Skilled Trades Defy the College Enrollment Decline. NewsWire

NewsWire: 4/22/22

• Enrollment in two-year skilled trades programs is booming. Their fortunes are rising as enrollment at four-year colleges and community colleges continues to fall. (NPR)
  
• NH: Two-year colleges have borne the brunt of declining enrollment in higher ed, with enrollment down more than -14% compared to two years ago. (See “College Enrollment Continues to Fall.”). But program-specific data show that not all fields are shrinking. While enrollment in majors like English and the physical sciences has fallen sharply, two-year programs in skilled trades are booming. 
• From 2019 to 2021, enrollment in two-year agriculture and agriculture operations programs surged by +38% nationally--by far the largest increase of any community-college program. Enrollment in construction trades programs grew by +5%, while architectural programs were up by +4%.
• Over the same period, enrollment in nearly every other type of community-college program--including business, social sciences, communications, health professions, and law enforcement--declined.

• We first discussed the return of the skilled trades all the way back in 2015 (see "Voc-Ed Makes a Comeback"). The combination of the pandemic, a hot job market, the recent relative jump in noncollege wages, and continually rising college costs have only served to make traditional schooling even less appealing. Much of the recent growth in the skilled trades has happened since the pandemic started. In fall 2021, for instance, enrollment in construction trades jumped nearly +18% YoY. Precision production, which includes metalworking and leatherworking, increased by just under +10%. Mechanic and repair technologies was up by +7%.
• In our last piece about declining college enrollment, I speculated that more young people might end up passing on higher ed altogether in favor of getting a job. These numbers paint a more nuanced picture in which those who are still attending two-year programs are increasingly diverting their efforts to those with strong job prospects and good pay. Traditional four-year degrees, along with two-year degrees that lead to four-year degrees, are losing their luster. But the skilled trades are looking better than ever.