People think it is "below them" because they saw the people who went into white collar professions in their parents' generation come out ahead. Pay enough (and advertise the pay) and people's perception will change.
>But you would think it isn't even available - but it is.
Where are the job postings showing the pay and benefits? Why do the stats indicate the wages not increasing much?
>There's a career out there in modern manufacturing if they are willing to humble themselves.
The situation might have changed recently, but those jobs have definitely not paid sufficiently for the past few decades to make it a worthwhile investment. This is shown by definition, since they are complaining about lack of candidates for the job positions. If they paid appropriately and competitively, by definition people would have opted to work those jobs.
