Plumbers, truckers and pipefitters are offering hiring and signing bonuses — and promoting their six-figure incomes — to entice high school graduates willing to do dirty jobs, but young people keep turning up their noses to blue-collar work.
Even the prospect of a $1,000-a-week starting salary that could double in six years isn’t persuading young people to get into plumbing, says Chris Robertson, who has worked as a plumber for 24 years in Rockville, Maryland.
“It requires you to work hard, and I think a good part of the younger generation wants to be rich without putting in the effort,” said Mr.