Planning to Get a Bachelor’s Degree? Maybe Learn to Weld Instead

Originally published by Townhall

Ohio’s House of Representatives is considering an important new workforce development bill. The Community Connectors Workforce Program (HB 98) aims to jumpstart career opportunities for young Ohioans by connecting high school students with jobs and internships in the skilled trades. The bill additionally tasks high school-based program directors with helping students to develop the “soft skills” they will need as they enter the workforce directly out of high school.

The skilled trades offer young students a clear path to upward mobility—in fact, these jobs look increasingly promising. Demand for tradesmen is growing as the nation reshores its manufacturing base. Research also suggests that AI job loss will largely pass over the skilled trades even as it decimates white collar work. And if experience is a guide, America’s recent investment in immigration enforcement will place upward pressure on wages for tradesmen in the coming years.

This bill arrives at a pivotal moment when young Americans are increasingly turning away from the traditional four-year degree. It isn’t hard to see why. From 1980 to 2020, the inflation-adjusted cost of a bachelor’s degree (BA) increased by 180%. Mounting college costs have created a staggering $1.77 trillion in student debt. At the same time, the benefits of a college degree look increasingly tenuous: 30 to 37 percent of BAs and 40 percent of master’s degrees produce zero or negative returns on students’ educational investments.

To read the full article, click here.