Working with Hands
I live in Clayton, Missouri, a secondary business-center-type suburb close to the City of St. Louis. Not far from my residence multiple large buildings are going up. I’m intrigued by the process and the coordination of the many different trades and contractors.
It’s hard for me to comprehend how anyone can bid or estimate the cost of a building when I see the excavation, foundation and building process. I guess it comes down to experience. One thing that amazes me is the crane that was inserted, in the early stage, into the center of the construction project. The crane now towers over the expected top floor, and it has a long branch that lifts and moves things. The other day I asked one of the workers how it will be removed when the new building surrounds it. He explained that the arm retracts and slides down the tower, and then the tower goes down and is wheeled out. I’d hate to be the guy who miscalculates the space needed to remove it!
As someone who has worked in an office and pushed paper for a living, I marvel at the men (very few women) who show up on a construction site and at the end of every day can see what they have accomplished. Every week or so, I express this to a group of workers as I pass, and they confirm their satisfaction with their jobs.
On the other hand, the July 19, 2023, NY Post has an article headlined, “CONSTRUCTION WORKER SUICIDE CRISIS: 4 TIMES HIGHER THAN GENERAL PUBLIC:
Construction workers cope with unique causes of stress,” said Doug Parker, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health for the US Department of Labor, in a statement. These mounting stresses include “uncertain seasonal work; remote work and job travel that keeps workers away from home and support systems; long, hard days … and the job-related risks of serious injuries,” Parker said.
These are well paid jobs, from skilled trades to laborers. But in this day of AI and computers, how many people do you know who want their kids to go into these professions? Who will do these jobs in the future, especially in view of such statistics?
Perhaps with the prohibitive cost of sometimes worthless college educations, more young people will see the light. Even disregarding well known billionaires without college degrees, there are plenty of people who have had fulfilling and rich lives working with their hands. Employers must try to figure out how to make these jobs less stressful.