Where are all the younger folks?

I counted it up today. The AVERAGE age on my job site is 58.6 years old. 

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?  

That's totally unacceptable, and unsustainable (but becoming more and more normal).

58.6 years old basically means we are missing 4 DECADES worth of workers.

Yes, the work is hot.  Yes it's dirty.  Yes, there is physical exertion.  But the pay is very good, job security is excellent, and management pretty much leaves us alone to do our thing.  
 

It's been a great career for me, and allowed me to move comfortably toward retirement. 

I hear so much complaining about how hard it is to find a job, but I see zero people standing in line.

This phase of my life is when I should be mentoring my successor.  I'm looking around trying to figure out who I can pass the baton to, and I'm simply not seeing anyone. 
 

I'm not trying to rant. I'm honestly saddened by it. 

I see a lot of younger folks on job sites.

For the last project I had under construction, the field super is about my age (59) but the project manager (who has plenty of hands-on experience) is in his 30s.

I see lots of tin knockers, plumbers, and electricians in their 30s, but not so many masons or other trades.

Around here, most of the skilled laborers, masons, and carpenters who are in their 20s are either Mexican or Mennonite.  Occasionally both.

In reply to Duke :

Mexonnites??  I'm picturing a sombrero in a horse drawn buggy! 😂

its a wide range of problems.  without knowing your actual industry, I can speak for several that I have seen.  

1. people are staying in the workforce longer

2. no child left behind education policies that prioritizes college educations in the mid 90's.  

2. the consistent suppression of salaries and the expectations of younger workers means that alot of jobs have trouble hiring inexperienced people because they don't want to work for what they are valued at.  

3. younger people want to work differently, flexible hours, work from home benefits, etc.  

companies will endure and the workforce will adapt it always does, those companies which have the needs like your role will either have to increase the rate of labor or find ways to automate the work...  the younger folks who do not possess skills that make them able to take advantage of the flexibility built into new roles will have to accept the more physically demanding roles to achieve their individual hopes and dreams...  It will of course mean that when those folks are in their late 50's they will be even further away from retirement than you are but such is life.  

In reply to ClearWaterMS :

Construction. 
 

Flexibility is not really a thing for people who largely work outdoors. Adaptability is, but you've got to work when the weather lets you.

Money is not the issue. My industry routinely sees starting wages that are 3X the typical local starting wage.

In Northern California the building trades are dominated by Hispanics. When I worked in LA in the 80s I saw the same trend. Most of them have a work ethic that's extremely hard to find in the Caucasian  community.  

In reply to Duke :

Side comment on Mexican workers...

Yes, there are many younger immigrant Hispanic workers in construction, and they have a fantastic work ethic.  I'm not sure what that means for our economy and workforce in the long run. Most of them will not remain into mid life to continue to be contributing to the US workforce.  Many have no desire to become citizens- they can earn their retirement in a few short years and then head home to their country.

That makes me sad too.

Sure there will be more young migrant workers to replace them.  But there is no mature leadership, and no passing of knowledge from older to younger workers in the workforce.

I can't pass the baton to someone who isn't gonna be here in 10 years.

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

It's not just Northern CA.

I think there has been a trend in the last years of emphasizing college degrees and "office jobs" rather than fields like construction, welding, plumbing, etc. I'm almost 30, i have an office job, and the vast majority of my peers from high school have the same career path as me. There were a few that went into the armed service, and a few that do the trades, but the majority went to college and then to an office job.

I think (and really hope) that in the last 2-3 years, there has been a growth in the number of young people moving into the trades rather than college. I think it would be beneficial to society at large to not let that workforce die off if not replenished with younger folks.

In reply to budget_bandit :

I hope you're right.

My daughter told me recently she's thinking of pursuing a career as a plumber.  5' 1" slightly built young woman, gender fluid, bohemian outfits, colorful tattoos, and purple hair.

Cool!  Plumbers are sure gonna change!

(My stepson is similar stereotype- becoming a welder!)

What's your sick, personal, and PTO leave policy like?

Unless those construction jobs are in one's hometown many require being away from home for days/weeks at a time.   Might be a factor.  Just saying.

Women have more obstacles to overcome than men, primarily in the areas of sexism and less physical strength. That said, the key to longevity in the trades is using your brains, and as a  result I know a number of women who have fared quite well.

You certainly have it worse in trades, but even in technical/R&D there is so much job hopping that no one seems to want to build a career anymore.  I have a talented young female R&D at one of my customers - she could become a subject matter expert and a real asset to her company, but I get the feeling she'll work 2-3 years and look for the next role somewhere else.

I needed a plumber a few weeks ago - I was so encouraged that the gray beard brought the three-month apprentice to the job, and the skill and customer service ethic that was being taught and absorbed by a young'in with no plumbing experience that wanted the challenge and opportunity to learn and grow.

In reply to SV reX :

For me, it was a mix of the opportunity not being visible and then talked out of it by other trade workers when I did discover it.

Worked in retail for 10 years before landing myself in Cyber/information security in my late 20's. As much as I love my work now, I think I would have thrived in a trade. 

In reply to glueguy (Forum Supporter) :

The corporate job jumping is a different issue. First, there is zero incentive to stay at one company, pensions are long, long gone. Second, internal raises are less than job jumping raises, and many companies will negotiate PTO. 
 

Basically, the corporate world at all levels is set up for constant churn. Which is pretty dumb because of the lost productivity during 6-12 months of training/familiarity. So the reality is that the higher cost of churn is a lot more than giving quality development paths and pensions. Short term thinking FTW....

I've told this before. This was several years ago. 

I talked to a kid working at a Goodwill. He was in the back sorting clothes. I was doing a door repair. He was well-spoken. I asked him what they were paying. ($7.25)

I asked him if he would like to double his income and offered to hire him as a helper at $14 to start and another $1 in 90 days. With training, I could get him up over $20 in a year or two, and long term he would have a skill that could earn him $70k plus per year. 

He asked about what the job required and declined because he didn't want to work that hard. 

I hear that a fair amount. They want AC/heat at all times and easy. They don't seem to care about the future. Many of them also seem to have an inflated opinion as to what their labor is worth.

If you don't know anything and don't have any gumption to learn anything, you aren't worth $20/hr to start. 

I am 27 and an operation manager within a large landscape business in Georgia. It is nearly impossible to find non-Hispanic workers. The company pays very well. I make 6 figures in my position. Nobody wants to work hard to earn there wage. We will higher a white guy and 95% of the time they last two weeks then quit. This has been the case for us since I started 12 years ago. It is hard work, but you can be paid well without the need of a college education. Society as a whole seems to just be lazy and want everything handed to them now.

I teach electrical theory and industrial electronics to electrical apprentices at a community college a couple of evenings a week. There's been a major uptick in the interest in getting into the trades in the last few years. We still have a hard time finding drywallers, tapers, masons, concrete workers and any of the other so called mud trades. These are still good paying jobs that are either going wanting or being filled by temporary foreign workers.

In reply to alfadriver :

yeah, my fiancee could either stay at her job and get a 2.7% inflation adjustment and a 3% performance adjustment this year, or change companies and get a 30% raise. there's 0 incentive to hold a job for more than a few years at most companies

Our construction industry has been struggling to find workers of any age for the past 4 years. I think a lot of people got used to easy stimulus money and decided living cheap was preferable to working hard. That plus apparently it's $18/hr to flip burgers now and that's a whole lot easier than paving roads in 100F weather.

Toyman! said:

I've told this before. This was several years ago. 

I talked to a kid working at a Goodwill. He was in the back sorting clothes. I was doing a door repair. He was well-spoken. I asked him what they were paying. ($7.25)

I asked him if he would like to double his income and offered to hire him as a helper at $14 to start and another $1 in 90 days. With training, I could get him up over $20 in a year or two, and long term he would have a skill that could earn him $70k plus per year. 

He asked about what the job required and declined because he didn't want to work that hard. 

I hear that a fair amount. They want AC/heat at all times and easy. They don't seem to care about the future. Many of them also seem to have an inflated opinion as to what their labor is worth.

If you don't know anything and don't have any gumption to learn anything, you aren't worth $20/hr to start. 

 

I might be off base with this, but the amount of negativity that we are besieged with daily imprints many of our youth with a sense that they are fu--ed no matter what. So given that, why not just do as little as possible and just get by? This goes double for black kids. I'm not saying that I agree. But it's a problem.

Wayslow said:

I teach electrical theory and industrial electronics to electrical apprentices at a community college a couple of evenings a week. There's been a major uptick in the interest in getting into the trades in the last few years. We still have a hard time finding drywallers, tapers, masons, concrete workers and any of the other so called mud trades. These are still good paying jobs that are either going wanting or being filled by temporary foreign workers.

It's easy to say "good paying jobs" what's the dollar amount? First Year, how much does one expect to earn?  I find a lot of these jobs are long on promise, short on payout, especially given how physically demanding they are. I'll add that if it isn't enough to get by on and live well you're going to have a hard time recruiting people who can get an easy job that they can't get by on vs a hard job they can't get by on.

Got a buddy who's a bit older than me, will be hitting 40 soon. He's looking to retire by age 50. He started with a crew that does disaster relief and grown into a mid level manager. Just bought a house this year (paid cash) but moves around the country 2 or 3 times a year to go work on job sites, did anything from hurricanes, sink holes, tornadoes, earth quakes to rebuild homes/hospitals/Walmarts/the grand ole Opry.  Lives out of a hotel or trailer (on company dime) while traveling. I'd estimate he's somewhere around $150k/year currently base salary but he's getting pretty worn out from it. He does have a lot of young guys around and it's a good thing he speaks fluent Spanish to direct them.

If you can't fill the job, you're not paying enough.