Gen Z Embraces Trades as the College-to-Career Pipeline Cracks

Today’s young workers are rethinking what makes a good job. A new Resume Builder survey finds that more than a third of Gen Z college grads are working in or plan to enter the trades or other skilled blue-collar jobs. Many say they’re seeking relief from rising student debt, and practical roles less affected by AI, including electrical work, plumbing, welding, veterinary care and EMT roles. We talk to workforce experts and members of Gen Z about the forces driving this shift, and what it means to build a future-proof career with your hands.

 

This partial transcript was computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

 

Mina Kim: So tell me why are they turning from PowerPoint to plumbing? What are the drivers that’s enticing Gen Z?

 

Amanda Hoover: There’s a number of factors that we’re seeing right now. Obviously, student debt continues to be a problem. We’re also, though, seeing that that’s bumping up against a lot of concern about the way that AI is going to change a lot of college degree jobs. There’s less hiring. There’s a perception that really stable degrees, like software engineering, marketing, working in HR, even the legal profession, like, there’s concern that AI could really cut out kind of the entry level jobs and that companies might look to AI for more of these tasks. They’re typically done by entry level workers, which could lead to a real reshuffling of the number of people needed in these fields, how long it takes to get a job, what entry level work looks like. A lot of young people are pretty concerned about how AI is changing the job field, and we don’t quite know how that’s all gonna shake out yet. But areas that it’s not really affecting and changing are things like electrical work, plumbing, construction. You know, it’s not changing these fields in terms of replacing workers. It might be automating certain aspects, but when you need people to do hands-on work, you can’t get that done with a chatbot.

 

Mina Kim: And so you touched on this, but what other specific roles do they seem to be drawn to? And what kind of work environments or work experiences do you hear them seeking when you do your reporting? What did they tell you?

 

Amanda Hoover: Yeah. Well, for the story that I reported, I talked to two people who have started their own businesses. And they were sort of interesting case studies because one is in landscaping, one is in pressure washing. So they really spun out something that they were kind of doing, you know, a classic teenager high school after school summer job, like going around mowing grass, pressure washing somebody’s house. They’ve now turned these into businesses. And what they really love, you know, one one of these young men told me he doesn’t love mulching, but he loves the entrepreneurial spirit of being a businessman, being his own boss. He’s now hired a few people, bought a bunch of equipment. And for him, he enjoys working with the customers. He enjoys what he said, I think, as well as that whatever you put into it really feels like that’s what you get out. And as he’s looking around at some of his peers who are in college and studying a ton, like, working really hard, they don’t know that they’re gonna have that job security at the end. So for him, that was really like a motivator to skip college and start his own business instead.

 

Mina Kim: And I got this stat from your piece, but the fastest growing industry for new college grads is construction?

 

Amanda Hoover: Yes. And that’s in a number of ways, you know, for that’s not necessarily that they’re all working in construction, but they support the jobs that support the industry as well. But there’s gonna be a lot more jobs in construction because we need to build more houses in this country. We need to update a lot of the infrastructure. So these jobs will be pretty plentiful in a lot of ways for new people.

 

Mina Kim: Those jobs, what do you find are the fastest growing jobs or the jobs that seem to be most available to this generation?

 

Amanda Hoover: Yeah. Some of the data shows that we’re gonna see a lot of growth when it comes to wind turbine technicians and solar panel installers. There’s also still growing roles in health care and some in tech when it comes to, like, information security and data analysts. But all jobs in construction, plumbing, electrical work, transportation, they’re all projected to grow faster than the average, you know, throughout the next decade.

 

Mina Kim: Well, I wanna bring into the conversation now twenty five year old Francisco Serrano who decided to enter the construction trade. Francisco, welcome to Forum. 

 

Mina Kim: So, Francisco, what drew you to construction, and what kind of work are you doing now?

 

Francisco Serrano: Right now, I’m a laborer for a construction. And, basically, what brought me into this is the career path and just, basically, the way you could build your future just being in the construction industry instead of just a regular American job, I guess, I wanna say.

 

Mina Kim: What were you doing before?

 

Francisco Serrano: Before this, actually, I used to be in education. So I used to be a program manager for an after school program, so I was in charge of a bunch of middle schoolers.

 

Mina Kim: So then what are you doing in your role right now as a laborer, for Swinerton that you really enjoy? Like, are you working with your hands? Is that part of it?

 

Francisco Serrano: Yeah. Honestly, I like working with my hands, and one of the big things is that before, I used to help out the kid and give him a safe space, but now I’m actually helping build these environments in parks, rec centers, and schools. I am currently working on a project at Sunnyvale, building an elementary school for them.

 

Mina Kim: Oh, wow. So do you think your generation’s perception of skilled trades differs from previous generations?

 

Francisco Serrano: Yeah. Honestly, because a lot of people that I’ve just met here in the industry are my age, and they all kind of just went straight into construction instead of going to your typical college or getting their regular nine to five jobs. They see themselves doing this way more.

 

Mina Kim: And when you were in high school, say, did people encourage you to go into construction or the trades?

 

Francisco Serrano: Yes and no. My school kind of did have a building construction, like, trade thing at our school, but they didn’t really push it towards the students. It was kind of a thing you participated in.

 

Mina Kim: So then what have been some of your biggest challenges in terms of adapting to this work?

 

Francisco Serrano: Honestly, some of the biggest challenges probably were just kinda getting out of my comfort zone and talking to a lot of people here. Just kinda scared to ask for help, but, like, over time, that became super easy. People actually come up to me and wanna help me instead of me going up to them trying to figure it out.

 

Mina Kim: Yeah. Well, I’m glad to hear that that’s, like, one of the biggest challenges. Well, what did you find most helpful when you were making this transition?

 

Francisco Serrano: What I found more helpful was, I went to this pre apprenticeship program called CityBuild, and I kinda did that for twelve weeks. And then they kinda have a bunch of teachers there that kinda mentor you into this role instead of just teaching you how to do it. So that’s what I really love a lot. So we kinda had one on one classes. They teach you how to adapt into this environment instead of just being thrown out there, and they teach you the good and the bad, obviously. They’re not just gonna throw you out there and just you figure out the bad. So that’s what I really love. Like, CityBuild, the academy, and it was amazing.

 

Mina Kim: How long was the program?

 

Francisco Serrano: It was a twelve week program.

 

Mina Kim: Really? Wow. That’s pretty quick.

 

Francisco Serrano: Twelve weeks.

 

Mina Kim: And so are you getting people asking you about making this transition to or people that you are encouraging to to make this transition?

 

Francisco Serrano: Yeah. So, actually, it’s kinda funny. So one of my little cousins just got us up into the previous cycle, and then one of my old, like, staff members that used to be in charge of a transition as well with me. So he’s part of this cycle as well now.

 

Mina Kim: So what piece of advice would you give to someone making this change?

 

Francisco Serrano: Oh, honestly, if you like working with your hand and wanna try something new, not just work on the same thing over and over and over again every single day, This is something for you because every single day is something different and you learn a whole bunch of new skills and a bunch of people and then networking is the biggest thing here.

 

Mina Kim: Francisco Serrano, thanks so much for talking with us.

 

Francisco Serrano: Of course. Have a good day.

 

Mina Kim: Joining me now is Iowayna Peña, director of workforce development at San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Iowaina, thanks so much for being with us. Thanks for having me. So CityBuild is one of your department’s programs. Right? Are you seeing a growth in interest?

 

Iowayna Peña: Absolutely. And hi, Francisco. It’s great to hear from you. We’re consistently seeing an increase in our Gen z applicant pool. About twenty five percent of our applications that we’re seeing are from that generation. And I think the draw here is, like Francisco is saying, it’s a twelve week program that then sets folks up to have a really accessible, learning experience that allows for immediate placement into a job. Their earning potential is, you know, when we’re thinking about what draws Gen Z to the types of programs that our office supports, it’s the matching of instant gratification with the short and very focused learning track and path that they’re put on. So

 

Mina Kim: So instant gratification. What do you mean by that?

 

Iowayna Peña: I mean, like, this is not a negative. I think with the learning environment and kind of like, the world in which this generation is growing up within, their ability to access information immediately is right at their fingertips. So we needed to design our education and, therefore, our workforce training programs to fit that kind of model. And so CityBuild’s an example of where you have a short track of courses in learning hands-on learning opportunities where folks can have that kind of experience. But, you know, some of our other programs are very similar in that regard and that you’re going to spend a couple of weeks in a very focused career trajectory that then allows for you to enter the workforce after you complete the program.

 

Mina Kim: So what do you attribute to the growth you’re seeing and interest you’re seeing especially among Gen z in programs like CityBuild?

 

Iowayna Peña: This is a very intentional generation. And what I mean by that is, this is a generation of folks who decide to invest their time and their learning in, are really seated in their values, their moral compass, if you will. And so I think what what is attractive about CityBuild, TechASF, our health care academy, which we do in partnership with them, with some of our community based orgs out there, is that these folks will enter this and, their the immediate skills that they’re that they’re attaining also align with the value and impact that they wanna have in the world.