Hard to find help nowdays

[Mobasser]

Well, in 3 weeks time the company I work for has been through 2 plumbers, 1 carpenter, and 1 painter. What's happened to our work force? Guys start the job, and quit shortly after. One was fired for theft on his 3rd day, caught trying to steal a hammer drill. My foreman is a very easy going person. Just show up, give an honest days work, and you'll have no problems. I'm 61 now. I've been doing carpentry work since I was 28 yrs old. I often wonder who will do these jobs in the future? It's like going to school. You start out at the bottom. As your skill and speed increases, so does your pay rate. The work is not glamorous. It can be hot/cold and physically demanding, but pays well. It's a sad state that more young guys won't learn the trades anymore. Young men, get out there and get to work! If college is not for you, then learn a skilled trade! A strong workforce is the backbone of our country! The jobs are there, what are you waiting for?

[Mike L]

There's an old saying..

"If all the kids in the world went to college, who's gonna clean the fish"

 

Seems to me that most Kids nowadays don't have the work ethic as older generations had and have. 

They will change jobs just for the sake of change and do just enough not to get fired before they quit. 

Those who just bide thier time waiting for someone or the government to support them without having to work for it, just don't understand that jobs are given, careers are made. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Way north bass guy]

I’m self employed, and have no other employees that work for me at all, and as long as I can physically do the work, that’s the way it’s gonna stay. I worked with my father for over 15 years before he retired, and some years he had 6-8 employees working for him ( we’re stonemasons), and it was always a ridiculous endeavour to hire and keep decent workers for more than a couple weeks, and they were paid very good money too. It seems around my area, nobody can find any kind of labourers. Nobody wants to break any kind of a sweat anymore, they all want to type away on a computer or phone all day and figure they should be paid good money to basically do nothing. Yes, there’s lots of jobs out there that require computer/office skills, but someone’s still gotta build and fix things. It’s gonna be a sad state of affairs in the future if things continue the way they are going. 

[NHBull]

This problem is magnified by historically low unemployment.

Folks that normally not be in the workforce are and these are some of the results.

My bigger concern is the lack of kids going to trade school.

 

[Way2slow]

Work!!!!!,  Most kids idea of work is to drift in sometime mid morning, maybe, if they didn't have a friend that felt like they needed to do something else, hang around and BS with the others, for a while, taking a couple of breaks along the way, go to lunch, for an hour or two, come back, BS some more, again a few breaks along the way, and knock off about three or so.  Oh! and expect to make at least $20 per hour and paid for an eight hour day if their schedule was say 8 to 5.

 

The government pays too much for people not to work to expect to find someone that will work.

[A-Jay]

Agreed ~ 

You folks are not the only ones who have identified a major problem . . .

https://www.mikeroweworks.org/

https://www.mikeroweworks.org/scholarship/

A-Jay

[Mobasser]

22 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Agreed ~ 

You folks are not the only ones who have identified a major problem . . .

https://www.mikeroweworks.org/

https://www.mikeroweworks.org/scholarship/

A-Jay

A-Jay, even though I do carpentry work, it seems like lots of youngsters bounce from job to job and don't seem to care.I don't know exactly why, but it is a real problem for us.At some point in life, you have to buckle down and stick with a job, regardless of what type of work. I think most of this starts at home. Young guys never need too much time to.loaf around. It's not good for them

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

A-Jay, even though I do carpentry work, it seems like lots of youngsters bounce from job to job and don't seem to care.I don't know exactly why, but it is a real problem for us.At some point in life, you have to buckle down and stick with a job, regardless of what type of work. I think most of this starts at home. Young guys never need too much time to.loaf around. It's not good for them

I hear ya and totally agree.

I joined the service at 19.

Retired at 47.

Best thing I ever did and I owe most everything I am & have to that decision.

A-Jay

 

[slonezp]

Skilled trades are hurting for help in Chicago. More guys are retiring than getting into the trades. 

[Mobasser]

The reality is that these young guys need to get out there and get moving now. Not only for themselves, but for their country.

[N Florida Mike]

Got a relative in his 30s that rarely works , and he is excellent at tile and flooring. Just lays around and doesn’t do much of anything all day.  They get some kind of gov. check. He doesn’t seem to care. I would be bored to death if I did that.

[Hammer 4]

This is nothing new. As a retired Contractor/Carpenter, I always had problems with guys quit after a short period of time, some I had to fire for various reasons. What I found was as the years passed from the early 80's up until 2010 when I retired, that the problem got worse. The makeup of the carpenters, plumbers, and skilled work force shrunk, even the union guys from what I gather went into new areas of the work force, be it for better pay, or work that wasn't so labor intensive, I don't know. What I did see was the racial makeup of the skilled work force change. Here in So. Cali, more latino's began to do the plumbing, carpentry, electrical, ect. As I come across most of the residential remodels/new construction, I seldom see any white guys, is any correlation here..? One thing is for sure, there are flakes of all races and skill sets. Drugs, drinking, ect I'm sure played a major roll in the turnover of help.  

[12poundbass]

When I started my line of work 10 years ago it was a young mans game, 95% of the guys working were 28 or younger. Fast forward to last year. We were hiring and nobody was applying. After a month and a half we got 4 applications and thankfully all took the job and all passed the classes and OQ tests. 3 out of the 4 were 45 or older. This year we raised the starting wage. We received 6 applications, again hired 4 guys. Every single applicant was over 40. 

 

It seems like working outside in the wind, rain, heat, humidity, snow, and cold isn’t very appealing to the younger adults. I’m starting to sound like my dad but it’s true. 

[Scott F]

I think that parents have a lot to do with the lack of young people entering the trades. Kids are told the only way to get a good job is to go to college. People don’t encourage their kids to work with their hands. Go to college today and bury yourself with a huge debt that you’ll be paying back for a very long time. 

[gim]

The younger generation just doesn't seem to have a very good work ethic at all.  This is why most of them are not becoming home owners.  They would rather live in an urban area apartment complex and pay an association fee to do all the manual labor.

[Kev-mo]

34 minutes ago, gimruis said:

The younger generation just doesn't seem to have a very good work ethic at all.  This is why most of them are not becoming home owners.  They would rather live in an urban area apartment complex and pay an association fee to do all the manual labor.

Just for reference I'm GenX. I think it's more of a cultural/generational shift rather than "work ethic". My 22 year old would be the first one to admit he's "lazy" but it's not laziness in the general sense. He'll work hard when hard work is required. If not he's going to chill. He's doing very well in school and has an internship/job with the forest service out west for the summer.

 

I owned a house but one of those life changes happened when the kids were small. Been in apartments since. I don't think I want another house, not because I'm lazy but because I'd rather spend my time doing things other than yard work, repairs or general maintenance.

 

I think the younger generation has some of those same attitudes. Plus a lot of them probably can't afford a house. We brought our intern from last summer back for several months of work and she owes crap ton of money for college. She got a good degree so she'll get a good paying job (hopefully with us)but regardless those school loans are going to be tough. This girl also works her ass off! Brothers at my work that shared an apartment had to move back home cause the rent was going up and they couldn't afford it and they are extremely frugal.

 

I'm not arguing with you guys cause there are a lot of lazy idiots out there but at the same time there are some hard working young people that are just making different life choices.

[TnRiver46]

Offering a different perspective: my boss is 65  (I'm 34) and it takes him the better part of an hour to park his van in a customer's driveway and get out and do something. Do anything! Literally one hour before he starts working in any fashion. I'm usually done with the project before he has his tool belt strapped on. He has earned it but it's been that way for over 10 years. Manual labor has always been my favorite form of work, the harder the better. If I could move a pile or gravel with a shovel all day, that would be ideal. I honestly enjoy sweating through my clothes before lunch, that stink is a badge of honor. Before all you curmudgeons blame all us youngsters for the demise of society, remember who borne and raised us all. Baby boomers spoiled their kids. They taught us from kindergarten all the way til senior year that our only chance at success was to go to college and work in a cubicle. Well everyone went to college and now are buried in debt. Thanks for the advice! The kids I grew up with that got into manufacturing after high school are making BANK. The kids that went to college are mostly in the red, with a couple exceptions. I have plenty of friends my age that absolutely work their tails off for terrible pay and no benefits. Now, there are plenty of today's kids that just can't manage to show up at work, and it's somewhat alarming. But just blanketing all of us as useless is far from truth. Trade skills were for "dumb kids" when I was in school and that idea was perpetuated by the previous generation, so we aren't completely to blame. Also, the previous generation took discipline and the Bible out of school, the result it what you see on the news 

[flyfisher]

Finding good people has always been a challenge.  My dad had his own electrical contracting business for 20+ years and he always had issues getting good people.  It isn't a now problem, it is an always has been problem.  He had all the programs in place to get people to be at least journeyman electricians and even offered to pay for their classes that they had  to take.  he had a few take him up but he fired or had quit way more than he had stay on for many length of time.  

Work ethic is something that is both taught and internal.  There are some people who just work hard and there are others who don't.  Corporate america type jobs are no joke either.  Sure you aren't sweating all day but you will go home tired mentally.  I have been blessed with the opportunities to do all kinds of construction work in high school and college and also work in corporate america for almost 10 years as well.  Doing construction was easy really, once you got the the physical side out of the way and were in shape.  Corporate america type jobs offer a different type of stress, a stress that after you analyze a certain set of data (in my case anyways) the decisions you make not only impact customers but could impact lots of employees and their jobs.  That is not to be taken lightly.

Now I am an elementary school teacher in a very rough school so i get to do both physical and mental work lol

[Choporoz]

Every post above regarding 'young workers these days' could have come straight from my father's mouth.....40 and 50 years ago

[TnRiver46]

Here's what me and my 30 something year old buddies did AFTER work the other day. My second favorite past time other than fishing. You'll have to ask Ryan why that one giant log was in the street 10 feet from his truck hahaha

[Mobasser]

40 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Offering a different perspective: my boss is 65  (I'm 34) and it takes him the better part of an hour to park his van in a customer's driveway and get out and do something. Do anything! Literally one hour before he starts working in any fashion. I'm usually done with the project before he has his tool belt strapped on. He has earned it but it's been that way for over 10 years. Manual labor has always been my favorite form of work, the harder the better. If I could move a pile or gravel with a shovel all day, that would be ideal. I honestly enjoy sweating through my clothes before lunch, that stink is a badge of honor. Before all you curmudgeons blame all us youngsters for the demise of society, remember who borne and raised us all. Baby boomers spoiled their kids. They taught us from kindergarten all the way til senior year that our only chance at success was to go to college and work in a cubicle. Well everyone went to college and now are buried in debt. Thanks for the advice! The kids I grew up with that got into manufacturing after high school are making BANK. The kids that went to college are mostly in the red, with a couple exceptions. I have plenty of friends my age that absolutely work their tails off for terrible pay and no benefits. Now, there are plenty of today's kids that just can't manage to show up at work, and it's somewhat alarming. But just blanketing all of us as useless is far from truth, I can work circles around most 60 year olds, especially in heat. Trade skills were for "dumb kids" when I was in school and that idea was perpetuated by the previous generation, so we aren't completely to blame. Also, the previous generation took discipline and the Bible out of school, the result it what you see on the news 

Well said. If you ever move to Missouri I can get you a job. We could use a guy like you! And I also agree that not all youngsters are lazy either. It all depends on how their brought up, and their attitudes about work in general. Wear that sweat badge with pride.

[TnRiver46]

Thanks! I'm hopefully staying put but you never know. I have several buddies that remodel homes and it's always crazy how much knowledge I can gain just following them around a weekend project. I guess I'm about to have to teach myself how to finish drywall. What kind of company do you work for? 

[flatcreek]

8 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

This is nothing new. As a retired Contractor/Carpenter, I always had problems with guys quit after a short period of time, some I had to fire for various reasons. What I found was as the years passed from the early 80's up until 2010 when I retired, that the problem got worse. The makeup of the carpenters, plumbers, and skilled work force shrunk, even the union guys from what I gather went into new areas of the work force, be it for better pay, or work that wasn't so labor intensive, I don't know. What I did see was the racial makeup of the skilled work force change. Here in So. Cali, more latino's began to do the plumbing, carpentry, electrical, ect. As I come across most of the residential remodels/new construction, I seldom see any white guys, is any correlation here..? One thing is for sure, there are flakes of all races and skill sets. Drugs, drinking, ect I'm sure played a major roll in the turnover of help.  

Another retired Contractor / Carpenter here.i’m 63 and sold all my trucks and most of my equipment  & hung it up at 59.i kept my tools as I still do shop work.i had had it with trying to keep help.i was lucky to keep good help for as I long as I did.agree with Hammers take on it.Hit the nail on the head!

[Tennessee Boy]

Obviously not all young people are lazy and not all old people are workaholics.  I know plenty of people in their 20s that make me feel optimistic about the future.

 

That said, the general idea that some on this thread are expressing does have merit.  Here’s a stat that I heard a while back on an economics podcast that l listen to.  I looked it up to make sure I got it right.   In the year 2000,  8% of men age 21-30 without a college degree reported that they had not worked in the past year.   By 2015 that number rose to 18%.    For the most part these guys live with their parents and spend much of their time playing video games.

 

http://www.econtalk.org/erik-hurst-on-work-play-and-the-dynamics-of-u-s-labor-markets/

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Here's what me and my 30 something year old buddies did AFTER work the other day. My second favorite past time other than fishing. You'll have to ask Ryan why that one giant log was in the street 10 feet from his truck hahaha

 

I'm 47, and I still love splitting firewood by hand.  That looks like good fun, if it's not your daily job.