As many of the letter writers have pointed out, the reasons for the drastic shortage of skilled labor are myriad and complex. I'd like to add another one, the Parental Factor.

I am a mechatronics engineer with over 25 years under my belt, and am in frequent, involved contact with industries and training organizations. The fact is, skilled labor (my reference is mechatronic technicians, who are responsible for the upkeep of factory automation systems) has become much more high-tech than the previous generation. The systems that techs maintain are much more sophisticated, requiring workers to be computer literate, as well as math and language-literate, as well. You can't be a successful tech grad of a vocational school by being a dummy. Students need to have strong academic skills to make it and get a good job, today.

Unfortunately, parents are still stuck in the perception of Vo-tech as a dumping ground for dummies, miscreants and other "problem" students. Although tech schools today strenuously avoid using the "V-Word," a skilled-labor career for Mom and Dad's little replicant is still a very hard sell. Tech schools have a great deal of difficulty attracting registrants, partly because the Parental Units want Jill and Johnny to be lawyers, etc. and make "good" money. They don't want their kids in what they think is a greasy, dirty, dead-end environment.

Now I don't know much about linemen, but in the mechatronics field, one can make plenty good $$, especially if they are young, single and willing to hustle some OT. A smart aggressive kid who doesn't live beyond his means can get a good leg up compared to the masses of over-educated liberal-arts grads trying to pay off their student loans on Barista wages. Not only that, the work is not universally dangerous or dirty. There are many good gigs to be had. There is also (some) career growth- a tech can become a supervisor, or even an engineer by going to night-school on the company dime. Not a bad gig if you are lucky enough to get the right employer.

Also, many techs go into industrial sales or service, often by starting their own company.

So I dare say, that it is certainly the case that qualified applicants are hard to find. Whether or not that is by design, and why the salaries are not commensurate with labor demand is an entirely different discussion.

(By the way- Mexico has lots and lots of highly skilled mechatronics techs right across the border... Hmmmmm)

Thanks for reading, and do be well!

Yes, Tom-

In many German cities, the service utilities run under the sidewalks, which are either slabs, or more common- paving stones (very nice look, I might add). Access is simple, and easy to repair.

Moving utilities underground makes sense in many densely populated urban areas. Since most of Europe falls under that category, most utilities are underground. There are not many places in the USA where that would be cost-effective, except for example, Much of NY City, but it is still not unknown this side of the Atlantic. There are streets in NYC that literally have to be excavated with teaspoons because there is such a tangle of stuff underground!

Long-distance power transmission however, is still largely above-ground all over. Although if the kooky fringe who believe that power lines radiate Venusian Death Rays had their way, everything would be underground- but that's another discussion.

Boy, if I were a shill for a credit card company who's job it was to troll blogs and discourage people from acquiring the habits of personal and financial responsibility, yours is precisely the script I'd come up with. Looks like our friend Xran... has already (albeit for different reasons)begun to poke a few holes into your story (which sounded a bit contrived to me).

Obviously, you are the only one who knows if it is true or not- I'm just commenting on what it smells like from here, as processed through my twisted little brain.

I'm just sayin...

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Whether or not $40K in student loans is "no big deal these days," or speculating on the existence of a secret trust fund or a mattress in the attic stuffed with sawbucks or some such thing is really immaterial. Although it might be helpful to think of these, or perhaps other possibilities, evidently the LW has good reasons to suspect that their friends are in trouble- so let's leave it at that and consider the following:

If someone I care about thinks I'm in trouble, I would want to hear about it. I may not like hearing about it, but if said concerns are communicated non-violently, (not a job for the empathically-challenged!) I may very well feel cared about on some level.

This is not easy. Of course, there can always be unknown possibilities, but that we can only go by what we know at any given time, imperfections and all, must not keep us from well-considered action. Do you care enough to risk some hurt feelings or a possible loss of friendship?

Here are my thoughts:

1. Friend in trouble = do nothing = sad. What a world that would be!

2. You have very, very little influence over the world and those in it. Be realistic about your limitations. Be mentally prepared for nothing to happen, right away, or ever.

3. Taking action does not, in fact, necessitate talking to the parties like a Dutch uncle.

4. The most successful agents for change are those who lead by example, by daily living their values.

Probably all of us, at one time or another, have been hungry for someone trusted to "show us the way." That's why we are social creatures. We all model for each other (some more responsibly than others.) Model for your friends as much as you possibly can. Make it a personal challenge to do it as artfully and subtley as possible.

Good luck, and do be well!