Got lots of 65 year old factory or construction workers, do ya? And I’m talking about laborers, not supervisors etc.

Yes.

The oldest guy on our seniority list has had one job his entire life, he’s 72. He refuses to retire. The entire first page of seniority is guys in their 60’s. To be clear, if they’re on the seniority list, they’re not supervisors, they’re machine operators, welders, paint line guys, and tradesmen.

I, at 40, am one of the younger people in the building.

We recently started sucking up as many students as we could for the trades jobs because of how dangerously close to retirement most of the workforce is.

These jobs are not nearly as bad as people think. It’s not construction, which absolutely can and does destroy bodies. Factory work is engineered around being ergonomic and safe. If for no other reason than there simply isn’t the workforce available to replace people that leave young. But there’s actually lots of reasons. It’s legally required, it’s watched closelt by more than one federal agency (at least it WAS…). The factory literally can’t make money if these guys are getting injured all the time, and it’s way easier to make something safe to do than deal with constant injuries.