Resource Center

It Starts At Home

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

It Starts At Home

Last month I wrote a piece that was devoted to and was created to have us all think about the labor shortages we are all seeing, feeling, and working through. I wanted to open the doors for some creative thinking and ways in which to solve this problem. A problem that is only going to get worse. I had given some crazy stats about how the people leaving the trades via retirement, etc. far exceed the ones replacing the departing. I talked about unemployment rates being not nearly the stat we should care about, rather the work participation rate, and the abled bodied people just sitting it out-simply not even attempting to partake.

To solve the problem goes way beyond 1 article by 1 salesman in 1 small community. This is a systemic issue that we need to address. What is the problem? Why do our youth simply write off the thoughts of a blue-collar, skilled trades job? So, I thought I would conduct a survey. I thought I would make up some questions and use my children to push the info out to their friends. I have a 21-year-old daughter enrolled in pharmacy school at Iowa University busting her butt to bury herself in debt to ultimately work her white-collar job. I have a 20-year-old son playing football for the NJCAA Division 1 champs with aspirations of a power 4 football offer, generational Name Image and Likeness (NIL) money, and no idea what to do for a living after football is over. I have an 18-year-old daughter who just left for Kansas State University for a teaching education and to play volleyball while cashing in on the future with NIL and the Collective. Three kids, same mom teacher, same tradesman dad. Nature and nurture all identical. The younger two graduated from a Catholic school where College was the biggest conversation piece and probably 90% of the parents were white collar. The oldest from a large public school that had a demographic mix of white collar/blue collar.

I paid my kids to each go out and get 15-20 friends to fill out my survey. I then asked my nieces and nephews to join the party. I’m excited to share the results and how I look at it. I am still getting results and have decided to figure out how to make the results more public than this newsletter. For anyone wanting to know the results as it sits, please email me at Ryanderrer@Amwoodhomes.com, and I will gladly share. More importantly, for anyone knowing or having anyone in my target audience of 18-25 that would like to fill it out, the link is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfj6sshsSC9tzluDCJ3-y4UDiBjSRzAFtX9S1UHrT3wL1aRQQ/viewform. I don’t know what I expected for the answers, but, the answers I’m getting are not what they expected if that makes sense.

The theories I have for this problem and how to fix it are related to what happens at home first and foremost. Being a parent of 2 college athletes in 2 very successful programs, and the parent of 1 student in a very important professional school. I have come to see a huge divide in how we look at a student vs. a student “athlete”. I think the expectations set at home by parents wanting and wishing for NIL money far exceeds an expectation to mow yards, work at the local grocery store, and work small blue-collar jobs. The new norm for parents of my generation is to play travel ball, where everyone wins. It is to not give your kids any time free to work that fast food job to see if they like it. This generation of kids is all looking for fast, easy money. Money, they don’t have to break their back to get. Money, which in essence is just given to them for having a skill. Tradespeople have a skill also. The relationship between practicing a craft or skill at this point appears to not translate from “protecting the QB’s blindside” to stacking studs from one level to the next. I grew up playing sports. In fact, I was an all-state basketball player. However, I also grew up on a dairy farm, mowed 30 yards, and worked as a stock boy in the local grocery store. I saw a relationship of working hard in practice and earning accolades. I saw a correlation between moving my way up the ladder in the workplace. Years later, I saw being a carpenter as something I wanted to do. So, I did it! I went from a labor position to the highest-paid, most important guy on the site in just a few years.

My dad and granddad were farmers. My mom was a secretary. My maternal grandpa was a linesman. I saw what it was like to work, and I appreciated it. I did not carry the same mentality through to my kids, particularly the “athletic ones”. I provided them the best travel teams and opportunities for their sports. I provided them with the best equipment, best trainers, best coaches we could find. I did not force them to mow yards. I did not force them to get a job. Now, my “nonathletic one” busted her butt with sometimes 2 jobs. She is committed and sees the path a little harder. I fell into the trap and, we reached the “goal” of scholarships.

The second thing we must do at home is not devalue jobs, work, and what someone has perfected. The line between blue collar and white collar must be blended and all sides bleed into each other’s world. In my opinion, this is as big a problem as red and blue states. The ignorance of either side not wanting to see a problem for what it is the reason we have this problem.

A doctor who is ashamed or disgusted of his electrician best friend from high school has no chance to allow or discuss with his child what it means to really “turn on the lights”. Even while, this electrician has over 5,000 W2 employee’s country wide, split between 8 different booming cities. This electrician can buy shoes worn in Super Bowls by players that scored an unforgettable TD at auctions “just because he can”. In other words, 2 friends go two ways out of high school. One goes to med school and runs a nice little practice, has 3 employees and a nice corner office in a nice mid-town lower level, mixed used building owned by—a plumber.

The electrician buys some tools and a truck. He starts working. He learns on the job. He makes mistake after mistake, but genially likes seeing his progress from day to day. Day to day turns to week to week, and week to week turns to decades. He understands economy of scale as it makes sense. He hires a guy, then two, then 10, and before you know it, he has a system, not a product. He isn’t providing a light to turn on. He’s powering communities, hospitals, and that nice little mid-town multifamily his plumber brother owns. Does the electrician feel guilty or discouraged to see their child become a doctor? Does he hope they take over the empire? Does the kid have the option to do either?

Now look at the white-collar scenario. If the doctor can’t stand the fact his child would “settle” for a job using their hands, would he promote it? It’s white collar or disgrace. Look at the people you know on both sides and tell me I’m wrong.

We want the trades to grow, it starts at home. It starts with white collar merging with blue collar. It’s coloring outside the lines and working into the grey area. The topic is important, and I personally want to keep diving into it. I welcome any comments, thoughts, or ideas, as parents need to lead by example, let their kids take jobs they may not like, and realize that its ok to lose that January weekend travel game.