As the economic landscape of the United States shifts to recover from the recession, there is a growing trend away from white collar trades. While ten years ago, a college degree in law, business or medicine seemed both the preferred and often necessary route to professional and financial success, these fields are becoming increasingly more difficult to find employment in. Furthermore, the years spent in lower levels of these occupations as apprentices and junior associates is increasing, while the pay bracket is getting smaller and smaller on both ends. The only thing becoming greater in fact, is the desolution of firms and loss of pre-existing jobs. This is inherently because such careers depend heavily on the amount of capital moving through the economy. In simplistic terms, if there is less money flowing, less people are needed to manage it.

Because of this decline, more young people are considering training in trade skills to start work in technical careers. Going through a certification course, or a one or two year technical school program can prepare you to be a licensed electrician, carpenter, or plumber. Jobs like this often include union membership, insuring reasonable hours and reasonable pay. Even when the economy is less that wonderful, new construction will always need the skills of such tradesman, as will older buildings that need maintenance.

This shift in focus is actually very good, both for the construction industry and the economy at large. Flooding the field with fresh, new blood cultivates growth within form of these jobs, expanding the work traditionally done. It also allows for more workers to become proficient and experienced at a younger age, allowing efficiency and skill to grow with time. Younger workers will also tend to be more willing to learn about new technologies and keep themselves up to date with the needs of the consumer. This availability may aid in the growth of the industry, creating more work and more jobs in the future.

Economically speaking, the shorter training time of technical trades – about two years in comparison to the four, eight and even ten year education programs of universities, means that more individuals of a younger age will move out of the dependence of family and education loans sooner. They will experience job placement faster and begin earning money with more alacrity, resulting in the possibility of surplus capital to spend. The lack of student – loan based debt frees up money to be infused into the market. People then have reasonable wealth sooner, not only to spend on luxury items, but sustainable capital that can grow, like real estate, land property and stocks. To add to the economic incentives, many workers with careers in construction and trade report a great deal of satisfaction with their jobs, meaning that they enjoy the completion of tasks, and find the work-load to be manageable. Ironically, this might mean that, as a country, we need more Lawyers and Business men again, though it will be a combination of trade work and small business that we have to thank for our recovery.