The whole workforce is short is in every blue collar industry, because everyone wants to have a white collar job. Personally fk white collar jobs, blue collar jobs is what keeps the world spinning.
Because everyone knows no guy or gal that has a white collar job has ever started wrenching on their cars, plumbing their house, running electric, laying bricks and cement, etc.
People need to start doing the less glamorous jobs in life. Main reason I'm training to go into automotive technology and then i will work at other car dealers until Scout starts opening service centers. Where i will hop over to Scout.
I understand the sentiment, to an extent. But I think its an over-generalization of stereotypes.
I'll freely admit that I could/should do more DIY stuff. Particularly the stuff in the "trades", as I didn't get much exposure to them growing up. But I did work window washing, Landscaping, AC repair, and concrete work before college. And grew up wrenching on vehicles, and doing home repair stuff with my dad. But compared to a lot of the guys above, I don't have the same level of chops.
After college I worked in Silicon Valley. And it was a culture shock. The nearest auto parts store was like 15 miles away (no one locally wrenched it seemed, as most people were leasing new vehicles). And I had a co-worker who was all flustered because he had a flat tire, and "his parents AAA didn't actually include him like he thought it did". Having to show him that his vehicle did in fact have a spare tire, and what a jack was, and how to change it was "enlightening" (disappointing). I also worked as mentor to a youth group in the bay area, and went to an Eagle Scout project, where I had to teach 5 of the 17-18 yr old boys, how to use a tape measure. I died a little inside when that happened.
I feel like some of it, is the push for "everyone should go to college" and "you have to go to college to have a good career" that we've seen for the past 30years at least.
I have worked with youth groups (the 15-18yr old boys) for over 10 years now. And I try to make it pretty clear that yes, college is a great place to go to help get a good job. But it is not the ONLY way. Nothing wrong with being an electrician, or Mechanic, or anything else if you are passionate about, as the trades can/do make good money as well.
As a side note, I do stuff myself partially for the money savings, but also for the joy of learning to do something myself (I love learning new skills).
But, everyone has finite time. And I can totally understand why many people with means, don't choose to do things themselves. The difference is at some points in my life, I didn't have any choice. I was manually re-timing engines in a parking lot at college at night in January (12f and snowing) not because I wanted to, but because I had to.
At the moment, I've got a bit of a choice between "do I have to do do this myself because money is tight" and "spend the money to have someone who knows that they're doing do this". And I can see the appeal of both. Partially because, any time I spend wrenching, is time away from the family (I've started doing some stuff with the kids, like oil changes and tire rotations, and basic carpentry stuff, but the bigger things I've usually done without them, or while they're asleep).
Anyway, ramble ramble. Life is complicated. But I'd bet that you'd find a lot of crossover between both white collar people who get their hands dirty on their off time, and blue collar people who are really into finance/programing/whatever.
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