Are We Still Building? (From "On The Job" with Avery Thompson)

For the 8th season of "On The Job," host Avery Thompson shares stories of folks making pivots in their professional - and personal - lives. Whether it's a successful athlete transitioning into a new career off the field, a fly fishing tour guide trying to introduce a new segment of folks to the joys of the outdoors, or a stadium beer and hot dog hawker who doubles as the CEO of a red-hot start-up, we'll find out what drives them, how they've managed their pivots and what lies ahead. Strap in for eight more entertaining and heartfelt stories of people finding their life's work. "On The Job" is brought to you by Express Employment Professions.

On today's episode, Mark Erlich, a former carpenter who is now a Fellow at Harvard, gives us a look at the jobs market, and the ascendance of the “toolbelt generation.” https://clje.law.harvard.edu/team/mark-erlich/

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to On the Job. It's hard to believe it
that this is now our eighth season. We've got a
lot of great stories coming your way. If you're not
sure how to feel about the economy these days, you're
not alone. It's an admittedly confusing time right now. So
to try to make sense of what's going on out there,
I gave a call up to Boston, Massachusetts to speak

(00:25):
with author, labor historian, and fellow at Harvard Law Mark
Erlin Mark Early, thank you for being on the podcast.
Let's jump right into it. How's it looking out there
to you?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, I actually think it's looking quite goods. You know,
there's the issue of perception and reality and how it's
perceived politically. But the reality is that the job market
keeps climbing, that we have come out of the pandemic
better than really any other country in the world, and
I think there are a lot of opportunities. I would say,

(01:00):
to the degree that what our future holds in some
ways is dependent on the election in November and whether
the current trends continue or whether there's a sharp turn
to a different set of politics and economics.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
As Mark told me, there's only so much crystal ballgazing
one can do. As a historian, he knows that unforeseen
surprises are both unpredictable and inevitable. However, there is one
thing that we can all see coming our way, and
that's AI.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I think for the majority of jobs, I don't think
in the short term it is going to be much
of an impact one way or another. I think twenty five,
thirty fifty years out, the impact of AI is probably
going to be incomprehensible in many ways.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
And at least for now, it seems unlikely that AI
will be able to replace a plumber or an electrician
anytime soon, which is a great thing because those types
of jobs, the sort of skilled trade jobs, are having
quite a resurgence these days. And Mark, a former carpenter himself, says,
not only are those jobs quite plentiful these days, they're

(02:13):
also finally getting the respect they deserve.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah. I think that's been an interesting process. I think
that's for two reasons. One is that guidance counselors in
high schools and sort of families works kept saying college, college, college, college,
You got to go to college if you're going to
have a secure living. And what happened when you graduated,

(02:36):
you had a pile of student debt and you were
a barista or an uber driver. On the other hand,
if you do blue collar work, if you frankly, if
you go say through an apprenticeship program, you are earning
while you learn. There is no debt. You're learning a skill.
In four years and you've become a licensed electrician or

(02:57):
you become a master carpenter or whatever, and the occupation
may be, and you have been you've been making money
that entire time, and you're well on your way towards,
you know, having a secure livelihood. I think for too
long we devalue that kind of work in the society.
And I'm glad to see, like the enrollment in vocational

(03:19):
schools is increasing all over the country, and that seems
to me kind of like one hundred and eighty degree
shift from say, even twenty years ago.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
With soaring enrollment in technical and vocational schools and a
strong jobs market in the blue collar sector. Some have
even started calling gen Z the tool belt generation. And
as public opinion of the trades continues to change, so
too are the people drawn to them.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
You're seeing women in the trades being elevated to leadership
positions in the industry. It's a very healthy thing, very
good thing.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
And a similar trend is happening with foreign born Americans.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
My parents are immigrants. I'm a big support of immigration.
I think this country was built on immigrant labor. And
the only difference now is that instead of being folks
from Southern Europe or Eastern Europe or wherever, they're coming
from Central and South America as well as other parts
of the world.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Hopefully in a few years we'll have a lot more
men and women driving their children around and pointing and saying,
you see that, kids, I built that for On the job,
I'm Avery Thompson.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
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(04:50):
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