New findings reveal high interest in trade roles amid expanding access to these positions
Office workers have considered leaving their jobs for a trade role in search of more meaningful work, but are being held back by expected pay cuts, according to a new report.
Findings from Kickresume's latest report revealed that 52% of employees have considered leaving for a trade, including 18% who think about it regularly.
Office employees who have considered the move came mostly from the engineering and manufacturing roles (64%), followed by those in business, management, and consulting positions (59%).
The same proportion of employees in marketing, advertising, and PR said they have also thought about moving to a trade role (59%), according to the findings.
The top trade career that office employees said they considered is in farming and agriculture (31%), followed by construction or building trades (11%) and landscaping or horticulture (11%).
Why are they considering trades?
Wanting a more meaningful or rewarding work has emerged as the top factor behind strong plans to move to a trade role, as cited by 23% of the respondents.
It comes as 87% of office workers open to leave said stress or burnout had made them question their career at some point, including 28% who started questioning office work within their first two years.
"The doubt isn't a mid-career crisis that builds over decades; it shows up fast and simply never fully goes away," the report read.
"The desire to leave, in other words, is widespread and largely emotional in origin – a response to how the desk job feels, before it's about anything a trade might offer."
The pay cut matters
Finances are barely a factor when it comes to a planned move to a trade role, according to the report.
Only 11% of office workers said they are considering a move to trades because they want to earn money.
In fact, 43% of office workers said an expected drop in salary once they move to a trade role is the top reason that's holding them back from actually doing it.
"Money doesn't pull people toward a trade. But it's the main thing keeping them from actually making the move," the report read.
"That's the real tension here. It's not that people are torn between meaning and money – they've already decided meaning wins. What holds them back is more practical: they can't afford the pay cut it would take to get there."
But if lost income was fully covered, the report found that 96% of office workers who are open to leave would switch.
More than half (54%) said they would do so immediately, another 42% said they would make the switch after serious consideration.
"That's the finding that reframes everything. It's not that people are unsure about the trades – they just can't afford to give them a try," the report read.
"The real barrier isn't the career itself – it's getting there. It's the pay cut on the way in, the years of retraining, and the gap before the new career starts paying off."
Growing trade opportunities
The findings come in the wake of growing opportunities in trade roles in the wake of a forecast warning that 2.1 million positions would be left unfilled by 2030.
The shortage may include around 130,000 electrical workers by 2030, and more than 350,000 new auto-technicians by 2029.
Google, Ford, BlackRock, and Carhartt recently announced a new alliance to expand access to skilled trades training.
Meta also recently unveiled a free workforce training programme focused on skilled trades, as part of its efforts to support the AI infrastructure boom.
