Chase Gallagher was 12 years old when he started mowing his neighbor’s lawn for $35 each. Initially he had just two clients, but after some aggressive flying – with the help of his mother – he had ten weekly clients by the following year.
Now 23 years old, he is part of a growing number of Gen Zers who are opting out of college. But—contrary to some baby boomers’ assessment of the generation—they’re not pottering around their parents’ homes avoiding work altogether. In fact, Gallagher and many others are picking up the tools and turning to traditional crafts.
“I just didn’t see what the ROI was in going to college,” says Gallagher Fortune. Instead, he put his efforts to scale his side hustle into a successful full-time business called CMG Landscaping. But, he says, it took “a lot of courage” to communicate that decision to his parents.
“Your whole life, from the age of six onwards, your parents tell yourself, ‘Hey, you’re going to college,’” Gallagher recalls how his future was seemingly mapped out for him. “It sounded great until I realized you have to pay for it.”
Even the students who choose to go to college choose differently. Enrollment at vocational community colleges rose 16% last year to the highest level since the National Student Clearinghouse began tracking the data in 2018.
Additionally, the same data shows that the number of students pursuing construction trades will increase by 23% in 2023 compared to the previous year, and the number of HVAC and vehicle maintenance and repair programs will increase by 7%.
The expectation is still to go to college – and Gen Zers don’t want to disappoint
When I was growing up, most of them were Gen Zers Fortune spoke admitted that they originally planned to go to college—not because they wanted to, but because it seemed like the right thing to do.
“I feel like people my age are still naturally expected to go to university – it feels like the next step everyone takes after school,” says Emily Shaw, a 20-year-old apprentice at British construction company Redrow. Fortune.
All the men in Shaw’s family have worked in construction since the 19th century. Now she is the first woman in the family to follow suit and set her sights on becoming a quality inspector.
“There is still the stereotype that obtaining a university degree guarantees and provides a well-paying job, but I quickly realized that this is not the case,” she added.
Similarly, twenty-year-old Luke Phillips had already enrolled in college when he decided it wasn’t for him.
“I didn’t really think about it,” he said Fortune. “From when I was young, it seemed like my focus was on college, all of school and then college.”
Phillips recalls being strongly encouraged to apply to universities in his final year of school – after all, it looks good when a high percentage of students make it to higher education – and then being swept up in the excitement of being accepted.
“I was only 18, I was still quite inexperienced in the world and didn’t really understand what other options were out there,” he says, adding that going to university was “a less frightening situation than being unemployed”.
So he did, before quickly changing his mind three months later.
Now Phillips has started learning to make jewelry at The Remarkable Goldsmiths in Dartmouth – and he feels like he “should pay for the privilege”.
“I now understand very well how to run a business and what it is like to work in a workshop,” he adds. “Not what teachers think it would be like, or what it was like ten years ago.”
Generation Zers don’t want to get into debt
Obtaining a degree has long been touted as a “must” for building a lucrative career. But today, Gen Z is acutely aware that the only guarantee that comes with a degree is debt.
“It’s a simple math to figure out why a young person would choose the trades industry over college,” says Gallagher, who lives in suburban Philadelphia. “Suppose you pay $50,000 a year for college.
“Quadrupled, that’s $200,000 for your investment. Plus, you lose four years of income-generating years by going to college, so you’re spending money and not making money.”
With some colleges charging as much as $95,000 this year, Gallagher thinks young people would be better off getting a head start on their careers by choosing a profession, building their wealth and trying to buy a home before their peers even graduate.
“Gen Z may be the most educated generation in history,” says Tobba Vigfusdottir, a psychologist and CEO of Kara Connect, a mental health and wellness platform for employees. Fortune. “They are also more concerned about their finances than previous generations, having experienced a number of financial crises on their way to the workplace.”
Thanks to TikTok — where countless college-educated millennials can be caught complaining that their salary isn’t high enough to move out of their childhood bedroom — Vigfusdottir adds that Gen Z knows many will never be able to afford their own home. even with a degree.
Social media has not only opened the eyes of Generation Z to the shortcomings of recent graduates, it has also given jobs in the trade sector a serious image boost.
“There was definitely a taboo on people going into the trade,” says Phillips, before quickly adding that those prejudices are long gone.
Instead, he notes that young people today tend to feel “jealous” of those who get their hands dirty, realizing that this is the path to both solid income and the freedom to be your own boss.
Moreover, they make banking transactions
By age 16, Gallagher had already earned more than $50,000 from his lawn mowing business before turning to general landscaping and hiring his “buddy Mike” to help after school and on weekends.
“I did more project-based work. Spring cleaning, mulching, leaf cleaning, things like that,” he says. “I had over 35 weekly lawn mowing customers.”
Now, Gallagher’s landscaping company has nine employees, does “everything from stormwater management and drainage work to paving and lighting,” and generated more than $1 million in revenue last year.
Yet some still try to convince him to go to college because that’s what “successful people” do. “It’s just not true,” he adds firmly. “You can still be a 1% income earner and own a trading company here in America.”
Although Gallagher earns significantly better than most Gen Zers Fortune Research shows that the average professional can still get a better-paying job than those who have just graduated.
According to data from payroll company ADP, the average salary for new hires in professional services is just over $40,000. Meanwhile, the average new construction starter can expect to take home more than $48,000.
Despite historically being male-dominated, Shaw emphasizes that women can also enjoy fruitful careers in the trading sector.
Redrow’s research found that 39% of young women working in the construction industry were tempted by the high pay, while a quarter were attracted by the opportunity to own their own business.
“There is more to construction than just laying bricks; there are so many opportunities for women to succeed, do well and make a difference to communities,” she adds. “In fact, most of the office I work in is made up of women.
“Girls of school age need to understand that a career in construction is possible.”
