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The next generation of American millionaires will be plumbers and electricians, not from Silicon Valley. That’s according to Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, the company considered the most valuable today because of their role in producing the most advanced microchips needed in the AI revolution.
The AI boom, according to Huang, isn’t only dependent on software engineers but also on those who physically build and maintain the data centers. As data centers rapidly expand, electricians, plumbers and carpenters are needed for support.
For high school graduates worried about the increasing number of unemployed college graduates and those replaced by AI, consider that the work of plumbers, electricians and carpenters are AI-proof.
Huang said society had overvalued four-year degrees while undervaluing vocational training, which is now essential for the AI-driven economy.
Huang suggested that young people should consider skipping traditional college degrees and be plumbers, electricians and carpenters instead.
Even in the automotive industry, an industry that is over a hundred years old, Huang’s concern is shared.
Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, warned that America is in trouble because of a scarcity of qualified workers. Ford has 5,000 mechanic jobs paying $120,000 a year they can’t fill.
According to Yahoo Finance, Farley, like Huang, blames the problem on a systemic shortage of training and education for skilled trades.
Says Farley: “The pipeline feeding those hands-on roles has eroded – and the consequences go far beyond economics. God forbid we ever get in a war, Google’s not going to be able to make the tanks and the planes…”
China too. The Economist, in its recent issue, reported that “China has too many university grads and too few jobs for them.”
China Youth Daily, a state-owned newspaper, quoted an education-ministry researcher calling for a rethink of values that have resulted in “an oversupply of diplomas and a shortage of skills.”
Many smart young graduates are struggling to find work and these include those with impressive qualifications, The Economist reports.
The Economist continues: “Company bosses complain that they are finding it difficult to hire staff with the skills they need.”
The Chinese Communist Party, The Economist reports, accepts that “China is going to need brilliant scientists and engineers if it is to dominate technologies of the future.
“But it also recognizes that it will need a big army of technicians to keep all its robots, data centers and precision equipment running.”
The Economist visited Hangzhou Technician Institute where more than 6,000 students aged between 14 and 20 are learning how to operate drones, manufacture rare-earth magnets and maintain electric vehicles and industrial robots.
“Every year Shao Weijun, its boss, asks more than 600 Chinese firms to forecast their demand for different skills; their answers alter what courses his institute chooses to run. He says almost all his students leave with good jobs.”
In December 2024, China’s education ministry announced it was creating 40 new vocational courses for learners at various levels, to improve the skills of workers, particularly those “urgently needed for industrial development” in fields such as the “low-altitude economy” (drones, flying taxis and the like).
China has also started to send some university graduates back to school, in the hope that they will emerge with more marketable skills.
The mismatch between graduates’ qualifications and available jobs had also been a significant and persistent problem for us in the Philippines.
Employers report that many graduates lack the necessary technical, digital and soft skills (e.g., problem-solving, communication) for in-demand roles in industries like IT, manufacturing and construction.
Our education system often focuses more on theory and memorization than practical and technical skills like teamwork, problem-solving and digital competencies required by employers.
Studies by PIDS indicate that around 40 percent of employed Filipinos are overqualified for their current jobs, possessing academic credentials theoretically beyond what the role requires.
The June 2025 Labor Force Survey by the Department of Labor showed a 2.6-percentage-point increase in the number of unemployed college graduates from 35.6 percent in December 2024.
Our situation is such a pity because we should be reaping the so-called demographic dividend as our working-age population is now larger than the dependent population (children and the elderly).
This should have created a window of opportunity for economic expansion through increased workforce participation, savings and the development of human capital. But our government miserably failed to prepare our people with the right skills.
Capitalizing on this demographic dividend requires strategic investments in areas like health, education and economic policies. None of which we did well. We poured trillions on pork barrel and ghost flood control projects.
Hopefully, since we are in a crisis today, DepEd, CHED and TESDA will more competently prepare our workforce to be gainfully employed. We need to multiply what the Don Bosco Technical Schools have been doing for decades.
For those thinking of going to college, don’t sell the family carabao for a diploma. Invest not in a piece of paper but in learning the skills that our fast-moving tech environment requires.
And for the sake of love of country, don’t be a lawyer. We have a surplus of them and they don’t contribute much to GDP growth. They produce the convoluted bureaucratic rules that produce red tape and keep the country from moving faster.
And yes, they are also why we can’t quickly confiscate the obvious (even confessed) loot and jail the bastards who are robbing our treasury blind. That’s also why, according to Gen. Jose Almonte, we have the best justice system that money can buy.
China progressed tremendously over the last 50 years because they have been led mostly by engineers. The legacy of engineer-led governance has deeply shaped modern China’s development approach. They have a plan for the country’s economic growth and they pursue it systematically.
Ours is more fun but the resulting mess we are in today is not funny.
Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco
