88. The Apprenticeship Episode: Why Aren't There More Apprentices?

I'M THE VILLAIN

Apprenticeships and trade schools have a marketing problem. Sal, the host of the Fresh Apprentice podcast and a plumbing apprentice, told us that when he was first starting his apprenticeship, he got some flak from his family: "You're going to school to plunge toilets and everything? That's so sad." But it turns out that apprenticeships and trade school are actually a pretty sweet gig! He's getting an almost free education: He only has to pay $300 for textbooks, and even those are pretty heavily subsidized. At some trade schools, such as the one close by Isabel's college, Williamson, are fully financed by the alumni of the school, so students get to go there for free. And 100% of the students who graduate from that school get jobs.

Sal works for the United Association, a union of plumbers, fitters, welders, and service techs that negotiates contracts with construction contracting companies that mainly work on big sky-rises. We asked him why the workers the apprentices shadow are willing to train mentees, because apparently they don't actually get paid any extra for it: the answer is two-fold. On the one hand, there is a strong sense of brotherhood in the trades and a belief that you have to pay it forward because that's what somebody did for you. On the other, the union pays out a pension and so the more young people you can recruit into the union, the stronger chance your pension will actually pay out because you need to keep a flow of people paying into it.

At the end of the day, we need to promote more people (especially women!) going to trade schools because they are high-demand, well-paying jobs (according to ZipRecruiter, a master plumber in the Washington DC area can make between $40K-$100K a year, with a median salary of $62K, which is almost twice the median income of the average US citizen), and it's a great alternative for people who don't think they are a good fit for college.
Links:
Sal's Podcast, The Fresh Apprentice: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jmhIdawA691hSVAnXw8nM

ZipRecruiter profile on Master Plumber Salary: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Master-Plumber-Salary-in-Washington,DC

Median income of the average US citizen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States#:~:text=The%20Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics,a%20base%20year%20of%202019.
My Friend on Survivor: https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/James_Lim
Music is The Beauty of Maths by Meydän.

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