Mark Erlich, a former carpenter who is now a Fellow at Harvard, gives us a look at the jobs market, and the ascendance of the “toolbelt generation.”
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I want to introduce you to On the Job and host Avery Thompson. Avery shares stories of people making changes in their professional and personal lives. Whether it's a successful athlete transitioning into a new career off the field, a fly fishing tour guide trying to introduce a new segment of folks to the joys of the outdoors, or a stadium beer and hot dog hawker who doubles as a CEO of a red hot startup. We'll find out what drives them and what lies ahead. These are heartfelt stories of people finding their lives. Work on the Job is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. This week, Avery talks to a former carpenter who is now a fellow at Harvard.
Welcome to On the Job. It's hard to believe it that this is now our eighth season. We've got a lot of great stories coming your way. If you're not sure how to feel about the economy these days, you're not alone. It's an admittedly confusing time right now to make sense of what's going on out there. I gave a call up to Boston, Massachusetts to speak with author, labor historian, and fellow at Harvard Law mark Erlin Mark Earley, thank you for being on the podcast. Let's jump right into it. How's it looking out there to you?
Well, I actually think it's looking quite good. You know, there's the issue of perception and reality and how it's perceived politically. But the reality is that the job market keeps climbing, that we have come out of the pandemic better than really any other country in the world, and I think there are a lot of opportunities. I would say that to the degree that what our future holds in some ways is dependent on the election in November and whether the current trends continue or whether there's a sharp turn to a different set of politics and economics.
As Mark told me, there's only so much crystal ballgazing one can do. As a historian. He knows that unforeseen surprises are both unpredictable and inevitable. However, there is one thing that we can all see coming our way, and that's AI.
I think for the majority of jobs, I don't think in the short term is going to be much of an impact one way or another. I think twenty five, thirty, fifty years out. The impact of AI is probably going to be incomprehensible in many ways.
And at least for now, it seems unlikely that AI will be able to replace a plumber or an electrician anytime soon, which is a great thing because those types of jobs, the sort of skilled trade jobs, are having quite a resurgence these days. And Mark, a former carpenter himself, says, not only are those jobs quite plentiful these days, they're also finally getting the respect they deserve.
Yeah, I think that's been an interesting process. I think that's for two reasons. One is that guidance counselors and high schools and sort of families works kept saying college, college, college, college. You got to go to college if you're going to have a secure living, And what happened when you graduated you had a pile of student debt and you were a barista or an uber driver. On the other hand, if you do blue collar work, if you frankly, if you go say through an apprenticeship program, you are earning while you learn. There is no debt. You're learning a skill. In four years and you've become a licensed electrician or you become a master carpenter, or whatever, and the occupation may be, and you have been you've been making money that entire time, and you're well on your way towards, you know, having a secure livelihood. I think for too long we devalue that kind of work in the society. And I'm glad to see, like the enrollment of vocationals schools is increasing all over the country, and that seems to me kind of like one hundred and eighty degree shift from say even twenty years ago.
With soaring enrollment in technical and vocational schools and a strong jobs market in the blue collar sector. Some have even started calling gen Z the tool belt generation. And as public opinion of the trades continues to change, so too are the people drawn to them.
You're seeing women in the trades being elevated to leadership positions in the industry. It's a very healthy thing, very good thing.
And a similar trend is happening with foreign born Americans.
My parents are immigrants. I'm a big support of immigration. I think this country was built on immigrant labor. And the only difference now is that instead of being folks from Southern Europe or Eastern Europe or wherever, they're coming from, Central and South America as well as other parts of the world.
Hopefully, in a few years we'll have a lot more men and women driving their children around and pointing and saying, you see that, kids, I built that for On the job, I'm Avery Thompson.
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