Gen Z turn to trade jobs, ditch white-collar careers amid AI uncertainty, poor corporate wages

Yahoo

24-05-2025

It's trick of the trade.
Gen Z is turning to traditional trade jobs amid fears AI will soon replace many white-collar careers, a new survey has uncovered.
Resume Builder polled more than 1,400 Gen Z adults between the ages of 18 and 28, finding that 42% of Zoomers are currently working in or pursuing a blue-collar or skilled trade job, such as plumbing, welding or electrical work, including 37% of those with a bachelor's degree.
Almost a third of respondents said such jobs offer better long-term prospects, while a quarter said the roles are less likely to be taken over by AI.
'More Gen Z college graduates are turning to trade careers and for good reason,' Resume Builder's Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller declared. 'Trade jobs offer hands-on work that's difficult to automate. Additionally, many grads find their degrees don't lead to careers in their field, prompting them to explore more practical, in-demand alternatives.'
Indeed, almost one in five Zoomers (19%) who are currently working in a trade said they were unable to find a job in the field that they had studied for.
Of those who were able to land a white-collar role, 16% eventually quit and turned to a trade job because it potentially offered more money.
It's a stunning inversion from decades' past, where a job requiring a college degree typically offered far better pay than blue-collar work.
Resume Builder also found that trade jobs were particularly enticing for Gen Z as the cost of obtaining a college degree continues to rise.
Many surveyed Zoomers said they didn't want to be burdened by paying back burdensome college loans.
The average cost of college in the United States has more than doubled over the past 24 years to $38,270 per student per year, according to the Education Data Initiative.
The findings come less than a year after The Wall Street Journal reported that Gen Z is becoming 'the toolbelt generation.'
Trades are flourishing as college enrollment shrinks, per the report, which found that 'the number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges rose 16% last year to its highest level … since 2018.'
Kids studying construction trades rose 23% during the five-year period, while those training for HVAC and vehicle repair careers increased 7%.
An Associated Press article from 2023 also reported on the trend, similarly saying pricey college tuition was turning Zoomers off higher education.
'If I would have gone to college after school, I would be dead broke,' one young man working at a Ford plant told the Associated Press in a story about young people skipping college in favor of the skilled trades. The youngster is making $24 an hour at age 19, with no student debt.