The wages for skilled trades are enough to pay for housing outside of HCOL areas like New York City and the SF Bay Area. People may need to move to restart their careers. There is high demand for electricians in Plano, TX. I understand that making that kind of move is difficult and highly disruptive but at some point workers have to face reality. Regardless of whether the root cause is AI or offshoring or higher interest rates, a lot of the old tech industry jobs are gone forever.
If i have two kids to support, how am i going to afford a) cost of relocating to LCOL b) cost of supporting family on lower wage c) while going through a multi year retraining program and d) paying for the training?
It's going to be rough for a lot of workers caught out in this structural labor market shift. I sympathize with them and there are no easy answers. People are just going to be forced to figure it out in order to survive.
I think most tradespeople live where they grew up which may not be LCOL but not high either. May need some certifications/formal training but is mostly an internship situation.
