A Concord classroom hosts pipe-trades apprentices learning fabrication drawings as part of United Association Local 342's five-year paid apprenticeship, with expected journeyman wages of $80.50 an hour. Trainees cite hands-on work and competitive pay as primary motivations. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are reducing entry-level white-collar opportunities and increasing the appeal of blue-collar careers. Federal Reserve data show higher unemployment among recent computer engineering and computer science graduates compared with construction services majors. Surveys of Generation Z adults indicate that AI-resilience is a factor driving interest in blue-collar and trade careers.
It's noon on a Thursday, but the day's lunch break is already over and the cement building in Concord is once again full. Class is in session. A dozen students - most dressed in gray canvas button-downs and baseball caps - sit with rapt attention facing the whiteboard at the front of the room. But the topic of today's lesson isn't biology, math or literature. It's how to fabricate drawings for pipe fitting.
The students here are apprentices with United Association Local 342, a union that trains and represents workers in the pipe trades industries. They'll complete a five-year paid apprenticeship to graduate as journeymen - and expect to earn a union wage of $80.50 an hour. Trainees cite a desire to work with their hands and the competitive pay as reasons for pursuing a career in the skilled trades. But young adults entering the workforce are facing a new challenge that is increasing the attractiveness of blue-collar jobs: the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Data from the Federal Reserve shows that among recent college graduates, the unemployment rates for majors once heralded as tickets to high-salary, high-status jobs like computer engineering and computer science were 7.5% and 6.1%, respectively. In contrast, construction services majors' unemployment rate was just 0.7%. Experts say Silicon Valley's AI models' capabilities are encroaching on many entry-level white-collar jobs. The CEO of generative AI powerhouse Anthropic told Axios in May that AI could erase half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and drive unemployment to 10% to 20% in the next one to five years.
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