[Romans:] OK. All this week, CNN is taking an in-depth look at America's job hunt. For decades the message: go to college, get the white collar job that has ruled America. But Mike Rowe, the host of "Dirty Jobs," is working to change that. He's stressing that good jobs are often the ones that built and still build this country. You know him as the host of "Dirty Jobs."
[Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs:] My name is Mike Rowe. That's my job.
[Romans:] Where he catches snakes.
[Rowe:] I'm being bit by a snake.
[Romans:] Cleans up tar.
[Rowe:] Doing some glopping.
[Romans:] And deals with a lot of dirt. And now, Mike's taking on an issue he says he learned from the people who deal with all our dirt.
[Rowe:] We've got this great rift in between blue and white collar. I would just say that our society is waged a sort of cold war on work.
[Romans:] A war on a specific type of work, skilled labor. As our workforce shifted to more white collar jobs and the definition of a good job changed, lucrative skilled labor careers such as plumbers, electricians and machinists have seen their image suffer.
[Rowe:] There's a category of work, though, in our work force that's critical and those jobs have come to feel like, call it vocational consolation prizes, and we are simply not celebrating their contribution. That's why you have a skills gap right now, at the same time as you have unemployment.
[Romans:] According to the Department of Labor, skilled labor like plumbers and steam fitters will see a 16 percent increase in the number of jobs available by the year 2018. Skilled construction workers, a 19 percent bump. The problem: finding workers with the right qualifications to fill the jobs, and an aging work force that will retire soon.
[Rowe:] All my other suits are made out of rubber.
[Romans:] This problem brought Mike all the way to Capitol Hill, where he testified in front of the Senate Commerce Committee about the skilled labor crisis.
[Rowe:] We need a national PR campaign for skilled labor, like a big one, something that addresses the widening skills gap head on and reconnects the country with the most important part of our workforce.
[Romans:] They are the, quote, "dirty jobs." And while not glamorous, they are essential to keep the country running.
[Rowe:] It's not about oh, no, the poor tradesman. They're going to be fine. They're going to be great, in fact. It's the rest of us who rely on their work. We're going to take it in the neck.
[Romans:] And I agree with him on that. And I think these dirty jobs are ladder jobs. It's something that I talked about and write about a lot. A ladder job, you can work an entry level in these or you can own your own business. You can work up the ladder and become a small business owner and employ other people working in the industry. So, it's a very big growth part of the economy. Labor Department report concerned that there's not enough focus on that. We've got this job growth there.
[Chetry:] Right.
[Romans:] But we're not necessarily fitting people into those.
[Chetry:] Right. And the other question is, and they talk a lot about this after the financial downturn, which was: we have to start, you know, retraining workers, we have to start helping people that whose job may never come back, do something else. So, as you talk about in the beginning where the focus has always been on college and white collars, there is a renewed focus on some of these vocations vocational schools.
[Romans:] That's right. You're hearing a lot more about it, making sure that we have more vocational training for our young people, vocational schools, but also vocational training in high schools. But guess what? Budget cuts mean a lot of places are losing vocational training in high schools and a lot of high schools are having trouble just teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, let alone the vocational, too. So, a lot of challenges there. But in terms of the PR campaign, I'd say Mike Rowe is a pretty good
[Chetry:] That is a good one. That is.
[Romans:] This week, again, we're partnering with CNN Money and "TIME" magazine, digging deeper on America's job hunt. We're going to learn where the jobs are, how to get one, how to keep one. Check out the all-new CNNMoney.com. We're back right after this.