It really pisses me off how real work is looked down on nowadays. Any type of working with your hands is for the uneducated. My ex wife is a nurse and asked me if it bothered me that she had more education than me. This woman couldn't figure out the damn pump on a fish tank and thinks I worried about 4 years of ******** her parents paid for? I am 35 years old, been doing construction since I was 14, I can count on two hands how many young people I have met that do trades because they want to. You see a lot of bosses sons and half ass helpers who get booted the first time they have to piss in a cup. Hard work is not respected or something most young people want to do. There is a whole new lefty "diy" attitude about growing gardens and having chickens in your back yard and they act like it is some new miracle way of life. Ive owned my own shop for 9 years this summer and have made way more than any of the people I went to collage or high school with.
I always find it funny how many people look down on average wages, in my area-Nashville TN, $17.00 an hour is not too bad for welding for an employer. You can get more, but its going to be short lived and you'll be hunting a job in a few months.
http://www.ironworkers492.org/sub/wage_rates Even the union guys dont pull much more than non union.