Our local conservative talk radio host ranted about this yesterday...
Up here in the industrial North, there are a lot of high paying skilled trade jobs, but noone with the skills to fill the jobs.
We have a glut of kid with BA degrees in womyn's/victimhood studies and high 5-figure/low 6 figure debts that work in low paying jobs, who could have spent 1/2 the time and 1/4 the money in school and started at $25/hr.
One caller said that in his region, there were 7-8 people taking on electrical apprenticeships for every 40-50 electricians who retired every year.
If I were to start over, it would be plumbing, electrical, machining, or welding. (I'm not cut out for masonry- done plenty of it, hate it).
I know several people who have their own plumbing (2 in my family, 1 in wife's family), Hvac (1 in my family), masonry (2 in my wife's family) businesses, and none of them are hurting for money or work.