Let's start with a question: When was the last time your teenager's school counselor talked to them about becoming an electrician, a plumber, an HVAC technician, or a welder?

For most families, the answer is never. The default message in our schools — and often in our homes — is straightforward: graduate high school, get into college, earn a degree, get a good job. It is a path so deeply ingrained in our culture that questioning it can feel almost radical.

But what if that default path is costing your child a better future?

The research is in, and the numbers are striking. Skilled trades careers are not a fallback — they are increasingly among the most financially rewarding, stable, and in-demand career paths available to young people today. And yet, a combination of cultural stigma, outdated school systems, and well-meaning parental pressure is keeping an entire generation from even considering them.

Here is what the latest research says — and what it means for your family.

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The Trades Are Desperately Short on Workers — and That's Good News for Your Kid

The United States is facing a massive shortage of skilled trades workers, and it is only going to get worse. The construction industry is currently short approximately 500,000 skilled workers. Manufacturers reported nearly 384,000 monthly job vacancies in early 2025. In the electrical trade alone, nearly half of all licensed electricians are currently over the age of 50 — and for every one who retires, fewer than one new worker is entering to replace them.

This is not a temporary blip. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 4% to 60% growth in skilled trades through 2033, depending on the role. Renewable energy, electric vehicles, and smart building technology are creating entirely new specializations that will need skilled workers for decades to come.

What does a persistent worker shortage mean for your teenager?  Job security. Competitive wages. Fast hiring. Real advancement opportunities. A skilled plumber, welder, or HVAC technician is not going to be replaced by AI or outsourced overseas. These are human-skill jobs, and they are desperately needed.

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The Money Math Has Changed — And It Favors the Trades

Here is a fact that might surprise you: 47% of skilled trades workers now out-earn the median college graduate. That's not a fringe statistic — it represents a complete reversal of historical earning trends.

Let's do the math together:

This is not to say college is the wrong choice for every student. It absolutely is the right path for many. But when a teenager who wants to work with their hands, who lights up in shop class, or who finds school frustrating — when that teenager is told that college is the only road to success, we are failing them.

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The Stigma Is Real — And It's Costing Our Kids Opportunities

Let's be honest with each other for a moment, parent to parent.

If your child told you they wanted to be an electrician or a welder, how would you feel? Would you immediately wonder if they were "settling"? Would you encourage them to keep their options open? Would you quietly hope they would reconsider?

If so, you are not alone — and you are not a bad parent. You have been shaped by the same cultural messages as everyone else. But the data says those messages are wrong.

In a McKinsey survey of young adults, 74% reported that trade jobs carry a social stigma. A 2025 Jobber survey found that only 7% of parents would prefer their child pursue vocational education. And yet those same parents are watching their college-educated kids struggle to find work in their field, drown in loan payments, and delay major life milestones.

The stigma is not just unfair — it is economically irrational. And it's one of the main reasons we have a half-million worker shortage in the trades right now.

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Gen Z Is Starting to Figure This Out — Are We Keeping Up?

Here is some encouraging news: young people are starting to push back against the college-at-all-costs narrative. A 2024 Harris Poll found that 78% of Americans have noticed a rising interest in trade jobs among young adults. Enrollment in vocation-focused community colleges grew by 16% in one recent year, and Gen Z studying construction trades increased by 23% from 2022 to 2023.

Young people are smart. They are looking at the economy — rising tuition, student debt, uncertain job markets — and they are recalculating. They want careers that pay well, offer stability, and get them there without a decade of debt.

The question is whether the adults in their lives are ready to support them when they consider a trades path — or whether stigma will close that door before they can walk through it.

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What You Can Do As a Parent

You do not have to be an expert in vocational education to open this door for your teenager. Here are five simple things you can do:

1. Check your language. Notice how you talk about trades careers at home. Do you refer to them as "just" being a plumber, or as backup plans? Start talking about tradespeople with the same respect you would use for any other professional.
2. Expose them to the work. Look for trades exploration events, career fairs, or job shadow opportunities in your community. Hands-on experience is the fastest way to move past abstract stigma.
3. Do the math with them. Sit down and look at trade school costs, apprenticeship wages, and median salaries compared to the cost of a four-year degree and the average salary in their field of interest.
4. Talk to their school counselor. Ask what vocational pathways are available and whether CTE options are being presented alongside college prep. Advocate for your child to have the full picture.
5. Connect them with people in the trades. A conversation with one electrician, HVAC tech, or master carpenter who loves their work and their income can change everything.

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Legacy Events for Education Is Here to Help

At Legacy Events for Education, we work with teens at exactly the moment they are forming their beliefs about what's possible for their future. Our programming brings young people face to face with the full landscape of career pathways — including the trades — through hands-on events, real data, and conversations with professionals who have built fulfilling careers without a four-year degree.

We also work with parents — because we know that what happens at the dinner table matters just as much as what happens in the classroom.

Your teenager deserves to know every door that is open to them. We would love to help you help them see it.

Learn more and get involved at legacyeventsfored.org

Sources: McKinsey & Company | Bureau of Labor Statistics | 2024 Harris Poll | National Student Clearinghouse | NCES | Randstad USA | Jobber | Fortune | Jobs for the Future | Quickbase | American Staffing Association