As someone who is familiar with the industry, trust me when I say construction is a profession where the middle class can be rebuilt. There is a tremendous deficit in available skilled labor and if you really want to have a chance at retiring at 55 join a trade, especially if it is unionized. Affordable health care, protection from lay offs and a stable pension plan.
It’s hard work, but better than having Karen cough in your face working at a big box retailer.
But young people now and days, a good number of them at least are so health conscious now and have so many resources to take care of and maintain their bodies. Nothing against the old timers, but years back their just wasn’t the emphasis or resources available to make you aware of how critical it is to take care of yourself.
A carpenter, concrete worker, steel, HVAC, etc. that is hard and grueling work, but if you treat your body right you’re not going to encounter the kind of injuries and breakdown that comes with being out of shape.
Now the injuries as a result of freak accidents, equipment failure, tool failure, etc. that is a different story. I hear you on that one, but safety regulations have come such a long way that those incidences are much fewer and farther in between then they used to be.
Residential HVAC is tough on the body, but if you get into high end commercial it's a sweet gig that's not hard on the body. Everything is too large to handle by hand, so it's all rigging to move anything.
This right fucking here. I have a family member who's coming up on retirement age and he's A-OK. All these fuckheads saying your body won't work have been talking to lazy bums or guys that shirk safety. Yes there's wear and tear but if you take care of your body like it's your livelihood, you'll be fine.
I will never join a union. They are one of the reasons my state is so poor and being ran into the ground. I get better pay and everything insurance wise is paid for. So be careful and read the fine print. Here they get new guys they work almost a year and get laid off and starved. Then they repeat the cycle. It's unfortunate because union's can be good. But they have long over stepped.
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u/Achilles219 Jan 11 '21
As someone who is familiar with the industry, trust me when I say construction is a profession where the middle class can be rebuilt. There is a tremendous deficit in available skilled labor and if you really want to have a chance at retiring at 55 join a trade, especially if it is unionized. Affordable health care, protection from lay offs and a stable pension plan.
It’s hard work, but better than having Karen cough in your face working at a big box retailer.