> Why would anyone pick items off a list for minimum wage when they could make six figures in the trades?
Because there aren't enough high-paying jobs, and who gets which job often comes down to luck (in the best case), and favoritism (in the worst case). Sometimes jobs require expensive prerequisites that reflect access to finance rather than just skill or merit
It's obviously more complicated than that—the situation involves the whole pipeline from child to working adult—but not by a whole lot.
Because there aren't enough high-paying jobs, and who gets which job often comes down to luck (in the best case), and favoritism (in the worst case). Sometimes jobs require expensive prerequisites that reflect access to finance rather than just skill or merit
It's obviously more complicated than that—the situation involves the whole pipeline from child to working adult—but not by a whole lot.