The Case for Trades

This is something I have been thinking about for a while and I’ve constantly pondered for several years.

It really bugs me that it isn’t discussed more, but why does the UK constantly turn its nose up at careers in trades?

It seems to me that there is a snobbery, particularly in the UK education system, regarding blue collar careers in trades, specifically the following areas:

Plumbing
Electrical Engineering
Building/Bricklaying

This is present throughout society.

There are other reasons of course.

Blue collar trades are often seen as hard labour, and don’t appeal to what some have described as an increasingly ‘lazy’ generation of younger adults.

Instead, there is a disproportionate focus on the following career paths:

Banking
Law
Medicine
Private Equity

This is spread throughout popular public discourse.

However, would the same be said if they were starting a career as a junior tradesperson?

I hope so!

Sadly, this is often not the case and evidence backs this up.

A simple Google search will show you how understaffed trades careers are in the UK are at the moment.

The societal view that careers in trades are somehow lesser than office jobs is both misinformed but also damaging.

Devaluing careers in trades means we not only have a deficit of people working in trades, but there is a nationwide stigma against them.

They are highly skilled careers.

Also, they can pay well.

Leading job advertisement sites such as Glassdoor report that the average salary for a tradesperson in London is over £50,000 per year, and can be as high as £90,000 to £100,000.

Perhaps we should take a look at the Scandinavian countries such as Norway.

Instead of stigmatising careers in trades, they place them at the same value as the previous white collar careers mentioned earlier in this article.