Skilled trades professionals are also
in high demand: some sources indi-
cate that more than 2.5 million job
openings were expected in the skilled
trades in 2021 alone, with additional
growth projected for the years to
follow. As demand for these workers
grows, it is likely that pay, benefits,
and other job perks will follow.
For all these reasons and more,
there has never been a better time to
seriously consider a career path in the
skilled trades. While recent studies
have shown that as few as six percent
of high school students think about
the skilled trades as a post-graduation
path, the advantages of pursuing
a job in the trades only continue to
expand as college degrees become
more expensive and salaries for many
college grads continue to stay static.
In this guide, we will take a closer look
at the skilled trades, including the
career paths and industries that fall
into this category, the common skilled
trades “myths” that have frequently
stopped students from pursuing
trades careers in the past, and the
training paths, salaries, and job projec-
tions that different segments of the
trades may hold.