Mike Rowe
Mike Rowe
@therealmikerowe·1.3M subscribers·644 videos

85% Jobs Are About To Change. What Happens Next? | Jason Altmire #481 | The Way I Heard It

Posted

April 30, 2026

Views

106,363

Likes

2,929

Comments

404

Engagement

3.13%

Search the Record

Indexed

Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.

Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.

Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line

Chapters

YouTube Description

as posted by the channel

85% of jobs are about to change, whether you’re ready or not. The question is, are you any good at the part AI can’t do?

In this episode, I chat with Jason Altmire—a three-term Congressman from Pennsylvania turned workforce advocate—who’s spent the last several years staring straight at a problem most of us would rather ignore. And trust me, it’s a big one. We’re talking about a country with millions of unfilled jobs, trillions of dollars in infrastructure on deck, and not nearly enough skilled people to do the work.

Meanwhile, we’ve got record numbers of college grads, many of whom can’t find jobs in their field, are buried in debt, or both. If that sounds like a paradox, it is. And Jason has the receipts.

We dig into the stigma that’s haunted the skilled trades for decades, the political and cultural forces that pushed “college for all” into overdrive, and the uncomfortable truth that we may have overcorrected ourselves into a corner. But this isn’t just doom and gloom. There are reasons for optimism because this is a problem we can fix.

From companies building their own trade schools to young people (and not-so-young people) reinventing themselves mid-career, there’s a quiet shift happening in this country. A shift toward what Jason calls “opportunity pluralism”—the idea that success doesn’t come from one path but many.

We also get into some tricky territory—unions, politics, education policy, and why common-sense solutions aren’t always so common. But through it all, one thing becomes clear: This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a practical one. If your lights go out, your toilets back up, or your air conditioning doesn’t work in the summer heat, you get bipartisan real fast.

If you’ve been told college is the best path for the most people, you might want to think again. Because the race is already on. And whether you like it or not, you’re running.

Check out Jason's book, Trade Up: Why the Future Belongs to Skilled Trades and How Career Education is Transforming the Workforce:

#podcast #job #skills

My foundation is awarding millions of dollars in work ethic scholarships to men and women willing to learn a skilled trade. Apply now at:

If you like me, and even if you don't, subscribe to my channels and follow me. Much obliged.

Guests & Subjects Covered

Jason AltmireaAnd JasonTrade Up WhyFuture BelongsSkilled TradesHow Career EducationWinn Claybaugh TheThe Jumpstart Bill The

Sentinel Indexing in Progress

Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.

All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.

85% Jobs Are About To Change. What Happens Next? | Jason Altmire #481 | The Way I Heard It · Mike Rowe · Sentinel