I don’t want to hijack another thread so I’m starting this one.
Plumbers, Carpenters, Electricians, Welders, and others are a reasonable path to a comfortable middle class lifestyle in America.
Of course there are a lot of variables. The roto rooter guy makes a lot less than the plumbing contractor that re-pipes you house.
What do you say?
There are loads of differant types of work in each of the trades you mention, some are paid relatively low, some are extremely highly skilled and may require higher level qualifications.
As a shop floor installation tradesperson, the money can be reasonable but it isn’t exciting and its hard work - but, you can self employ and you can emply others and that’s when you start to do well.
It also depends a lot on your location, specialist skills such as restoration come at a premium, but you don’t have much in the way of historic structures over 100 years over in the US - even so there are places where real old time skills and knowledge can really be highly respected and paid.
And indeed jobs with relatively low or moderate skill level that are nonetheless very well paid, and vice versa.
Compensation is just a measure of market forces.
Is this really true? Often times the Roto Rooter guy comes at all hours of the day, seven days a week and is almost always desperately needed. They charge a premium for that. The guys that do contract plumbing work regular hours and get a standard union wage. Generally the more desperate you are for something the more expensive it is. I’m thinking they both do equally well.
Well I think, and this is just guess, that Roto-Rooter gets the money for the after hours calls. Maybe the technician gets a little bonus.
Roto Rooter is almost always in emergency mode, no one calls them unless its a last resort, need help now situation. Otherwise you call a regular plumber and make an appointment. They are not cheap and I suspect the techs are well paid to be on call at all hours of the day or night. Just saying, this is not the best example to use.
Yes well I stand corrected. But it supports my theory that skilled trades are a reasonable path to the middle class
The trade I am concerned about is truck driving, at some point there will autonomous self driving trucks. But I could see this working out for some drivers, they may actually be driving/watching over a caravan of trailers instead of just one and getting them to drop off points where they could drive themselves to the warehouse. This will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Truck driving is a great middle class job now that is going to see changes in the near future.
Roto Rooter is a plumbing company. They have plumbers that do the same plumbing jobs as any other plumber would do. It just happens to be a chain with a recognizable name.
I used Roto-Rooter as a generic plumbing company for a reason. Everyone knows or has called Roto-Rooter at some point when their toilet backed up.
Finding truck drivers has already become a problem. Not many people want to be long haul drivers at all, and any truck driving job now may be in a Big Brother like environment of constant monitoring where the truck is being tracked by GPS at all times, everything the driver does in operation is recorded and if the driver takes his hands off the wheel for a second a camera starts recording him.
Which is why I see automation taking over and the truck driver himself being a technician that travels along with a caravan of self driving trailers. More loads with less “drivers”, which equals more profit for the logistics firms but also may mean more money for these mule train drivers. I do not see the public getting used to completely driverless trucks anytime soon as I see huge lawsuits for any accidents.
I sure don’t want to be on the road with driverless anythings.
And it s generally “I’ll pay what ever it takes to stop this shit now! Just make it stop please!” kind of situation. 
The skilled trades can depreciate if technological advances take over the skilled part of their work or replace the person entirely. Welding comes to mind here, or at least in a factory environment.
Truck driving is regarded as a middle class job? Not in Europe.
And from what I have heard from acquaintances in the business, IT is no longer a guarantee of a good income or even of a job. It is also an area where skills are highly perishable and you have to keep learning new things all the time.
My experience in Europe is that the trucks are smaller and don’t travel the long distance routes like the ones in North America. Routes from San Diego to Detroit are common and take over two days+ to go 2400 miles. These drivers can make over $100K a year with a HS diploma and CDL training. Definitely middle class.
Again if you live in Manhattan or Beverly Hills, maybe that’s not middle class. But in wide swaths of the US it is.
My guess is that the American trucking industry is dominated by the Teamsters Union, so may have higher wages. IN GENERAL, union jobs pay more than non-union.
Skilled Trades are always in demand. If you can get a young person into an apprentice program they can be assured of a decent income. Get into a trade, learn for a couple of years, and you will need to keep learning for the rest of your career because the materials and processes are constantly changing and being upgraded.
My son got into the mechanical millwright program at a lumber mill. After he completed that he had a falling out with the boss of that department so he switched to the electrical millwright program and now is certified for both. That is a portable job where he can find employment anywhere on the globe. $35 per hour and on up for a high school education is fine in my view. When things need to get fixed and back up and running the cost is rarely a factor, down time is the metric that the managers will be measured by. Fix it!
Or you could go to college and get a degree and still be asking “do you want fries with that?” for $14 per hour while you pay off $100k in student loans.