Gen Z are turning to trades and blue collar work for their career. Better pay and work-life balance.

- A majority (78%) of Americans say they’ve noticed a recent growing interest from young adults to pursue trade careers.
- Nearly a quarter (23%) of Americans who don’t currently do trade work, say they plan to get into the profession, which is the case for 50% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials.
- With the emergence of AI, 66% of Americans believe trade professionals have more job security than corporate professionals – a belief commonly held by both trade workers (71%) and corporate workers (70%)
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Generation Z has reshaped various societal norms, which entails redefining what’s in and what’s out. The latest workforce trend being embraced by today’s most influential generation is blue-collar career paths. As the promise of a four-year degree falls short, and the cost to receive a college degree continues to climb, young Americans are making blue-collar jobs cool again.

According to a new study conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma among 2,091 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, nearly half of Americans (49%) believe that American society views trade jobs more negatively than corporate jobs – a belief most pronounced among older generations (61% of baby boomers ages 60-78 and 54% of Gen X ages 44-59 versus 39% of millennials ages 28-43 and 36% of Gen Z ages 18-27). While the stigma associated with trade work – also known as blue-collar – is present, perceptions are starting to shift, and young Americans are leading the charge.

Nearly a third (32%) of employed Americans currently work in the trades, including 38% of Gen Z, 34% of millennials, 30% of Gen X and 28% of Baby Boomers. And nearly a quarter (23%) of Americans who don’t currently do trade work say they plan to get into the profession in the future, which jumps to 50% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials.

What’s so great about trade work?

The top factor that influenced trade workers to pursue a trade career is work-life balance (43%), followed by job security and job availability (both 42%). On the note of job security, the advent of AI, specifically generative AI (GenAI), may have more people on alert. With the emergence of AI, 66% of Americans believe trade professionals have more job security than corporate professionals – a belief commonly held by both trade workers (71%) and corporate ones (70%).

Social media might also play a role in the resurgence of interest in trade jobs. One in 10 (10%) trade workers say that seeing skilled-trade workers on social media influenced their decision to pursue a trade career, and another one in 10 say seeing stories on social media from people with corporate jobs who are struggling to make ends meet also impacted their decision.

The promise of a 4-year degree is broken.

It’s difficult to imagine a resurgence in blue-collar work without the acknowledgement of the fraught nature of the higher education system in the United States, which has many people wondering if the expense is worth it. Nearly half of Americans (45%) don’t see the value in a 4-year college degree, and that remains true for more than half of Gen Z (52%). In a similar vein, a majority of Americans (64%) do not think taking on student loan debt is worth the return on investment of a college education, and more than three-quarters of Americans (77%) think the argument that you need to go to college to have a successful career is outdated.

While more than 3 in 5 Americans (61%) are under the impression that in most cases, getting a college degree will result in a well-paying job, 22% of those who went to a 4-year college are not making as much money as they thought they would, having attended one. The latter is felt among nearly a quarter (23%) of corporate workers.

The crippling nature of student loan debt is likely why more than half (54%) of those who currently have student loans, or have had them in the past, regret their decision to take on debt for a degree. Luckily, only 12% of Americans who attend a 4-year college, or attended one in the past, are dissatisfied with their decision to do so, yet, that increases to roughly one-in-five (21%) Gen Zers.