2025-12-29
11 分钟The Economist Hello, Alice Fullwood here.
Co-host of Money Talks, our weekly podcast on markets, the economy, and business.
Welcome to Editors Picks.
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Jacob Palmer knew little about skilled manual jobs growing up,
save that they were dirty, sweaty and definitely seemed like lowbrow.
But it took only a year of remote learning during the Covid pandemic for Mr Palmer,
who grew up in North Carolina, to realise that university wasn't for him.
He dropped out after his freshman year,
spent the next two years training as an apprentice electrician and started his own business in 2024.
Though just 23 years old, he now has a warehouse,
a pickup truck and a YouTube channel with more than 33,000 subscribers who watch him fix devices ranging from smoke detectors to Tesla chargers.
He expects to generate $155,000 in revenue this year, of which 10% will come from YouTube.
Mr Palmer lists the advantages of becoming an electrician.
You get paid pretty well to do it.
You get paid to learn to do it.
And it creates massive job security at a time when many young university graduates are anxious about artificial intelligence,
or AI, replacing entry-level white collar workers.
Mr Palmer doesn't worry about that.