In the industry I work in it's a skills gap. I work for an Industrial Electrical Contractor. We cannot find enough skilled electricians out there. The good ones have jobs and don't seem to look to change. We've had to start our own 5 year apprentice program because of lack of qualified candidates. A real problem is too many school counselors and society in general tell people you can't make a living doing skilled blue collar work.
Well given the fact that many of those skilled blue collar jobs have either been outsourced or supplanted by illegal immigrants, and given the fact that their wages have either been stagnant or on the decline since the 70's, it makes sense that the schools would push the kids into careers resistant to those forces.
