the biggest problem is all of society, and for pretty much all of history, "blue collar" or manual work has been viewed as low status and, accordingly, it is compensated much less than white collar work in general. even the most skilled manual worker, like an electrician, maxes out around $150k per year, which isn't much nowadays, or even $200k in very rare cases like for a high voltage lineman working plenty of overtime. meanwhile, vice presidents and other low level executives and high end manager make at least that much, if not two to three times as much. college and hospital administrators make at least that much, if not several times more, for work that is far less difficult, dangerous, dirty, and unpleasant. start paying factory workers six figures to start and let skilled tradesmen max out at $500k and we will see a renaissance not only of blue collar work but of industrial ingenuity and technological growth as well, since technological prowess is inextricably linked with industrial processes; a heavily industrialized society, like today's china, will inevitably produce better engineers since knowledge of industry is just that much more widespread in the culture. we must change the status and associated pay of manual work if we want to make it great again.
United States