Workers take off white collar for craft jobs

PEOPLE are leaving banking and stressful white collar occupations to take up well-paid crafts jobs in the construction sector, a conference has heard.

Parents, schools and young people were also urged to look more seriously at careers in construction rather than focusing too much on the academic world.

About 7,000 young people start apprenticeships each year and up to 22,000 qualify in various crafts in a four-year cycle, the Irish Home Builders’ Association (IHBA) conference was told, in Killarney.