A labor market conundrum: Skilled and high-paying blue-collar jobs go unfilled

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-27/want-a-1-million-paycheck-skip-college-and-go-work-in-a-lumberyard

by fern12 • 9 years ago

29 69 9 years ago

The company pays manager trainees about $40,000 a year, and that’s just the beginning. Those in charge of top-grossing stores can earn $200,000, and in a few cases more than $1 million, including bonuses.

richardwhiuk• 9 years ago

That's definitely misleading. Lots of professions can earn $1M in a few cases.

zzalpha3• 9 years ago

Heck, you only earn $200k running a "top-grossing store"? How rarified is that air? Even just limiting it to "managers" is grossly skewed, given they likely represent a fraction of the company's total headcount.

The real question is, what is the median salary for an employee in each title/level in the organization.

alttab• 9 years ago

So, don't go to college and become a regional manager of a lumber company.

I feel like the only reason they can even joke with a headline like this is technically the entry level positions don't require college degrees.

My second guess is the current regional managers making over $1m a year have some type of extended formal education. I could be wrong here, but probably not.

A casual search for "84 lumber manager" on LinkedIn produced 6 relevant listings on the front page - 5 of which had university degrees.

Merad• 9 years ago

According to Wikipedia, 84 Lumber has about 250 store. I would hazard a guess that there is one manager and perhaps three assistant managers per store - about 1000 "well paying" jobs. I'd also bet that only a very small portion of their store managers, maybe 10-15%, make $200k+.

fuzzybeard• 9 years ago

“You can go to college and learn the theology of the Roman Empire,” says Kleis, who just completed a three-day training program at 84 Lumber’s rural Pennsylvania headquarters. “You learn all this ridiculous nonsense, and when you get out, what are you applying that to? I know how to frame a house.”

This is so incredibly vapid and such a poor argument to make in favor of what is otherwise a valid case being made by the author. I can't believe Bloomberg used that quote.

d-sc• 9 years ago

As someone who has been surrounded by blue collar workers growing up. (Live on Farm and parents ran construction company). I would tend to agree with the quote. I am sophomore in college and it would appear that friends in high school who skipped out on college and are working now are economically and socially farther ahead in life than most of my classmates in college.

zzalpha3• 9 years ago

I am sophomore in college and it would appear that friends in high school who skipped out on college and are working now are economically and socially farther ahead in life than most of my classmates in college.

You're a sophomore. That makes you, what... 21? It's a bit early to be coming to conclusions about relative success. At that age, they could be managing a gas station and would appear to be "economically further ahead."

The tortoise and the hare spring to mind. Wait ten years and then see how you're all doing.

crispyambulance• 9 years ago

Give it a few years. There are exceptions, but for the most part those friends who never made it to college are going to be in dead-end or precarious jobs for much of their working lives. Some of your college buddies will too, but not nearly as many.

StevePerkins• 9 years ago

Ehh, I don't know. It is sharply worded, but "vapid and poor"?

I have a graduate degree. The CS portions of that have indeed been useful in my career as a programmer. However, the rest of my liberal arts education have been helpful in... well... conversing with other liberal arts grads. I sound fairly well-spoken, I suppose, when writing up documentation that no one usually reads. I can reasonably frame a critical argument, except that I live in a world now where most discussion takes place in social echo chambers anyway.

I am pleased with my life outcome, and do not envy the person being quoted, primarily because I lucked into a hot market at the ideal time. But if I were starting out today, I'm not so sure of how smug I would be in comparing my career prospects, core values, and likelihood of happiness and self-actualization to this person's.

Frankly, I think that "blue collar" work would have to pay twice as much as "white collar" work before society would start to re-align itself accordingly. Because quite frankly, we're going on 3 or 4 generations now of the mindset that white collar work is something to aspire to, while blue collar work is a sign of failure and low social status.

Our entrenched cultural bias lags behind the cold economic reality for most young people coming up today.

jaclaz• 9 years ago

I refuse to believe that a regional manager of any company can be classified as "blue collar".

And of course there is nothing bad in choosing to study and get a degree (or however some higher education) or in choosing to start working and make a different career, but being proud of one's own ignorance?

Knowing how to frame a house does not automatically exclude some knowledge about Roman Theology.

sliverstorm• 9 years ago

Or we could find out that sitting all day is really bad for your health...

ythn• 9 years ago

You learn all this ridiculous nonsense, and when you get out, what are you applying that to?

Who cares about learning history? It's not like those who don't understand it are doomed to repeat it or anything. I'll leave that to the politicians - I have houses to frame. All knowledge should be directly translatable to $$$ or it's a waste of time. /s

rdiddly• 9 years ago

Your argument appears to be nothing more than namecalling[1], so look who's talking. Anyway it's a quote from a young man going into the building trades, no surprises here. If a Roman theology professor said it, I might be surprised.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%27s_pyramid#Graham.27s_...

sgt101• 9 years ago

Yes, a knowledge of history is hugely valuable in understanding what's happening in the world.

thephyber2• 9 years ago

I don't think that's what the parent was trying to convey.

The quote is a strawman fallacy and it's comparing apples-to-oranges. It's pretty clear that the kid was trying to compare a 4-year liberal arts degree to a 3-day course (or a series of courses) in management that only applies to lumber/construction.

It's probably not a bad deal to get paid $40k a year to learn to be a manager in construction, but your job prospects are far narrower than with a 4-year liberal arts degree and I can't imagine 84 Lumber got to be a $2billion without attacking conditions to their training programs (eg. you are liable to pay back some formula of your training expenses if you don't complete training and work for the company for some set amount of time).

micaksica• 9 years ago

While this is a clickbait article, it's probably worth many high schoolers recognizing that compensation is simply unevenly distributed. There's an increasing realization that going to college does not give you a fast track to FTE status in many industries anymore, and there needs to be a better understanding of the fact that the job market is, well, a market, and salaries will adjust based upon the supply of that market.

I think a lot of current CS hopefuls coming in as freshmen are going to see a shocking market adjustment when there are tens of thousands of juniors competing for the same jobs, just as we saw with law degrees after the last recession. There are way more JDs than there are good attorney jobs, and even fewer partner positions that really bring in the money.

Market dynamics affect one's well being less when you are not shooting simply for compensation, but also job satisfaction. Of course, in our society, highly indebted students are forced to be all about the money and not about the satisfaction. This doesn't lead to successful careers. It leads to burnout, disillusionment, and ennui.

trendia• 9 years ago

I'm not sure the comparison between CS and law is totally appropriate. Law protects existing wealth, while CS can create new wealth.

That implies that there is not some "fixed" number of CS jobs for which everyone is competing; some CS grads will start companies that will employ 5 or 10 other CS grads.

52-6F-62• 9 years ago

> Market dynamics affect one's well being less when you are not shooting simply for compensation, but also job satisfaction. Of course, in our society, highly indebted students are forced to be all about the money and not about the satisfaction. This doesn't lead to successful careers. It leads to burnout, disillusionment, and ennui.

------

Can confirm.

Had to leave university at the onset of the last recession (starting 2007-2008). From then until very recently I was able to make reasonable coping money, but not doing anything I really enjoyed. Sold televisions on commission, worked my way up in a warehouse (film/tv) equipment maintenance and repair to management, drove forklift, freelanced (much harder to make enough money there to cover student loans).

I'm, after nearly ten years, just getting into a pace where I'm making a little more money, and in a field I can leverage to greater effect in the future. It's still not overly satisfying, but I live better than I have.

Ennui and disillusionment are familiar modes... my most common feeling is that of boredom and worry that I'm wasting the best years of my life.

I really don't want that to happen to a new round of minds. It fosters the worst thoughts and feelings in people, especially in those who are or become emotionally vulnerable in any way. And let me say, getting by on $10 groceries a week will help to render one vulnerable real quickly.

edit: Well aware of my first world problems. This is very much in the context of North America.

thephyber2• 9 years ago

it's probably worth many high schoolers recognizing that compensation is simply unevenly distributed.

As are large lottery jackpots, but Americans are playing them in record numbers. I'd like to think that most people are capable of seeing this kind of sales technique for what it is, but it seems to me that people are largely swayed by persuasion techniques and far less so by cold, rational calculation.

mnm1• 9 years ago

"there needs to be a better understanding of the fact that the job market is, well, a market, and salaries will adjust based upon the supply of that market"

Completely agree, but you're pointing out a chicken and egg problem. You want 17 year olds that are about to graduate from high school to understand market forces, economics, and a whole lot of information that's just simply not being taught in most high schools. In fact, learning such things is the reason many people go to college in the first place. That's simply too much to ask, so we shouldn't be surprised when those students make the wrong choices because we as a society haven't prepared them to make the right ones. Not only are they disadvantaged by being teens (don't have fully developed brains, almost no experience, can't fully control emotions etc.), they are also disadvantaged by not having the proper learning experiences. Seems like what I'm trying to say is that the fix that's needed needs to happen much earlier and we as a society are failing spectacularly at providing it.

dang2• 9 years ago

We have replaced the article's title with a representative phrase from its body in the hope of saving this thread from the dreaded title fever.

fern12• 9 years ago

Thanks, this is my first case of title fever. Hoping to develop some immunity.

dang2• 9 years ago

Heh. It's actually fun to find just the right phrase embedded in the text, that can be swapped in as an HN title—it's like mushroom hunting. There almost always is something suitable, but this time it was a perfect specimen, down to punctuation.

Of course we only need to do this when the original title is baity or misleading (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html), but we've learned that when it is necessary, it's far better to take language from the article itself than to make up one's own. If you find the right phrase, ideally you don't even to change a word. The only thing I did after pasting the above was s/a/A/.

southphillyman• 9 years ago

Betting on any kind of physical retail profession seems pretty risky to me now days.

RealityNow3• 9 years ago

84 Lumber’s owner, Maggie Hardy Magerko, has something in common with the president. Both inherited businesses from their fathers that have made them fabulously rich. Magerko owns almost all of closely held 84 Lumber, whose stores cater primarily to residential builders and contractors. She is worth $2.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Magerko, 51, is not afraid to flaunt her wealth, sending a message to her workers that they too can get rich working construction. Wearing a diamond cross necklace, a Gucci belt, and a white shirt emblazoned with the company logo, she visited a rural Pennsylvania store recently in a white Mercedes. “I want people who work for me to retire in their 50s and own their own boats,” she says.

So essentially, the best way to achieve the American Dream is to inherit a successful business from your parents.

Capitalism is sort of like a pyramid scheme - The owner(s) at the top reaping all the benefits, while everyone else is plumbing away in hope of the "American Dream".

mgummelt• 9 years ago

Most of the Forbes 400 are self-made: https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2014/10/03/there-...

extra88• 9 years ago

Yes, but their definition of self-made to include people who "got a head start from wealthy parents and moneyed background," like Rupert Murdoch. I think most people would consider the next level on their scale, "came from a middle- or upper-middle-class background" (e.g. Mark Zuckerberg) to be a more appropriate cut-off.

Not for nothing, but the Forbes 400 list that year included Elizabeth Holmes because of her 50% stake in Theranos, valued at $9 billion; last year it was valued at $800 million. This is not the only example of wealth being more made-up than self-made.

AndrewKemendo14• 9 years ago

“I want people who work for me to retire in their 50s and own their own boats,” she says.

God that sounds terrible anyway. Do that many people want to retire - literally have nothing greater than themselves that requires their input on a daily basis - and go sit on a boat? What a waste.

bitwize• 9 years ago

Ever own a boat? Believe me, it's not something you just sit on. Maintaining a boat can be hard, and fulfilling, work for a retiree.

gorkonsine7• 9 years ago

God that sounds terrible anyway. Do that many people want to retire - literally have nothing greater than themselves that requires their input on a daily basis - and go sit on a boat? What a waste.

I do! Not necessarily a boat, though; I'd rather have a nice house in the woods, and spend a lot of time traveling the world. But you seem to think it's a "waste" if someone doesn't want to spend their whole life working. For what? So I can spend most of my waking hours in the sheer hell which is the modern open-plan office? Why TF would I want to do that if I didn't have to? The sooner I don't have to put up with open-plan offices, the better. And what are you contributing to the world while you're working anyway? You really think that working on yet another Javascript framework, or building yet another re-spin of some website is improving the world in a substantive way? Out of all the HN readership, I'd guess that less than 5% actually does anything that's lasting and useful to society.

RealityNow3• 9 years ago

Retirement = freedom. I don't know about you, but I want the freedom to not have to work for anybody else.

ImSkeptical2• 9 years ago

Both of my parents are retired. My father spends his time with his amateur radio, writes magazine articles for niche publications (about amateur radio), works around the house, and sometimes consults with startups from his former field. My mother spends her time reading novels, taking care of grandchildren, visiting family members, and volunteering.

Retirement seems like a good deal to me. It's not an inability to do things greater than yourself, it's the freedom to choose your pursuits without economic constraints (ideally).

Owning a boat, and sailing for pleasure sounds like a lovely hobby. I don't see anything wrong with aspiring to spend time that way.

cm20122• 9 years ago

I am a succesful, ambitious person by any measure and would do nothing but chill on a boat all day if I could.

EADGBE• 9 years ago

The American dream sounds a lot like retiring in one's 50's and owning a boat (to her). I'd say I agree, minus the boat part.

Her's might be different from our American Dream; but if she's setting up her employees to do this, then both sides are #winning.

bsder• 9 years ago

These kinds of clickbait headlines actually are a disservice to trade jobs.

Trade jobs are good jobs. However, my experience shows that the trades in the US are actually not that unfilled, actually.

Trade salaries aren't going up--the classic sign of unmet demand.

zucchini_head2• 9 years ago

I have a little story about this kind of thing, where doing something rather simple and low-skill can make an absolute fortune.

One night I was talking to an older friend of a friend, 50+, around a year ago now. We were talking about what we did for a living and what we got paid. We started off with what he did: He's a bricklayer, nothing more, and told me that they get paid per brick they lay. It's something like £4 per brick. What shocked me was an experienced bricklayer like him usually lays enough bricks to make around £400/day.

"That's almost £150,000/year!" I said, trying to not sound too envious or anything (spoiler: I failed). And this doesn't include the one-off jobs they get every weekend from rich foreigners who have extravagant houses built in the UK all the time. All in all it can amount to some very large amounts of zeros in your bank. In a few years he became a millionaire from bricklaying. I have since then talked to a few others who are in that trade and it all (anecdotally) corroborates, approximately (the older you are the more you get picked for "specialist" properties that involve very rich Chinese and Arabians apparently, which can make you ~£1,000 in one weekend).

I asked, as any sane person would, something along the lines of "why isn't everyone and his dog laying bricks?". And the reply was very intriguing. He said essentially that younger people these days (my age) don't want to lay bricks every day now, or don't have the stamina. They want to go on their phones and become world-famous and important and work on new gizmos and apps every day and be looked at by everyone and be payed attention to, etc, etc.

Since then I've not really been able to get my head around it all. It seems like although we talk about automation stealing jobs and everybody will have to be a "techie" to make any sort of decent living, there is definitely a small "elite" minority doing these very old-fashioned jobs that no-one wants or can do anymore. I fear sometimes that we (the younger generation) are slowly going mad with technology, and forgetting about the practical skills. What our own two hands were made to do so to speak.

We never got on to what I do in the end funnily enough.

Anyway, more relevantly, this lumberyard article is just a (slightly Americanised) theme of the above. It's these jobs that were done for a pittance in the past (sometimes even by slaves and prisoners), and now are these trades that sometimes are paying exorbitant salaries, just simply because nobody wants to do it, because no-one can be bothered anymore.

Apologies if this was long and off-topic, but I hope it's left some kind of thought somewhere.

inovica• 9 years ago

I've a similar story, but about my father in the 1980s. He worked in London as a shop fitter and then carpenter/kitchen fitter locally in the Midlands when not doing those jobs. It's a skilled job, requiring years to become good at it, but it's still manual work. I used to be a bit embarrassed by what my dad did in comparison to some of my friends. When I was a little older I worked with him and saw the way that some private clients looked down on him. It angered me at the time and I was at university and working for him during the holidays. One day I snapped at these people and explained about the house my father has built for us, complete with indoor swimming pool - far far better and more expensive than the house we were working. These professional people changed their tune towards him then. My dad explained that I shouldn't have said anything to them and to be more humble. Let them have their ignorance. My dad, and bear in mind this is the UK in the late 1980s was earning around $2k/week minimum and some weeks a lot more. Far more than most of the professionals he worked for. I always show respect to people who do work for me on my homes.

noonespecial• 9 years ago

Usually you'll find a large moat of permission-seeking around professions such as this in the form of state licensing, required apprenticeships, insurance/bonding etc. This lets those that have run the gauntlet charge quite a bit.

You should see what it takes to be allowed to spread stucco on a wall here.

afuchs• 9 years ago

I asked, as any sane person would, something along the lines of "why isn't everyone and his dog laying bricks?". And the reply was very intriguing. He said essentially that younger people these days (my age) don't want to lay bricks every day now, or don't have the stamina. They want to go on their phones and become world-famous and important and work on new gizmos and apps every day and be looked at by everyone and be payed attention to, etc, etc.

This sounds too familiar, like an employer talking about how they can't find anyone while plenty of unemployed or underemployed workers are willing to do the job.

There are plenty of people out there willing to this type of work, especially if the pay is that good.

Where are these jobs, and how does one get them?

zucchini_head2• 9 years ago

It's about willing to do the job good, and not just for the money I think.

But anyway, I think that maybe my above story is all just gobblewash. Overnight, I was thinking about how all these jobs that pay a lot for rather low-skill labour are all related to real-estate. Wood and bricks are what makes houses. I wonder if the good pay comes from that, rather than not many people wanting to do it.

Regardless, it's the opinion now quite a few of these labourers hold now - that the younger generation aren't able to do what they do. Maybe that's a little short-sighted, maybe it's on to something wrong with the future generations, maybe it's just wrong. Who knows.

antisthenes• 9 years ago

Apologies if this was long and off-topic, but I hope it's left some kind of thought somewhere.

Yeah, tl;dr - confirmation bias and sample of n=1

There are data points available for median wages of bricklayers and they are nowhere near the figures you described.

Animats• 9 years ago

Construction jobs come and go with housing starts. Construction work is high-paying but intermittent.

Other problems: if you work at the only factory in town, the factory has total power over you. You can't quit and get another job. If the factory closes, the town dies. Or goes into zombie mode - no jobs, young people leave, population ages, buildings are abandoned. Too many US towns and small cities are like that. Relocating to a one-factory town is risky. You can be trapped there, especially if you buy a house. 84 Lumber HQ is in a town with 700 people.

Companies in bigger cities tend to have less trouble recruiting. The labor pool is bigger. They can raise wages if they need more workers, which tends to push wages up in urban areas.

A labor market conundrum: Skilled and high-paying blue-collar jobs go unfilled

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