ArcaMax

I need your help. You’ll be helping your children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors, too. You may not realize it, but there is a severe shortage of workers in just about every residential construction trade. Here’s another reality: Over 70% of the U.S. population hires people in the trades to perform construction and maintenance tasks on their homes.

A shortage of workers leads to higher labor costs and often longer wait times for quality work. It’s time to bang the gong and let young students and young adults know that a life-long vocation as a plumber, electrician, carpenter, painter, drywall finisher, etc., is both fulfilling and respectable.

I think we’re about to go full circle when it comes to respect and reverence for the trades. Back in the late 1800s, when disease was undeniably linked to sanitation, plumbers were on the same platform, and maybe the next one up, as physicians! This history, which is rapidly becoming legend, is one of the reasons plumbers are among the highest-paid tradespeople. A great plumber helps you stay healthy.

It was common back in the early 1900s for tradespeople to develop a love for what they did each day. Some were so proud of what they produced that they signed their work! Years ago, I uncovered the signatures of carpenters up in attics where they had signed and dated the roof ridge board they had installed minutes before.

I’ve discovered bottles with handwritten notes in them in the walls of old homes I’ve worked on. They were left by plumbers just as you might stuff a note in a bottle and toss it into the surf. I didn’t realize how valuable these were and discarded them. How I wish I had photographed all those signatures I discovered hidden inside homes!

You can help bring back this pride and honor by adding your voice to the conversation. Are vocational schools still part of your public school system? Vocational schools in many cities and states have slowly disappeared over the past decades. My deep cynicism thinks this was a diabolical plan to herd young people toward expensive, and somewhat useless, college degrees. Layer on top of this the inescapable student-loan debt that crushes their spirit and bank accounts.

I was born and raised in Cincinnati. I had the good fortune to know an instructor in construction technology at a local vocational school. He asked if I’d be willing to speak several times to his students about real-world challenges and opportunities in residential construction. It was a magical experience for me to be surrounded by young folks who soaked up construction knowledge like sponges.

The vocational schools in the greater Cincinnati area are still churning out energetic young tradespeople. These students have high-paying jobs waiting for them. Go to the Great Oaks Career Campuses website. You’ll be dazzled by all the vocational study tracks they offer. Your school system should mimic this. You can help make it happen by doing two things.

Step one is to write a simple letter to the editor of your local paper. Perhaps you can tell personal stories about how it’s difficult to locate professionals to do work at your home. Share any examples of how you’ve seen a decline in quality and professionalism. You can touch on how jobs in the trades are beyond the reach of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is the new warm-and-fuzzy buzzword, but many don’t realize it’s going to gobble up thousands of jobs. I don’t know of a plumber or roof framer who’s worried about AI taking their place!

Mention in your letter how vocational schools can be an incubator for fostering pride, steady employment and personal fulfillment. I used to feel immense satisfaction when I installed a valley jack rafter that was cut so perfectly that you couldn’t slide a piece of paper between it and the actual valley rafter. Can you say you feel the same emotion in any of the tasks you do at your job each day? I doubt it.

Step two is to attend your local school board meetings, especially if your school system has abandoned vocational training. Once again, share stories about how the need for skilled tradespeople is growing, and that your school system should be part of solving this conundrum.

Try to recruit others who feel like you do to attend these important school board meetings. It’s all about pain relief. School board members are like the presidents of companies. If they don’t hear complaints, then they feel everything is OK. You need to voice your complaint about the lack of vocational training.

I feel this vocational training should start in middle school. There should also be cross-training. I wish that when I was a young lad I had been forced to sew on a button, learn how to run a sewing machine, cook a full meal, and bake bread from scratch. I feel young girls should be exposed to home repairs, welding, basic auto maintenance and so forth.

While we’re at it, let’s campaign for all life skills to be taught in middle school and high school! Personal finance, investing, business principles, etc., should be discussed with young, fertile minds. These topics may create a spark in a young girl or boy, allowing them to have a fulfilling career they didn’t even realize existed.

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©2026 Tim Carter. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.