TRADES Corp. is in the business of providing “blue collar” skilled trades workers to the Commercial and Residential construction markets. Many people believed that robots and machines would one day take over blue-collar jobs. We at TRADES Corp. have seen that exactly the opposite has been the result artificial intelligence, robotics and the internet have only created more skilled trades jobs. Blue collar trades are integral to build the structures required to manufacture these advances.
However, there is in fact a dearth of blue collar workers that the construction industry needs. Unemployment continues to fall, as well as the number of workers entering the blue-collar sector. By the late 2020’s its expected that there could be as many as 2.4 million unfilled skilled trades jobs, which could result in an estimated $2.5 trillion negative economic impact on the US. The number of job openings in construction is increasing each year, and the percentage of blue collar workers in manufacturing positions has fallen to less than 13 percent of the labor force.
There are variety of causes for this shortage. Many people believe that the term “blue collar worker” now has a negative connotation. People associate blue collar jobs with difficult, dirty work, and it’s discouraging people from applying. The use of “skilled trades worker” is being recommended instead.
As this skilled trades shortage continues, we at TRADES Corp. exist to allocate this scarce resource of skilled trades to where it is needed most at any given time.
In a sense, TRADES Corp. provides “just in time” trades workers to the most in need job sites. Many people also don’t fully understand the benefits of a blue collar job. There is a misconception that they’re low-paying jobs that require a low skill level. However, many of these jobs require less than a college degree but pay more than some professional “white collar” positions. TRADES Corp. understands all this, and exists to make a market of available trades workers for the construction industry.