JUDY WOODRUFF: There's a shortage of skilled tradespeople throughout the U.S. economy,
a persistent problem that started well before the pandemic.
But, given high unemployment, it is an important time to explore what's behind that gap and
what can be done about it.
Paul Solman has the story for our series Work Shift, which focuses on navigating the job
market in a post-COVID economy.
PAUL SOLMAN: Superstar Seattle, where the high-tech young make six figures and up. But
you can make that much in low-tech too, says plumber Vinnie Sposari.
VINNIE SPOSARI, Owner, Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Seattle: Drain cleaning, light plumbing
repairs and that kind of thing, we have got guys making over $100,000 a year.
PAUL SOLMAN: Sposari owns Seattle's Mr. Rooter franchise.
VINNIE SPOSARI: I have got plumbers that work for me today that make $200,000-plus a year.
PAUL SOLMAN: And they're what age?
VINNIE SPOSARI: Any age, in their 30s, 40s.
PAUL SOLMAN: Making $200,000 a year or more?
VINNIE SPOSARI: Absolutely.
PAUL SOLMAN: That's because there simply aren't enough plumbers, not in boomtowns like Seattle,
not anywhere.
VINNIE SPOSARI: Manpower is one of the most frustrating parts of my job, filling all the
spots, I could hire six, eight experienced plumbers right now.
PAUL SOLMAN: But they're just not out there?
VINNIE SPOSARI: They're just not out there. Guys that are my age, they're aging out.
PAUL SOLMAN: But why aren't they being replaced with the young, given their historically low
participation rate, made worse by the pandemic?
There are all these kids who either aren't working at all or are working in dead-end,
low-wage jobs. Why can't you just say to them, hey, by age of 25 or 30, you could be making
six figures; just come with me?
VINNIE SPOSARI: I would love to. I have gone to some career days. The kids, you're waiting
for them to come talk to you. And they just don't.
PAUL SOLMAN: So, why no takers?
TREVOR CALDWELL, Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Seattle: First and foremost is the perception of plumbing.
PAUL SOLMAN: Trevor Caldwell is Vinnie Sposari's right hand man.
TREVOR CALDWELL: There's this stigma that goes along with getting your hands dirty,
just a plumber, not a person, just a plumber. And I don't want to be that guy.
PAUL SOLMAN: Or that gal.
SARAH SCHNABEL, LaMorte Electric: You're doing manual labor. Some people tend to look down
on that. And that makes people not want to go into it, clearly.
PAUL SOLMAN: Sarah Schnabel isn't a plumber, but an Ithaca, New York, electrical apprentice,
another well-paying trade which can't find good help these days, a frustration for Schnabel's
boss, Brian LaMorte, and for his colleagues.
BRIAN LAMORTE, LaMorte Electric: I know lots of guys in the trade who are contractors,
and they're looking for help.
PAUL SOLMAN: And willing to pay for it.
BRIAN LAMORTE: We have recently raised our rates as a business to $90 an hour, and we
are not pushing the envelope. We were $75 a little while ago and $65 a little while
before that.
It's getting to the point where you probably pay us more to come fix your light switch
than you do to go to the doctor.
PAUL SOLMAN: So, again, why no takers?
SARAH SCHNABEL: I do think, for people my age, it's definitely more glamorous to think
of the tech job, where you're in a really nice cushy office building.
We're the kind of people who are going to hire someone to go change a light bulb, let
alone go into the trades. That's kind of where my generation is right now.
ADRIENNE BENNETT, Owner, Benkari Plumbing: I can't give them a power tool. They might
kill themselves with it. They have never held a power tool in their life.
PAUL SOLMAN: Yes, says Detroit master plumber Adrienne Bennett, whose firm is currently
helping to revitalize Michigan's Central Station, it takes a non-cushy mind-set.
ADRIENNE BENNETT: This is physical work. You need to be there on the job site every day.
And you got to be on time. And a lot of the young people today, they don't have work ethics.
PAUL SOLMAN: But, of course, plenty do. Determined to breed new plumbers, Vinnie Sposari runs
his own year-long training program, paying young people from the get-go to learn the
trade.
VINNIE SPOSARI: We're paying our trainees $15, $16, $18 an hour. And then, when you're
done with the program, you're not a full licensed plumber, but you're a service technician who's
able to snake drains and to do the kind of small plumbing repairs and whatnot and get
close to that six-figure income. You're getting paid to learn that.
PAUL SOLMAN: After a certain number of hours and possibly an exam -- the requirements vary
by locality -- you can become a licensed plumber, a quality credential in an economy where only
11 percent of employers think colleges and universities are doing a good job of preparing
people for the work force.
Says Sposari of his apprenticeship program:
VINNIE SPOSARI: It's open for everybody. I would welcome anybody.
PAUL SOLMAN: But, says Sposari:
VINNIE SPOSARI: You would be amazed how many people we want to hire, but our insurance
company won't insure them because of driving violations, drugs, can't keep a job.
You see some applicants come in here in a ripped T-shirt, hasn't shaved. You go out,
look at his car and it's full of garbage. It hasn't been washed in a month. Those are
the things we look at.
PAUL SOLMAN: But, hey, plenty of young folks have intact T-shirts, clean faces, clean cars.
Maybe they realize, or learn, that you need an apprenticeship to get licensed, says plumber
Adrienne Bennett.
ADRIENNE BENNETT: And the apprenticeships are five years. And you start out at maybe
$15, $16 an hour, and to get to $40, $50 an hour is going to take you five or six years.
PAUL SOLMAN: Plus, to get a job, isn't it who you know? And few potential candidates
know tradespeople, it seems.
MANUEL RIOS, Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Seattle: I didn't knew nobody.
PAUL SOLMAN: Manuel Rios, a Mr. Rooter trainee, used to work on electric motors for $18 an
hour, with little prospect of making much more. But, by chance, he met some plumbers
there.
MANUEL RIOS: They say that they make a lot of money. And I realized that the plumbing
is never going to end, because you are always going to need a plumber. So the business is
always going to be there.
PAUL SOLMAN: The final barrier to entry in the trades is a familiar one, says electrician
LaMorte.
BRIAN LAMORTE: There is a certain feeling that it's kind of like a white man's game,
I hate to say it. So, people who are LGBTQ., minorities are a little bit intimidated by
the boys club that exists.
PAUL SOLMAN: And, of course, women.
Added together, that's about two-thirds of the country. In the late 1970s, Adrienne Bennett
was recruited as a union plumbing apprentice under a federal program targeting women. Similar
programs exist today.
ADRIENNE BENNETT: This is something that will keep food on the table. It will keep clothes
on your back. It will keep a roof over your head. I'm living proof.
PAUL SOLMAN: Living proof, as CEO of her own industrial contracting plumbing business since
2008.
For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman.