Yes Nutty, low pay is the problem and it all dates back to Tony Blair and his loony craze for universities. Our world-renowned Belfast Technical College (think of the skills which built the Titanic and other great liners and skilled craftsmen for Shorts) became a Polytechnic and then the New University of Ulster. Granted we have very successful IT graduates and research companies, but all too few apprentices in what used to be called the Trades. Nobody wants to be a grease-monkey or common LAE as I used to be.and now the country is paying the price.
We had to replace our gas boiler just before Christmas and we found a young chap who loved his job as plumber and then gas engineer. He said all his friends had gone to Uni for the gap year and the parties as he described it. One has a well-paid career ahead in IT, another is employed on video game design, the others are bicycle couriers or in MacJobs. On some gas installations he needs plastering, joinery or bricklaying work but has difficulty finding tradesmen to do it. Of the experienced tradesmen his firm used to engage, nine out of ten are due to retire in the next two years.
Aerospace manufacturing jobs are rightly valued, but where are the maintenance craftsmen to look after the products in service? I retired over 20 years ago and was still asked to return part-time for such tasks as duplicate inspections. These days I couldn't wriggle down a fuselage even if I hadn't lapsed my licences.