If you are about to graduate from high school, odds are that you might be feeling the pressure to know what to do next. Maybe you debate between finding a job that pays the bills or are possibly considering college. But have you thought about going to trade school?
If you do not see yourself studying a 4-year (or longer) program or if you cannot afford it at the moment; or if you would like to start earning a salary sooner rather than later – then studying at a trade school might be something for you.
Today, it has been demonstrated that learning a trade can lead to a successful work-life and comfortable financial situation. Keep reading if you would like to learn more.
Do trade jobs pay well? The answer is “yes.”
There is a stigma that trade jobs are bound to a lower salary than jobs a high school student might get after studying for a bachelor’s degree. But depending on the trade you choose to study, this is not always the case.
In fact, there are around 30 million jobs in the United States that don’t require a university degree and pay an average of $55,000 per year.
Trade workers, like solar energy electricians and HVAC mechanics, are currently expected to earn a salary above $40,000 a year. And trade workers, such as plumbers and CNC machine tool programmers, are expected to earn a salary above $50,000 a year. And just in case seeking out a trade is something you have been thinking about, keep in mind that elevator installers and repairers are expected to earn around $79,000 a year.
Trade jobs like the ones just mentioned plus others like cosmetologists, electricians and automotive service jobs are experiencing a large number of job openings (between 50.000 and 95.000 positions a year). This growth is expected to continue at least until 2028.
The demand for trade jobs is growing steadily, and one of the reasons is that in recent years, high school graduates have been steered into believing that the only way to secure a meaningful and high paying job is by obtaining an academic degree, causing a shortage of skilled workers in the country.
Trades related to construction are among the ones that are needed the most, and together with trades in the health and personal care industries, they make up one-third of jobs needed throughout 2022 in the United States.
This demand, along with the length of a trade school program (between 6 to 9 months to complete) makes studying a trade for a high school graduate a promising alternative to a study program that will take 4 or more years to complete.
Besides, students who pursue a technical career and specialize in a trade have a higher chance to be employed in the field they studied than students who pursue an academic degree.
One attractive aspect of choosing to study a trade is that students can complete a program in less than a year. This makes it easier to start seeing the results of the skills learned by entering the workforce faster than an academic degree.
But that is not the only attractive aspect of learning a trade. Students can actually start to work while completing their studies in the trade they have chosen to specialize in, which provides them a self-sufficient way to earn income while getting valuable experience.
The pressure for high school students to know what they want to do with their career before ever even graduating can have lasting effects. Without the right information on the different career and training paths available, they often see themselves making rushed decisions that could even lead to dropping out of college while still having to pay high amounts of money toward the classes they took. Learning a trade allows high school graduates to test the work environment in a more financially safe atmosphere.
Finally, remember that whether you decide to learn a trade and make it your lifelong career, or you want to try it for a few years, if you are good at what you do and you are passionate about it, choosing a trade can be the ultimate way to living a purposeful life.