Me personally no. I have 20+ years doing what I do. I am paid decently for that. But fresh out of high school and willing to do the apprentice/mentor thing I probably would have considered it very compelling. It was 2-3x what I made starting what I do now.
It's not a job I'd do either for a few reasons, principally marginal physical disability; something many tradesmen acquire and learn to live with, but to which I was essentially born.
That said, if the job is so attractive to young people (I'm guessing primarily men), then why do you think that not much has changed in the intervening decade?
Because as a society we have been taught that trade work is not worth doing. One of the things you just said is what I always hear. I had an uncle quit a high paying job at Apple to become an apprentice plumber. Within 5 years he was making just as much and loved his job and wished he had done it earlier. The Apple job was 'too much stress' and 'when I leave a job site that work will be done or done within the next day or so'. He retired in his late 60s doing it.
Not all trade work is swinging a hammer or lugging huge things around (what we have been sold). Most of it is fit and trim work. Fiddly work where you are making sure that wire is lined up just right to fit in this wall or knowing where to put the pressure hose. Yeah swinging the hammer work and lugging stuff around is how you get started. You 'put in your dues'. It is a form of hazing. Sort of how we give interns the 'build this weird form that no one will ever use' work.
I know the trades guys are doing decent. The ones I see are driving around in brand new f150s (go look at the prices on them). As scarcity for their work is driving up prices. I can put up a job opening for a programmer and have 200+ applicants. Do you think the trades are getting lots of people asking to do this work? No it is seen as 'low class work'.
I have family who have done trade work and have dabbled myself. Not only did my brother make an actual fraction of what a developer would make, he did not get sick days or health insurance. He's doing much better now in an engineering job, and will not be going back. It's the weirdest thing how I always see people on the internet who don't do trade jobs talk about how much they pay, and yet if you look up the actual statistics, you'll see that these jobs are paid salaries that the people on this forum would scoff at. And those statistics match the reality of the actual tradespeople in my family.
I'm quite aware of how much a new F-150 costs, perhaps you should look up the length of the average vehicle loan these days.
I bet I do know what would help the trades to be seen as higher class work; paying more lol.
