Dr. Phil McGraw, of the “Dr. Phil” show, and I don’t agree on everything. Sometimes his theatrics even remind me of the ridiculousness that appeared on shows such as “Maury” and “Jerry Springer.” With that said, he can be insightful and compelling. He’s not afraid to call it as he sees it.

A few months ago, Dr. Phil hosted an episode titled “The Great Labor Crisis: No Workers, No Future.”

Five guests joined him. The first was a Gen Z digital marketer who had tried the electrical trade for three years before quitting. The kid’s main concern — stemming from comments that co-workers had made — was the long-term physical damage his body may endure from a career in the trades. To be honest, there’s a grain of truth in that. We do need to take care of ourselves in this business, especially our joints.

Anyway, the kid said he quit the trade because whenever he got on TikTok or Instagram, he saw professional gamers (yes, people play video games professionally) making a million dollars a year. That’s like quitting your job to pursue a career in the NFL. To say the least, the kid was out of touch. 

Dr. Phil’s second guest was a Gen X lawyer; a litigator, to be specific. While this guy was more level-headed, he certainly believed that white-collar careers offered a lot more promise for young individuals than blue-collar careers. You could tell the man simply didn’t have any experience with successful tradespeople, though he claimed that he had “worked construction” at one point in his life.

It was during this early part of the conversation that Dr. Phil used a term I’d never heard before: “intellectual snobbery.” I like it. 

I believe that tradespeople receive more respect today than they did 20 years ago, but there’s still some intellectual snobbery out there. I find it’s most likely to come from someone with a bunch of letters behind their name. I’m painting with a broad brush here, but the longer someone spends immersed in academia, the more likely they are to look down on folks who decided not to spend their 30th birthday defending a thesis.

Of all the guests on the show, the lawyer was one of the biggest critics of the skilled trades. What I found ironic is that lawyers will likely be some of the first professionals to lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI). Everything I’ve read about AI stealing jobs indicates that legal professionals will be early on the chopping block. Anyone can use ChatGPT to draft a legal contract in a matter of minutes. 

One of the other guests drove this point home by saying, “AI isn’t coming to fix your broken house. You need a trained professional for that.”

The next two guests were trade advocates. One was the owner of a large plumbing firm in Dallas. He was also Gen X. This gentleman tired of the wage argument, and when the lawyer said that surgeons make between $600,000 and $900,000, the plumber simply quipped, “That would be a pay cut for me.”

Nicely played. Obviously, pulling seven figures isn’t common in our industry, but it can be done, and it’s indicative of how far a driven tradesperson can go with hard work, solid decision-making skills and some luck. 

The other tradesman joining the conversation was a Millennial. He was a general contractor and concrete contractor. He pointed out that yes, the money can be very good, often breaking six figures, but more importantly, the job is rewarding. If you’re the type of person who likes working with your head and your hands, solving problems, creating things and helping people, the skilled trades could be a great path.

This same contractor was also quick to bemoan the fact that, given the slim talent pool, his company has been forced to hire anyone with a pulse. He explained that as a result, his crew includes more than a few employees with substance abuse issues. Seven of his 25 company trucks were totaled last year due to drug and alcohol issues.

The final guest was a 22-year-old woman who was so out of touch with reality it was hard to watch. She’d never held a job, planned never to hold a job and was extremely concerned about her fingernails. 

As soon as she landed in Dallas, the aforementioned plumber picked her up and took her to a mock jobsite. He asked her to dig a 25-inch-deep hole (which she didn’t complete) and fish some toilet paper out of a commode. It was a bit dramatized, but it illustrated the point. Some people couldn’t possibly handle a job in the trades.

Awareness is the first step

With those five guests onstage, the conversation proceeded as you’d imagine. Dr. Phil hit the nail on the head when explaining to the audience that there’s a dire need for skilled labor, but he missed the mark by not giving the two tradesmen enough time to elaborate on the opportunities available in the skilled trades. 

The guests opposed to the trades got more airtime than the two business owners, and the argument failed to make an impact, in my opinion. If I’d been watching the show as a senior in high school, it certainly wouldn’t have convinced me to learn more about the trades. 

With all that said, Dr. Phil’s episode brought, at the very least, awareness to people who otherwise might not have known about the skilled labor crisis.

The episode had a couple of great quotes that I tucked away for another day:

“The skilled trades aren’t for everyone, and neither is college.”

“The trade market is a target-rich environment.”

[If you’re worried about being judged for pursuing a career in the trades] “Forget about being judged by people still living in their parents’ basement.”