Yeah? The wheel has or is turning then.
I don't get that.
Everyone I know with a trade that relates to the housing industry, is earning comfortably above the national average wage - even post GFC.
Most industrial trades are highly valued by the mining industry, so qualified tradies can earn mega-bucks working in the mines. Or they can stay in civilisation and still earn decent money because the mines jobs have forced all employers to compete for competent staff.
Which pretty much leaves only the motor mechanics as pretty much the last of the under-valued tradies. But with workshops charging $130/hour, there's more and more opportunity for employers to actually pay good mechanics a decent wage.
Around the time I left school (1993) there was all this talk of trades dying off, largely because it was early days of the IT industry.
It was bullsh, though.
Any apprenticeships that were advertised had dozens of applicants - plenty of reasonably bright/suitable kids were rejected for dozens of apprenticeships.
Fast-foward nearly twenty years, and the story is still basically the same. My work puts on 3 or 4 apprentices every year (mostly heavy vehicle mechanics), and has to choose from 50+ applicants.
All of the tradies at my work are paid above the national average wage (before OT). Occasionally the bosses have whinge that they're "paid too much", but the simple reality is that very few of the younger guys stick around for long after becoming tradies - they chase the big money out west instead.
The few similar employers that pay just the award wages, are burdened with high staff turn-over, and/or less than ideal staff.
