The Bright Spot in the News about Jobs

The Wall Street Journal had this fascinating article about the recent growth of jobs in skilled trades due partially to industry expansion, and partially to the impending retirement of baby boomers.  The struggle to attract younger workers to these fields is a bit mystifying--although the article blames the stigma of "blue collar" work as much as it does the push for young people to go to college as deterrents, I think these could only amount to small reasons why people are not lining up for these jobs.  After all, welding and other skilled trades pay fairly decent salaries.  Training young workers to be as flexible as possible in their skills is imperative-- an electrical worker that could wire both houses and power plants, for example, will have twice as many options as the electrician who only knows the housing industry.  Offering workers an opportunity to learn related skills that apply to different and emerging industries (like clean tech) is critical as well.  Finally, marketing job opportunities and training in poor and immigrant communities could go a long way to increasing the candidate pool for these jobs, and offering a way out of poverty for thousands.

In  any case, this is a welcome spot of bright news in troubled economic times.