Gen Z Ditches Tech for Trades: The 'Toolbelt Generation' Emerges as AI Reshapes Careers

The Rise of the Toolbelt Generation

As artificial intelligence transforms the workplace, a growing number of young people are turning to blue-collar and skilled-trade jobs as a faster, debt-free path to building a career.

Photo by: Scripps News graphic

Erika Miguel, for example, left the tech world behind for free training in upholstery, an industry short on skilled workers.

"I wanted to work with my hands, I wanted to be more creative," Miguel said. "When I was working in tech, I felt like I was just a cog in the wheel."

Chris Anderson, general counsel at Rayburn Electric Cooperative, whose front line includes lineworkers, power plant operators and field technicians, said the economy and technology are pushing more young people to the company's apprenticeship program.

"You're being paid while you're being trained. You're doing the work. You're getting an income," Anderson said, "and you're getting great benefits. You're starting your investment in your own future very, very early on."

Why Gen Z is Choosing Trades Over Tech

Dubbed the "toolbelt generation," more than half of Gen Z workers, 53%, are seriously considering blue-collar or skilled trade work, according to a survey by the career site Zety. In the survey of 1,000 Gen Z workers, 65% said a college degree won't protect them from AI-related job loss.

"Young people are looking at this and saying, 'Hey, if I go to school for four years and I get out, where is AI going to be?'" said Matt DiBara, co-founder of The Contractor Consultants, a construction hiring service.

DiBara said Gen Z's interest is welcome, with older generations of workers on the path to retirement.

"What keeps me up at night is the statistic that 40% of the workforce is expected to retire in the next decade," DiBara said. "They're the ones who have put in 15, 20 years, 20 years plus in the trades. And they're the ones that pass down the knowledge."

The Changing Perception of Blue-Collar Work

Lisa Countryman-Quiroz, CEO of JVS in the Bay Area, a nonprofit that trains job seekers, points out that choosing the trades early doesn't shut the door for a future education.

"College can always be there for you," Countryman-Quiroz said. "You may be better informed about what you really want to do after you've done some other kinds of work out in the world. That's a possibility."

DiBara agrees that skilled trades can serve as a stepping stone to other opportunities.

"You can wake up having put three, four, five years into a hands-on side of a trade and then say, 'You know what? I want to move into management, or I want to move into estimating, or sales,'" DiBara said.

Experts agree the stigma long associated with blue-collar work is fading, helping to attract new workers to companies like Rayburn.

"Blue-collar work is not shunned. It's very well-paying, good jobs, good people," Anderson said.

The Pandemic's Impact on Career Choices

The pandemic accelerated this shift. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that trade school enrollment grew about 5% from 2020 to 2023. During that same span, undergraduate enrollment fell nearly 1%.

For Miguel, learning the ropes in upholstery is building life-long skills and independence.

"I wanted to support myself in a way that I didn't know was possible before," she said.