Right, we’re dropping outta the workforce because of a social status and not because the work is dangerous, the pay is horrible and the benefits are a joke. I work in the heavy highway industry and every day I hear contractors complaining that they can’t find work. Then I hear the workers complain about the long hours, no paid time off, no bereavement pay, no sick days, long travel times to job sites unpaid, what they make an hour and expensive company health insurance; not about some social status. Half of these people are in the union. Every day I see less and less young people joining the trades and that really concerns me. There’s no incentives to joining a trade anymore; the few young people I do meet often tell me they’re working this job until they can find a better opportunity. We need to see big change or we’re going to loose an entire generation of skilled workers and knowledge.