"A cultural shift was needed on the job sites-not only in the minds of the workers, but also in the physical layout of a site. It may sound trivial, but placing two porta-potties at a build site instead of just one that everyone uses-measures like that are important for developing an inclusive culture."
I can honestly say that if I was 18 now, there is no way I would go to university only to leave with huge debts and poor job prospects. Instead, I would become an electrician or similar trade.
One of my favorite movies is Good Will Hunting. Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon) is a 20-year-old janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he works a blue-collar job, he is secretly a self-taught genius with an extraordinary gift for mathematics and an exceptional memory. One day, he anonymously solves a complex math problem left on a chalkboard by Professor Gerald Lambeau, astonishing the faculty.
Engineering jobs often require rigorous coursework if not a higher degree, and the scarcity of qualified engineers means employers are willing to pay high wages. Notably, the engineering field with the lowest mid-career median wage is still in the six-figure range.
Cuts that hurt are obvious: layoffs, program closures, college closures, furloughs, deferred maintenance, pay freezes, travel freezes, etc. It's a well-worn playbook at this point. Most of the moves in this category involve either attacking employee compensation, which causes obvious pain, or putting off necessary investments and living with gradual declines in quality.
According to federal data, 24 percent of New York adults are at the lowest levels of literacy, defined by the advocacy organization Literacy New York as being either functionally illiterate (reading below a fifth grade level), lacking a high school diploma, or being unable to speak English. That same data shows Brooklyn and Queens rates are roughly ten percent higher than the state average, and in the Bronx, a whopping 50 percent of adults do not have basic literacy skills.
Business Insider looked at wages and growth projections for jobs that usually need a high school diploma, its equivalent, or a postsecondary nondegree award. We then took the geometric mean of the ones that pay at least $75,000, based on 2024 median annual wage data, and are expected to need more workers, based on projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034. We then ranked the jobs, with the larger the geometric mean, the better the rank.
Job insecurity is real: More than half of American workers (54%) say insecurity about their job is causing significant stress at work, while more than a third (39%) say they worry they about losing their job due to changes in government policies, according to the American Psychological Association's 2025 Work in America survey. Layoffs are reportedly at an all-time high since 2009, along with the lowest hiring on record in the U.S.
Young people are "experiencing higher education differently, and that is shaping much of what parents are saying," said Lammers. "[Parents] are reacting to the questions their children are asking and trying to find the best way to help them navigate the next steps."
