The American Worker

There's an interesting article in the New York Times  weekend Magazine, and it started me thinking. It's about the American worker, and the jobs he or she does. You can click on this link to read it.

Several concepts jumped out at me - the first was that during the next decade, the top jobs will be in nursing, or some form of healthcare. Is that because of longer life expectancies, or because our overall health is that much more in need of care?  (I suspect both.)

Service worker jobs - everything from nannies to Walmart greeters - are going to be another growing sector, and that's a little scary. People with these lower paying jobs often don't make enough to support a family, let alone save for retirement. 

But even more revealing is the fact that blue collar trades have all but disappeared. You know, the kind of skills like fixing a roof, installing a door, or repairing something that is broken in your home.

Think about those statistics...only 6% of students want to pursue skilled trades. 

I'm not sure what we do to lure people into the trade fields, but I do know that not everyone is college material, not to mention the fact that not everyone can afford college in the first place. 

What it really boils down to is that the people who are doing woodworking are busy. If you're a decent craftsman, and have a reasonably sound reputation, you're probably busy with work.

  I've been absent here because I've been swamped with work, building some interesting pieces and  performing some challenging repairs. People who hire me often tell me that they've tried without much luck to find someone to do their repairs. I guess that's what keeps my phone ringing, so I can't complain. 

Anyway, that's what I've been pondering lately, as the work piles up, and so does the sawdust... 

It's never ending...