At just 23 years old, Jacob Palmer already heads his own electricity business. He launched the company in 2024 after starting in the field as an electrician apprentice, a career path on which he launched when the college turned out to be for him.
Palmer has no regrets as to his decision to give up college and settle as a merchant. “I am very happy to do what I do now because it gave me the opportunity to work for me and be independent,” he told CBS News.
Experts say that qualified trades – jobs such as electricians, plumbers, welders, masons, HVAC technicians and other professions requiring in -depth training and often licenses – attract an increasing number of young discharge by high tuition fees.
According to the annual company report, more than 57% of the Zers generation interviewed by Jobber, a software tool for service companies, cite student loan debt to go to college.
More recently, signs that Artificial intelligence begins to engulf The type of entry -level jobs that formerly gone to young college graduates also lead young workers to consider trades. Some 77% of the Zers generation says it is important that their future work is difficult to automate, with many points to professions such as the carpenter, the plumber and the electrician as professions which, according to them, are safe from automation. On the other hand, they see less security in fields such as software development, data analysis and accounting, according to the survey.
With the kind permission of Jacob Palmer 
“This route loses part of the stigma,” said David Asay, president of Advantage Réline, a rehabilitation company without trench in Mesa, Arizona. “The perception among this younger group is no longer”, Oh, you work the construction, you have not gone to school? “It is:” What a cool skills.
More difficult path for university graduates
For decades, many young people have avoided trades, with all economists and career experts to politicians and parents highlighting the importance of obtaining a university diploma. This conventional wisdom is not entirely wrong – it’s just behind time.
“The attitude was that the jobs in the trades were less than desirable,” said Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angi, an online renovation services in CBS News.
But several factors contribute to a change in the way people reflect on such professions. On the one hand, going to college for many Americans often requires getting into debt. The average cost of the college, including tuition fees and the room and the board of directors, now exceeds $ 38,000 per year and approach of $ 60,000 for private establishments, according to the Education Data Initiative.
Taking into account the additional burden of interest in student loans and the potential income that we give up on school, the total cost of obtaining a baccalaureate can exceed $ 500,000, revealed the research firm.
More recently, economists also indicate a jump in unemployment For recent university graduates, which, according to some experts, is a sign of early alert that AI removes jobs from less experienced workers. The unemployment rate for graduates aged 23 to 27 this year now oscillates approximately 4.6%, against 3.2% for the same demography in 2019.
Struggingly, workers not educated in the same age group experienced a much lower increase in unemployment, at around 0.5%, during the same period, according to an analysis of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
“AI cannot go out on the ground”
Vinnie Curcie, founder and CEO of OC Solar, a solar installation company in Irvine, California, said that the solar energy field differs from other trades in that work requires time both in the office and in the field. OC Solar offers three main services: sales of solar panels and battery, project management and installation services. But he expects the AI to take a large part of the sales and project management sides of the company.
While potential employees tended to have a higher interest in marketing, management or other roles of white collars of the company, more candidates for employment are impatient in the field.
“More people are interested in the field because they know that this is where employment safety is,” CBS News said.
Certain school districts also report seeing a growing interest of students in blue collar careers. Marlo Loria, director of vocational and technical education and innovative partnerships in MESA public schools in Mesa, Arizona, said that more of her students are part of the welding, construction and car workshop programs that there were no room.
ASAY, of Advantage Réline, added that students with an entrepreneurial folding can also be well suited to qualified professions.
“They can take their skills and create their own business, or become a more important part of our company, apart from being someone with a shovel in a trench,” he said.
Palmer said that his company had generated $ 90,000 in revenue during his first year and is on the right track to exceed $ 150,000 in 2025, an increase of more than 30% – no necessary university degree. The other advantage of life as an electrician, as he sees, is employment security.
“I do not feel too threatened by the growth of AI in my industry. It will be a fairly impressive robot that can do my job one day, if that happens,” said Palmer.
With the kind permission of Kayden Evans 
Kayden Evans, an 18 -year -old senior at Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, has his eyes on a career working with his hands and to finally start his own business. Currently trainee at Empire Cat, a company that sells, rents and services of heavy equipment and tractors, it plans to go directly from high school to apprenticeship with the company.
“I would not say that I am worried about AI, because where I want to grow, it is as a technician on the field, and even if it helps, I do not think that AI can resume this,” he said. “The AI cannot go out on the ground and dismantle an engine.”
