By Lindsey Harrison/WMBD-TV
PEORIA – From electricians to manufacturing, skilled labor is an essential part of the U.S. economy, but the average skilled worker is 55 years old and fewer people are looking to the trades as a career option.
Baby boomers are retiring and they’re leaving behind careers that require skilled workers to take their place.
Dr. Dana King, Instructional Chair of Business and Technology at Heartland Community College said people who generally like to work in these fields like to work with their hands.
“It’s not just someone, you know, moving things with their hands. It’s being able to think on the job, problem-solve,” King said.
But fewer young people are looking at skilled labor as a career option.
“High school students are not typically entering these programs straight out of high school,” King noted. “There is still a general perception but a four-year degree is the only way to an upper middle-class lifestyle. And that’s just simply not true.”
Local trade unions say they’re seeing fewer qualified people applying for apprenticeships, adding that part of the problem is perception. Kings said the jobs are in safe, modern environments and require technical training and math, science and technology skills.
“We’ve heard that saying that it’s not your fathers manufacturing anymore,” King said. “All that holds true. A lot of these jobs require a different skill set than they did say even 30, 40 years ago.”
King added that the problem is exacerbated by the elimination of many technical classes and high school focus on making sure students are college-ready.
“For some students, and for some people that is just not the best path,” King said. “They’ve eliminated these programs and so students at the junior high and high school level don’t get a chance to learn how to work with their hands, or learn that. they like to work with their hands, or that that’s even a viable career for them.”
Companies like Caterpillar are partnering with local school districts to get kids interested in jobs that will bring them to work in factories and get the word out that a skilled labor job could be in a student’s best interest.
