Report: Parents, Gen Z Increasingly Embrace the Trades

A new survey suggests more families are warming up to careers in the skilled trades, like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work, instead of automatically pushing kids toward a four-year college degree. The report, from software company Jobber, polled more than 2,000 people, including parents of kids ages 11 to 16 and young adults ages 18 to 20 (Gen Z).

More than half of parents surveyed, 52%, said the trades offer a better return on investment than college, compared with just 18% who favored college. Nearly all of those parents, 92%, said they'd encourage their child to pursue a trade if interested. Concerns about artificial intelligence played a role too: 68% of parents said AI has made them question the long-term stability of traditional office jobs, and 76% of Gen Z respondents said they want a career that's hard to automate. Many young people also see the trades as a path to owning a business someday, with 67% saying they're more interested after learning tradespeople can earn six-figure incomes.

For homeowners, this doesn't change anything about your house directly, but it points to a possible shift in the workforce that installs and repairs home systems like heating, cooling, and electrical equipment. More than half of parents in the survey said schools still don't promote trade careers as much as college, so the report's authors argue that could shape how many workers enter the field in coming years.