21
THREE
They are the opposite of so-called “unskilled labor.” Unskilled
labor is a term often used to describe entry-level jobs in food
service, retail, cleaning, and more. While these jobs have a
huge value to society, they don’t require the same level of profi-
ciency that the skilled trades do. There is no specific trained
skill required to stock shelves at a grocery store or to run the
cash register at a fast food restaurant. As a result, despite
the essential nature of many of these businesses and jobs,
“unskilled labor” positions often do not pay high wages, offer
competitive benefits, or provide major opportunities for growth
and advancement—simply because there is a relatively high
number of people who could perform that same job.
In the skilled trades, as previously discussed, the skills
required for each career are assets that not everybody has. The
relative scarcity of these skills means that finding and hiring
people who possess those skills is a competitive process for
employers or customers, which in turn leads to higher salaries,
better benefits, and clearer pathways toward advancement.