Are office careers better than skilled trade jobs?

Poll: Most Americans don’t think that’s the case

By Clint Rainey |

Most Americans who heard Eric Adams say recently that “low-skilled workers” lack the academic skills to “sit in a corner office” probably winced at the New York mayor’s gaffe.

That is, if the findings from a new Fast Company-Harris Poll are any indication.

Asked if pursuing a trade career is ultimately any less promising than pursuing a white-collar office job, 65% of respondents said no, it isn’t. Around 1,000 people participated in the poll, which was conducted in December to check the pulse on national education issues. Among the respondents, women called trade and office jobs equally promising more than men did (70% versus 59%). Also, there were generational differences that broke down about as expected:

While 57% of 18- to 34-year-olds said trade jobs could be just as successful, it jumped to 80% for the 65-and-up crowd.

Those findings might surprise the Big Apple’s new mayor.

At a press conference on Day 4 on the job, Adams — a retired police officer — urged businesses citywide to resume in-person work at least for a couple days per week. He argued this move was necessary to “feed our financial ecosystem,” but his word choice could’ve perhaps been more elegant.

His point was seemingly that empty offices hurt New York’s economy because it relies heavily on hourly workers and other types of tradespeople, everyone from janitors and baristas to shoe shiners and dry cleaners. These workers cannot work remotely like the person in the corner office can, so they’re disproportionately hurt by office closures. Adams also added a little more context, telling CBS that critics are misconstruing his words: “I was a cook.

I was a dishwasher.”

Regardless of his intent, Adams’s way of putting it quickly caused a backlash.

Other findings from the poll indicate that Americans do broadly see education as a pathway to workplace success, even as it’s become more cost prohibitive for many who seek it out. Seven in 10 Americans say higher education’s growing costs prevented at least one family member or friend from pursuing education beyond high school. Additionally, a majority of the country (72%) believes that community college should be free, and 76% agreed that student loan forgiveness “would have a positive impact on most Americans.”

The results from one question do demonstrate the uphill cultural battle aspiring tradespeople face, however. Despite the overwhelming support for trade careers, only 9% of those polled said they expected their child to attend any kind of technical school; 53% predicted it would be a public or private university.

If your kids are sitting on a stash of gift cards they received over the holidays, my advice to them is to strike quickly and enjoy the shopping spree. After all, what kid doesn’t like spending gift cards?

But all too often, kids bury the cards in the sock drawer where they’re lost or forgotten for ages. Or, they’ve held on to the card so long that it’s expired or the store is no longer in business, which in the interest of full disclosure has happened to me a couple times.

There are also plenty of occasions where a gift card is socked away even though it has unredeemed funds.

“This is real money so don’t let it go to waste,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst with Bankrate.com and CreditCards.com.

A recent Bankrate survey found that about half of the adults surveyed — from millennials to baby boomers — are sitting on unused gift cards with an average value of $116. The respondents also acknowledged they’ve been holding onto store vouchers and credits for at least one year, amounting to about $15 billion in outstanding value altogether when added to gift card balances.

Moreover, about half of the consumers acknowledged losing gift cards, letting them expire or losing out because the merchant is no longer in business.

Among those ages 18 to 24 that comprise Generation Z, a troubling

46% said they had unused balances on gift cards, vouchers and store credits. Still, that was slightly better than their elders, particularly the 56% of millennials who reported having unused gift cards, vouchers and credits, according to Bankrate.

If your child has an unused gift card from a store he or she doesn’t like, consider selling it or trading it on gift card exchanges, such as CardHub, Raise and CardCash.

At CardCash, for example, gift cards can be purchased at a discount from the face value or sold for up to 92% of its value. Generally, you can even sell a partially used gift card.

I advise checking out several card exchanges to get the best price for your card.

If your kids don’t want to go that route, consider using it to buy a gift for someone else, or regift it to a friend or family member on a birthday.

Finally, parents encourage your child to donate an unused gift card to a favorite charity that can put the money to good use. For example, CharityChoice allows you to donate unwanted store and restaurant gift cards to your choice of about 1,000 participating charities.

Keep in mind that the federal Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which took effect in 2010, mandated that gift cards cannot expire for at least five years, and inactivity fees cannot be charged for at least the first 12 months from the purchase date.

The inactivity fee generally amounts to $2.50 a month until the card balance hits zero. Any purchases on the card will stop the inactivity fee from being charged for an additional 12 months.

Rossman said that some states have gone beyond the federal law by either banning inactivity fees altogether or prohibiting them for two years or more, although in practice, many — but not all — retailers have done away with expiration dates and inactivity fees.

Questions, comments, column ideas? Reach Steve Rosen at sbrosen1030@ gmail.com.