry involve physically taxing, dirty work and people don’t want this less-than-glamorous image associated with them (Wright, Joshua). In addition, young people entering the workforce don’t think jobs in skilled trades exist (Whoriskey). They don’t consider them as a career option so they choose to go to college for job training. They are “people whose great-uncle worked in manufacturing and their memory of manufacturing is a shrinking industry” (Sloan in Swanson). Society contributes to the shortage of workers by giving the trades a bad …show more content…
Some employers specifically look for trade school graduates. Small computer repair businesses often prefer technical training over traditional academic training because of the real-world experience technical training gives (Wood). According to Trent Munsey, CEO of Skills USA California, “Industry has been complaining about shortages of the skilled labor they need so they have been sharing that with college administrations, counselors, and technical advisers. They have been screaming for trained people [coming] out of the school system…” (Wood). Since it is the school’s responsibility to prepare students for a career in the real world, they should promote technical schools and help students who wish to attend them. This could be key in reducing the skilled tradesmen shortage because more students would see the trades as a promising