Blue Collar and Proud of It: The All-In-One Resource for Finding Freedom, Financial Success, and Security Outside the Cubicle Read Free

and repair will increase by 9.3 percent.
    Repair work is one area of rapid change, as technological advances have become prevalent in every industry. “This isn’t about working on cars in your backyard,” says auto technician Lori Johnson. “It’s a totally different world now.” If you lift up the hood of a car, Johnson points out, you’re only going to find a few things you can touch and mess around with. Mostly, there are computerized diagnostic tests that must be run, and codes that must be downloaded and later interpreted. And you need training to do all of this.
    “If the traditional career and technical training does go away, the infrastructure of this country would fall apart. You wouldn’t have anyone to fix your plumbing or build and repair your home.Who would be the people fixing your electricity? ” electricity?
    —Janet Bray, president of the Association for Career and Technical Education
    In the United States, much talk is taking place about nuclear power making a comeback as people turn to it as an alternative and necessary source of energy. Canada has long been more receptive to nuclear power. In the United States, though, the industry is grappling with as much as 35 percent of its workforce retiring within the next five years. The Nuclear Energy Institute predicts needing to hire as many as 25, 000 workers in that same time period. And for any new reactors that are built, the institute expects the industry to hire 1, 400 to 1, 800 construction workers, including skilled tradespeople, to complete the projects. Once built, approximately 400 to 700 employees are needed to run one of these plants, at which the median salary for an electrical technician is $67, 517 and a reactor operator is $77, 782. Those are serious opportunities, and yet people haven’t adjusted their expectation of these jobs. They haven’t taken the time to learn about them.
    “A lot of schoolteachers have no idea what an ironworker does, ” says Marco Frausto, the president and business agent of Ironworkers Local #416 in Los Angeles. He visits local high schools to talk with students about careers in the trades. “They’re more interested once they hear how much you can make.” In California, a journeyman is paid $31.83 an hour plus extensive health and pension benefits. Apprentices with a high school diploma and no prior experience start at $15.92 an hour plus benefits, and their wages increase 5 percent every six months. Frausto says once he actually talks about the extensive skills and training needed for welding and the techniques involved, parents are more accepting. “One does not fit all, ” Frausto reminds students and their parents. What works for one student won’t necessarily work for another.
    Wake up, Mom and Dad. Look at your child and ask, What is good for him or her? What is going to make him or her happy and successful? Don’t think, What college do I want to see my son or daughter in next fall? That’s not going to help. If you push what you want and your child really shouldn’t be going to college, you’re going to end up with one very unhappy, potentially debt-laden person. Financially, your son or daughter could be saving for his or her first house rather than paying off student loans.
    Before the economy became so unpredictable in 2008, U.S. trucking companies were unable to find enough truckers and predicted that by 2014 the industry would be short nearly 110, 000 drivers. Because of the increasing cost of fuel (which has slowed the trucking industry), the railroad industry is positively booming. Freight trains are moving more cargo than ever before. In 2002, the major railroads laid off about 4, 700 workers. In 2006, they rehired 5, 000. In 2008, the rail companies were planning to build an additional $10 billion in tracks. And according to the Transportation Department, freight tonnage is expected to increase by close to 90 percent by 2035. Where am I going with this? All of this activity