As Gen Z opts out of blue-collar work in America, expert shares benefits of learning a trade

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Applications for trade jobs drop nearly 50% from 2020, report says

Author of ‘Blue Collar Cash’ Ken Rusk reacts to the drop in trade job applications among young people.

As members of Gen Z enter the workforce, fewer and fewer Americans are taking up essential trade work.

Applications for technical jobs have dropped nearly 50% from 2020 to 2022, according to NPR.

Ken Rusk, former construction worker and the author of the book "Blue Collar Cash," joined "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday to discuss declining the interest in trade jobs.

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Rusk explained that not only are shop classes disappearing from high schools — where some kids discover a knack for working with their hands — but college prep schools are trending as well.

"So, if you think you might want to do that [trade] job, you’re walking down the hallway and all you hear is ‘college prep,’" said Rusk. 

Carpenters frame the roof of a new home under construction in Nesconset, New York, on Feb. 6, 2018. (John Paraskevas/Newsday RM vis Getty Images)

"And you’re thinking, ‘Wow, do I not fit in here?’"

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For young people who are trying to figure out what they "want their life to look like," Rusk said that college is only one path for them to choose, among many other options.

Ken Rusk, former construction worker and author of the book "Blue Collar Cash," appeared on "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.  (Fox News)

And when it comes to finding a way to make money, the author noted that trade jobs are known to pay well.

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"In the Midwest, you’re talking six figures in a lot of these cases, and they can’t find people to do it," he said.

In the year 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, plumbers and pipefitters made nearly $60,000 per year, while farmers and ranchers raked in more than $73,000, the program noted.

A worker demonstrates cutting a pipe at the Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 5 Training Facility on Aug. 4, 2021, in Lanham, Maryland. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Rusk said that for every 10 electricians who retire, only four or five new workers are coming along to replace them.

"It’s simple supply and demand," he said. 

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"Where supply is low and demand is high, that’s where the money is going to go."

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Rusk encouraged members of Gen Z to consider the financial benefits of trade work before taking the jump into college — and getting caught up in student debt.