Society 6 min read By Bethany Hadley
US Skilled Trades Face a Prestige Gap, Not a Value Gap
A survey by the Ad Council Research Institute and Ford finds that only 11% of students are genuinely interested in trade careers, even as employers struggle to fill skilled roles. Parents and educators say the barrier is information and prestige, not respect for the work itself.
American employers are struggling to fill skilled roles, yet only a small fraction of young people are genuinely interested in the trades, according to new research presented at a workforce-development event in Detroit. The survey, conducted by the Ad Council Research Institute in partnership with Ford, found that just 11% of students were genuinely interested in pursuing trade careers, even though 38% said they would consider one.
The findings point to a persistent contradiction at the heart of the skilled-labour shortage. Speaking at Ford Pro Accelerate, Chelle Travis, executive director of the workforce-development organisation SkillsUSA, distilled the tension into nine words: «We value the skill, but maybe not for my child.» Travis said the problem is not a lack of respect for the work but a lack of knowledge about where it can lead. «We don’t really have a value problem, but we have a knowledge and really a connection problem,» she said. «Students and parents still do not know about all the opportunities, those family-sustaining wage opportunities for students. And it’s still seen as, ‘It’s not for me’ or ‘It’s not for my child.’»
Derek Feldmann, managing director at the Ad Council Research Institute, said the research revealed a disconnect between what young people say they want from a career — financial stability, fulfilment and advancement — and how few see the trades as a route to those goals. He noted that students can describe the path to college or military service in clear steps, but when asked about the trades, the answer is often silence. While college is not always a simple or linear path, it is institutionally legible: students know about applications, financial aid, campus visits, majors and graduation. The skilled trades can appear more fragmented, with routes through high-school career-and-technical education programmes, union apprenticeships, community colleges, private training, employer-sponsored training and direct-entry jobs. Not every student has access to a counsellor, parent or mentor who can explain the differences. «It’s easier to go with what’s known than what’s unknown,» Feldmann said.
The information gap is also a prestige gap. Matt Panella, a carpenter and home builder with a large social-media following, said he regularly hears from teenagers who want to pursue the trades but need help making the case to their parents. «We have a lot of kids out there that their parents, for years now, we’ve told kids that the way to success is going to college,» Panella said. He added that he receives messages from high-school students asking how to show their parents that the trades are a viable career path. Panella said his own father and grandfather helped him enter the field, and his online presence is partly meant to be that guide for young people who lack a personal connection to the industry.
Tanisha Brana, a Detroit educator who works with students weighing their options after high school, encourages families to treat career-tech courses as a low-cost way to test a potential profession. «I would recommend that all students and even parents have their kids try a career-tech program first, because it’s low risk. It’s zero dollars. It’s completely free,» she said, describing it as a «try it before you buy it» method. A student interested in welding, for example, can spend time in a course, meet a mentor and pursue an internship to learn whether the work suits them. If it does not, they have not spent years and thousands of dollars discovering that a chosen major was a poor fit.
The panel also rejected the familiar college-versus-trades framing. «It’s not an either-or,» Brana said. «Sometimes it’s both. I’m a skilled tradesperson and I have a master’s degree. I’m a University of Michigan alum.» Trade careers involve education, but it may look different from the traditional four-year model: an apprenticeship, certification, a technical degree, employer training or classroom instruction combined with paid work. Brana described students in an auto programme who work three days a week, attend school two days a week and are paid while they train. «Some people pay to go to college,» she said. «Some people get paid to go to college.»
For Dallas Sutton, a 17-year-old automotive student at Detroit’s Breithaupt Career and Technical Center, the stigma is also gendered. Sutton said she was encouraged by her late grandfather, a mechanic and pastor, and by her early interest in cars. But she also recognised the rarity of seeing women like herself in the field. «How cool would it be to see someone who looks like me being a female mechanic?» she said, pointing to the importance of visible role models for young women considering the trades.
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