I've been saying and writing for a couple of decades now that the United States needs to move away from this stupid idea that "every kid should go to college." Not only are there plenty of kids out there who would struggle through the coursework, a sad but inevitable fact, but there is also a great need for skilled tradesmen; welders, pipefitters, carpenters, mechanics, and so forth.

These skilled trades are great, especially for young men. They are all honorable professions, providing value to the economy and the workers' fellow Americans. They are vital to our economy.

But Mike Rowe, of "Dirty Jobs" fame, warns us that the young men best suited to many of these jobs are increasingly just checking out of the workforce.

"There are able-bodied men in their working ages not only not working, but not looking," Rowe said during an interview on "Varney & Co." "That, to me, is one of the greatest alarm bells going on in the country. We've never seen that before, not in peacetime anyway."

Rowe pointed to research from economist Nicholas Eberstadt in his book "Men Without Work," who has long warned about the troubling trend. According to Eberstadt, more than 7 million men of prime working age have dropped out of the labor force entirely.

Rowe believes this problem is being made worse by a cultural overemphasis on traditional higher education, which he says steers people away from skilled trades, even as thousands of trade jobs remain unfilled.

Ay, there's the rub; Mr. Rowe agrees, this "every kid should go to college" nitwittery is hurting the American economy, and it's displacing a lot of young men.

Full disclosure: I have a bachelor's degree and an MBA myself, but I come from a long line of farmers, mechanics, and other working-class men.

The dropout is real:

A study from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) supports Rowe’s concern. It found that the share of U.S.-born men aged 16 to 64 not participating in the labor force has nearly doubled over the last six decades, from 11.3% in 1960 to 22.1% in 2024.

This, obviously, cannot continue. The very young men who should be the backbone of the American middle class, the American economy, of American industry, are checking out.

See Also: Joe Rogan and Mike Rowe Deliver Body Blow to MSM Over Being Replaced by X

Watch: Shipbuilding and the Trades: Senate Hearing Zooms in on Need for Skilled Tradesmen

If we are to complete the work of making the United States once more an economic superpower, we need to once more become a nation that makes things. Ships, great buildings, factories, automobiles, and much more. And to do that, we need young men-welders, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, young men with calluses on their hands and a satisfactory week's pay in their pockets. Young men like that built America's robust middle class, and young men like that will restore it. 

To get there, we need to do two things: Restore our emphasis on the trades and reduce the social safety net that has become a hammock; it shouldn't be easy for the able-bodied to get by unless they work. Incentives matter.

We can't Make America Great Again unless we Make the Trades Great Again.

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