Is Gen Z Trading Laptops For Tool Belts?
Finishing your education?
You’ll be wanting a degree, an office with a desk and a laptop then!
You say you don’t want them?
Oh.
Gen Z is moving from white collar jobs and to the trades.
They are doing so in enough numbers for it not to be a fleeting TikTok trend.
42% of Gen Z adults are either working in or pursuing a blue-collar or skilled trade job.*
The number of apprenticeships is on the rise (including those at degree-level).
And then the biggie
a third of graduates are in roles that don't require a degree (Graduate Labour Market Statistics 2024).
That’s not just Gen Z graduates of course, but it includes them and the poor job market has amplified the issue.
Painfully high levels of student debt has only added to the uncertainty created by a failing economy and AI impacting on early career white collar jobs. Amongst other factors.
As I wrote in The Snowflake Myth, most of this was unthinkable for my generation.
But it was also unthinkable that employers in construction, manufacturing, logistics and beyond could be presented with a recruitment opportunity like this.
Do you know how to seize it?
Here's four aspects to consider.
* A US figure but the UK market is following a similar pattern. BAE Systems research in 2025 showed that 6 in 10 young people now prefer apprenticeships to university.
TL;DR
6 in 10 UK young people now prefer apprenticeships to university. A third of graduates are in roles that don't require a degree. This isn't a rejection of ambition — it's pragmatism. For employers facing skills shortages, this is the recruitment opportunity of a generation. But only if you know how to seize it.
1. Let the economics do the talking
The single biggest driver of this shift is money.
More precisely, it is the absence of it.
Gen Z has watched Millennials graduate with enormous debt and struggle to get on the housing ladder. They have done their own maths about the deposits they need.
At current salary levels it is a mountain to climb with or without a degree.
A trade can offer a young professional another way to build a life.
I’m not going to go back on what I used to say when I ran schools. The lifetime earnings from a degree are far greater. It is also true that much of the difference comes towards the end.
Trade apprenticeships offer a fundamentally different equation. You earn while you learn, qualify with transferable certifications and avoid the student debt trap entirely.
Starting salaries for trade apprentices in the UK sit between £18,000 and £25,000, rising to £40,000 or more once qualified. Entry-level office roles are similar but face growing AI disruption risks.
For a generation that chooses financial stability over enjoyment by two to one (according to Deloitte), the trades are simply a more rational bet.
The Gen Z without degrees who cite earning income sooner as their primary motivator are not lacking ambition. They are responding to economic reality with their eyes wide open.
Your job as an employer is to tell the story for them, with genuine examples of young professionals and what they have earned over time.
Don’t make the choice for them. Simply lay the information out and help them make the most informed decision.
2. AI is making physical skills the safer bet
You cannot automate a sparky fixing a fuse box. Not yet anyway.
Yet generative AI threatens entry-level white-collar roles in copywriting, coding and administration.
Manual trades offer a fortress of job security that no algorithm can breach.
Large numbers of Gen Z workers already believe, and have experienced, AI will replace some of their job functions, and they are adjusting course accordingly.
This is not irrational fear.
It is the kind of pragmatism born of necessity that I describe as a defining Gen Z characteristic in The Snowflake Myth.
They have grown up watching industries transform overnight and have concluded that physical skills are the one thing a chatbot cannot replicate.
For employers in trades and construction, this is your competitive advantage.
Lean into it. Make clear in your recruitment messaging that these are careers built on skills no machine can replace.
That is exactly the kind of security Gen Z is looking for.
3. The degree premium has evaporated
I will repeat one of the statistics from earlier.
A third of graduates are in roles that don't require a degree.
These are not people who could not get into university. It includes plenty of Gen Z who went, graduated and then concluded that the trades offered a better deal.
In The Snowflake Myth, I documented how degree classifications improved dramatically across the 2010s, with first-class degrees almost doubling. Yet outcomes for graduates have not kept pace. The overqualified and underemployed graduate has become a stereotype for a reason.
The job market is shockingly poor right now, but it is not even across every industry.
The stigma around vocational work is fading because the evidence no longer supports the old hierarchy. In the UK, apprenticeship starts at degree level (Level 6 and 7) grew to 60,350 in 2024/25, representing one in six of all starts.
The line between academic and vocational pathways is blurring in ways that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Smart employers are already noticing.
Don’t tell them that a degree is not worth it. Say that increasingly Gen Z is deciding that for themselves and this is why.
What’s more, those who opt for a trade are not cutting themselves out of degree study or white collar work down the line. The business they have established can continue out of hours as need be as the side hustle.
4. Recruit where they actually are
If your recruitment strategy for entry-level trade roles involves LinkedIn job, newspaper adverts with a side helping of ‘my mate says he knows someone’, you have already lost.
Gen Z lives on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
That is where you need to be.
This generation trusts peer-to-peer content over corporate polish.
A 30-second video of an apprentice explaining how they diagnosed a fault is worth more than ten pages of glossy brochure copy.
Take a look at @electricianluke and consider what his hundreds of thousands of followers can do for recruitment in that area.
The more corporate it looks, the less authentic you will present. You don’t always have to get it right. The point is to give a transparent and accurate representation of the role.
In The Snowflake Myth, I wrote about how Gen Z has grown up with the concept of the social media influencer who did not rely on long-established forms of media to build a mass audience.
They apply the same filter to employers. Show the day-to-day reality. Show the technology. Show the team. You might even show the banter (but show someone else before you post!)
But if you don’t show at all, you will not stand out as a potential employer of choice.
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If you’re responsible for early careers talent, take a look at Gen Z Coach.
Have you ever invested in early-careers training that should be working - but somehow isn’t landing?
Have you noticed strong content, good facilitators, and well-intended programmes… yet confidence, communication, and day-to-day behaviours don’t really shift?
Or found yourself thinking: we’re doing the right things, but it’s not quite connecting with our early-career talent?
If that sounds familiar, it’s worth knowing about Gen Z Coach.
Gen Z Coach is a multigenerational training and consulting business that works directly with early-career professionals, helping organisations get the best out of their young workforce by developing the human skills needed to succeed at work.
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Remember that
• The Gen Z blue-collar shift is driven by economics, not apathy. They have done the maths, and would prefer you had done the same.
• Transparency is non-negotiable. List the pay, progression timelines and qualifications earned. Gen Z will not apply for a role wrapped in corporate vagueness. If your site manager started as an apprentice, that story should be the centrepiece of your recruitment.
• Multigenerational teams are your competitive advantage. The 60-year-old with trade knowledge and the 20-year-old with digital fluency are stronger together than apart. Invest in reverse mentoring programmes and cross-generational collaboration. It will not happen by accident.
• Culture beats compensation. Mental health support, genuine purpose and respectful workplace norms matter more than a slightly higher hourly rate.
FAQ
1. What UK apprenticeship schemes are most popular with Gen Z?
T-Levels and Level 3 apprenticeships in construction, engineering and electrical trades lead applications, with over 28,000 starts in 2023 per DfE data. These offer paid training and NVQ qualifications without university debt. Degree-level apprenticeship starts surged by over 40% in 2024/25 to 60,350.
2. How can UK employers handle generational clashes on site?
Implement regular cross-generational knowledge sharing and clear workplace conduct guidelines aligned with HSE standards. Reverse mentoring programmes, where younger and older workers teach each other, can cut turnover by up to 25% according to CIPD surveys on multigenerational teams.
Alex Atherton is an award-winning Gen Z speaker and generations expert who helps organisations navigate multigenerational workplace challenges. Author of The Snowflake Myth, he specialises in Gen Z recruitment and retention, and leadership development.
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