Mike Rowe & the Downtown Raleigh Home Show’s Commitment to Skilled Trades

Jan 16, 2020, 22:59 PM

Some guests may have noticed a familiar face in the ads for the Raleigh Home Show - Mike Rowe, best known as the creator and host of Dirty Jobs. This ad campaign is all part of the show’s partnership with skilled-trade advocate Mike Rowe and the mikeroweWORKS Foundation.

The show has partnered with Mike and his foundation, the mikeroweWORKS Foundation to help bring attention to a challenge facing the home improvement industry: the widening skills gap and need for more students to pursue a career in skilled trades.

Mike wrote a popular article for Parade magazine on the topic he’s so passionate about, and below are some of the highlights:

Here’s the truth: The majority of jobs currently available today do NOT require a four-year degree — they require training. And many of these same jobs offer a salary that can grow much faster than vocations that require the assumption of a massive student loan. And yet, millions of students are systematically discouraged from pursuing these opportunities. Parents and guidance counselors still cling to the notion that anything short of a four-year degree will lead to some sort of vocational consolation prize.

This is the great, underlying fiction that’s allowed the skills gap to widen. It’s the reason vocational arts have vanished from high school, even as those same vocations now go begging. It’s the reason we now hold more than 1.3 trillion dollars in student loans. And it’s why we continue to lend money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back, educating them for jobs that no longer exist.

We have to stop elevating one form of education over all the others, and begin treating all jobs for what they truly are—opportunities.

There are several ways the show is helping put the spotlight on the Triangle’s skilled trades gap. First, Sunday, January 26, 2020 is Trade Day. Complimentary admission on Trade Day to those employed in a skilled trade, members of a trade organization, or students enrolled in a vocational school, with ID at the box office. Additionally, show vendors who are currently hiring will be display clearly marked signage detailing the jobs available.

Want to learn more about the mikeroweWORKS foundation and partnership with the show? Visit www.ralieghhomeshow.com.