# We Need More Young People Who Want To Do Dirty Jobs | Clips | Dad Saves America

**Creator:** Dad Saves America
**Platform:** youtube
**Duration:** 8m
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA

## Summary

The discussion highlights a significant shortage of skilled tradespeople in the U.S., exacerbated by societal pressures to pursue college over vocational training. The aging workforce in trades is a concern, and there is a growing recognition of the value and opportunities within the trades, especially for young people.

- There is a crisis in the availability of skilled craftsmen and tradespeople in the U.S.
- The average age of workers in trades is around 45-50, indicating an aging workforce.
- Many young people are pushed towards college, often viewing trades as a second choice.
- Successful trade programs in high schools are emerging, exposing students to various trades.
- Graduates from trade programs can earn good wages without student debt, often leading to successful careers.
- There is a cultural difference in the respect for trades in Europe compared to the U.S.
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of family and work-life balance, advocating for early family formation.
- There is hope for the future of trades as more people and organizations promote vocational careers and success stories emerge.

## Transcript

[[0:01]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=1s)
- There is a serious deficit
in the amount of people out there entering the trades. - For sure. - Everybody's being told
they gotta go to college and take nonsense. And meanwhile, you can come out and make a really good living being a contributor to the creation of homes and other things.
- That's right. - So I hear this in the abstract. What's your boots-on-the-ground experience with the availability of skilled craftsmen and trades people?

[[0:34]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=34s)
And how do you think about that? - Yeah, I mean it's such
a multifaceted issue, but it is a crisis, number one. And it's definitely happening. If you just go to any one of my job sites, the average age of the workforce
on my jobs is probably 45, I would suspect, or 50. - These are really
physically demanding jobs. - Just turned 50 recently,
and I could tell you that I'm not able to do a
carpentry day job like I used to be able to, you know,
on a Saturday for me, let's say, like I could 20 years ago.

[[1:04]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=64s)
Where I could work all
weekend long for 10 hours and go back to work on Monday. My body is not able to do that. So we've got that issue
of that aging population. I think you're right
on that college front. Through the '90s and 2000s, that's all we told kids was
you have to go to college. And now that I have kids, I can tell you not every
kid fits the college mold. And there's very few, but
there are some trade programs that kids can get into high school and get exposed and learn it.

[[1:35]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=95s)
Unfortunately, a lot
of what happens though is the trades become the second choice because they didn't make it in college, or they didn't do whatever. And so now they've gotta figure
out how do I make a living? You know, "My girlfriend's pregnant. I've gotta make a living 'cause my parents don't want me living there anymore. What job can I get?" Incidentally, I actually know some people that were in that
situation and embraced it, and have been incredibly
successful 20 years later.

[[2:04]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=124s)
And oh, by the way, I feel
like we've got a little bit of a backlash from starting
families late too in America. In fact, someone just recently
gave a commencement speech. And in their speech they said, this was a a well-known football player, I forget who it was. In his commencements addressed
to a college audience, said, "You know, the best thing
that I ever did in my life was get married and have kids. And so forget about
all these other things.

[[2:27]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=147s)
If I can tell you any piece of advice, get married and have kids early." You know, he's like 45 and he is got kids that are graduating from high school and moving on to whatever in life. What a great piece of advice for America. I mean, there's something
about having a job and working and having kids
that makes you realize, yeah, money and job, that's great and all, but my family is what really
matters the most, right?

[[2:52]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=172s)
And my being a dad. I mean, we're talking about
"Dad Saves America" here. There's really no more
important job in my life than being a dad. That's not entirely true. Being a husband's actually
a little more important 'cause my kids will go
away and my wife won't. So I need to maintain that relationship. - (laughs) That's a good
way to think about it. They're gonna eventually
be their own adults, but- - I mean, ultimately our priorities, I think, should be God
first, your wife next, your family next, and then everything else falls behind those.

[[3:20]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=200s)
But back to this how do
we encourage young people to get in the trades? I'm seeing more and more
evidence of that happening. I can think of two or three
dozen high schools now that have amazing trade programs that are exposing ninth
graders to electrical trades, to plumbing trades, to carpentry trades. And they're outputting graduates that are going right into those trades, and as an 18-year-old are
making 25 bucks an hour, 30 bucks an hour, and have
nowhere to go but up from there.

[[3:50]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=230s)
And so to have no debt, to
go to a job that you like, that is hard work. Don't get me wrong. You're gonna come home sweaty and dirty, but you're gonna feel like you actually accomplished something. That's good for a lot of America. And the one thing that I don't see yet that I wanna see more of that
they've been doing in Europe for years is there's a real
culture of respecting trades in craftsmanship in Europe
that we're missing here.

[[4:16]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=256s)
And I think that we could
foster that more and more. But as a quick example,
I went to the BAU show a couple years ago in Munich. And it's really like the
international building show where there's people from all, literally, all over the world coming to the show. And in Germany where it was
held, you saw these groups of men and women, all ages, and they'd walk around and they'd all be in
like a green jumpsuit.

[[4:37]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=277s)
They looked like an Audi pit crew that you'd see on an F1 race. And then you'd get up close
and it'd be like, Hans, and it'd be like, you know,
Klein Snicker painting. And it's a group of painters
that were wearing a clean, crisp mascot brand uniform with their name on it, and they're all walking
around the show together. And you saw that with plumbing
companies, HVAC companies, painters, I mean like all
these different trades. And they were really
proud to be at the show and wear their uniform.

[[5:09]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=309s)
And it made me excited to come home. And honestly, that's one
thing that my company does. I only have five people that work for me that are actually in the field doing work. We call it self-perform work. But we all wear the same logo, whether you're a builder, a manager, whether you work for my
video production company. We all wear the same Build logo. And I make sure that
everyone has a uniform. I call it my Jiffy Lube uniform.

[[5:31]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=331s)
I wear it with pride. I look the same today as you've
seen me on my videos, right? - That's right. That's right, yeah. - I wear the same hat with the same logo, and we all wear the same thing every day. And we take pride in what we do. I don't need to wear a suit
just 'cause I own the company. - Has there been things that give you hope for the face of trade
craft in the United States?

[[5:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=353s)
You said you're seeing some schools that are now helping people, at least that's probably locally. - There is a few programs locally, which are pretty awesome. And in fact, one of my
electricians is a graduate from the Cedar Park Trade Program where he started going to
electrical trade classes a ninth grader. When he graduated, he got hired by a local electrical company. And about seven years
later, as a 25-year-old, he's married and has two kids
and owns his own company, and he has two guys on the crew.

[[6:23]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=383s)
So the three of them are
running an electrical company. And what an amazing thing that in America, you could graduate a high school degree. He was a master electrician
before he was even 25. Once he got his master's license, he could start his own firm. And you know, he's making good
money, has a great family, and he's had that much success. He's not even 30 yet. That's crazy to me. - Yeah, that's amazing.
- That's so cool, isn't it?

[[6:49]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=409s)
So there are more and
more stories of that, and I think that you'll see
more of "The Build Show" talking about that. For instance, next month,
I'm going out to film a brand new series
called "Talking Trades". And we're gonna interview
six different trades people in different trades, including
a female trades person up in Minnesota who shoots videos with us, talking about how'd you get into it? What do you like about it? What do you not like about it?

[[7:13]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=433s)
Mike Rowe's done a bunch
for this cause too. "Dirty Jobs" is an awesome show. - There's the SkillsUSA organization. - SkillsUSA is amazing. They're in high schools
all over the nation. Mike Holmes has done a
bunch on this topic too. It's a really big need, and more and more people
are talking about it. So I'm hopeful that
within the next decade, we're gonna see a big
change and a big switch away from, "Hey, you gotta go to college and get any degree to, "Hey, let's think about
a career in the trades," 'cause you could start it right now, right after you graduate from high school, and you could be a huge
leg up on your peers when they're 23 and 24 and have $100,000 in debt.

[[7:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfANsNEgUYA&t=473s)
And they're still struggling frankly, to find out what their career path and what their life looks like. - If you enjoyed this clip, we've got more where that came from. Be sure to check out my full conversation with Matt Risinger. And one of the best ways
you can help support us is to subscribe to the channel so you won't miss their
interviews and short videos as they come out each week. (upbeat music)