Careers in Skilled Building Craftsmanship

The Wall Street Journal has reported that brick and stone masons have seen their earnings increase by 45% since 1997, a rate outstripping lawyers, accountants, truck drivers, doctors, machine operators and all other professions (page B1 graph, September 13, 2005). The skilled trades are in demand.

Unemployment is high in some areas of Richmond in part because Richmond’s manufacturing base has eroded, as it has in America generally. The manufacturing sector of the economy had employed people gifted with working with their hands. The decline of manufacturing coupled with the lack of educational opportunities for developing advanced skills in the building trades left many people without career options, despite the great need for skilled craftsmen in historic preservation and new traditional construction.

Careers in the skilled trades pay well and just as importantly are deeply meaningful. There is great pride in the physical work and craftsmanship involved. In the wonderful buildings and structures they create, skilled craftsmen make a profoundly lasting contribution to society.