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level since World War II. Sixteen percent of Americans ages 16 to 24 are out of work, according to the Center for American Progress, a research and advocacy group based in Washington D.C. In Jeferson County, the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is two to three times that of the 40- and 50-something workers. Of the young people who are employed, many take positions they're overqualifed for. Somewhere a philosophy major just flled out an application at Walmart or Applebee's. Tose jobs generally pay less than or about $20,000 a year. Pop over to manufacturing? Entry level isn't much greater, about $25,000 a year. But complete some on-the-job training or community college courses and you could earn about $40,000. Get your associate's in applied science? Maybe $50,000. Complete a four-year degree in engineering? You're talking $70,000 plus. Inexperienced long haul truckers can earn close to $40,000. An electrician can enter a union apprenticeship and make a little less than $30,000 to start. After fve years of training that paycheck will likely double. Tese are recession-era jobs projected to increase. But interest seems absent. One morning sitting at a conference table at Jefersontown High School, the fve nth/works apprentices unanimously agree: teenagers resist the blue-collar professions now being vacated by Baby Boomers. "Tey're lazy," says Emily Holbert, a senior with long blond hair. "Honestly, you want my opinion?" ofers Geof Tomes, a senior with a shaved head, thick sideburns and a brillo pad goatee. His whole family has worked in manufacturing. "I think people are brainwashed into, like, you're not going to make something of yourself unless you go to college." Everyone nods. "I've learned that is completely wrong because I try to explain to some of my friends that want to be a lawyer, I say, 'Ok, think about this. When you're sitting in your ofce,'" he pauses. "Somebody had to build that. And that person's like me. Nobody in that feld would have what they have if it weren't for people like me." O nth/works has guaranteed her and the other apprentices a job should they want it. It will be entry level. But in a few years, as she completes training and earns industry certifcations, she could make $40,000, maybe $50,000 with overtime. Tis at an age when many of her collegegoing peers will face huge debt. Out of the dozens of Jefersontown High kids who applied for this apprenticeship, Salinas was among the few chosen. Sure, it's blue-collar work, a phrase often reduced to a euphemism for dull, manual labor; the best alternative for the lesser of mind. Tat's not how Salinas sees it. She gets frustrated talking about it. "You'll spend $50,000 going to college," she says. "And you'll be in debt until you're 70 or later. You'll have trouble paying it of with interest and all of that. I can do this. And get paid for what I love doing. It's a career." Te percentage of teens and young adults who hold jobs is at its lowest pen a welding textbook, and it's likely to frazzle the non-scientifc mind: electrode wire diameters, inverter voltage, chemical compositions, inert gases. Tere's a lot to learn. Seriously, page 482, question 10: "What weld time is required to obtain a class 'B' weld when resistance spot welding a 0.036" (0.91mm) piece to a .090" (2.29mm) piece?" Translation, please? Such knowledge once stirred reverence. James Stone is the director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education based at the University of Louisville. Back in the Middle Ages, he notes, craftsmen were honored. Membership into the masons or carpentry guild signaled high social status. And in Europe, some of that respect for manufacturing, construction remains. A tool and die maker in Switzerland is considered a professional. "We don't honor work in this country," Stone says. "We honor people who can get rich quick." A generalization, yes, but one that's hard to argue with. With great wealth comes celebrity, praise. More than that cultural critique, some two dozen people interviewed for this story say the plight of blue-collar work has sufered from this country's "college for all" mantra. "We have this thing that if you're a college graduate, you're so much superior to everybody," says Metro councilman Stuart Benson, who taught welding and machining for 28 years. He's quick to add that for many young folks college leads to great prosperity, fulfllment. "But nobody's superior to anybody," Benson says." If you've got a job, you're important." Tat's a nice sentiment. But the blue-collar stigma won't shed easily. And the rhetoric can be confusing. For instance, on one hand, Mayor Greg Fischer and Greater Louisville Inc., the city's chamber of commerce, want Louisville to emerge as a manufacturing hub. Tey often tout the good-paying jobs that require less than a four-year degree. But Louisville's high-profle 55,000 Degrees initiative, aimed at improving college completion, focuses primarily on the attainment of bachelor's degrees. 7.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 61