People on the TV program “Dirty Jobs” look like they are having such a good time. They get constant feedback all day – cleaning a cement truck, picking up roadkill, catching bloodworms – so they know how they’re doing without having to be told. Did you know some of these people are millionaires?
As we continue to have soaring unemployment and too many people without employable skills, we must re-think what we value in work. We need to maintain the infrastructure to maintain and grow the lifestyle we expect. In each episode of “Dirty Jobs,” Mike Rowe reminds us, “They do the kinds of jobs that make civilized life available for the rest of us.”
Mike has set out to address the nation’s aversion to hard work, the steady decline in the trades and the skilled labor shortage that is crippling this country. “We have become disconnected from how things got made, focusing more on how things get bought.” His website, mikeroweWORKS.com, has partnered with other organizations to promote skilled labor in an attempt to fix what he calls “America’s dysfunctional relationship with work.” Not only is this a wonderfully fun website, there are thousands of links to resources, apprenticeships and scholarships across the country. Check out an interview with Mike Rowe. See his testimony in Congress.