Get interested in trades

Wed., Aug. 17, 2016

An old Waylon Jennings song goes, “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys … Let ‘em be doctors and lawyers and such …”

Well, that is exactly what happened years ago to our people. Drop the trades, go to college. Now, in a bustling building situation, many contractors are hard-pressed to get their work done due to a lack of trained tradesmen. If this trend continues, owners of new projects are going to see prices rising and schedules extending due to lack of help.

Workers in all trades, if qualified, will see their wages increase as the shortages become more acute. Not everyone can be a computer geek. Not everyone can plumb a building, or wire a house, or form concrete.

The time is now to get more young people interested in a trade. Or waiting for a plumber or air conditioning person will take days.

Tom Hinkle

Spokane Valley

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