Charlotte’s growing class of working stiffs, and proud of it

ZOLER CONSTRUCTION LLC

John Zoler, 19, is in a leadership position at Zoler Construction LLC, a Charlotte-based company started by his father.

The labor market needs blue collar workers.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employer compensation costs rose 3.4% over the past year, reflecting increases in both wages and employee benefits, and a possible connection to cost of living increases.

As costs spike, younger workers are searching for careers that provide faster entry and stable income without college education. Nearly half of the U.S. population is middle class, which Pew Research classifies as household income ranging between $56,600-$169,800 in 2022. As rising costs reshape what financial stability looks like, more people are turning toward hands-on industries.

“A lot of these businesses need people… it’s everywhere,” said Christian Alexander Foster, 25, a line cook at Burton’s Grill in Charlotte as well as an auto mechanic and studying for certification as a welder. “It’s not hard to teach a guy how to cook pasta or time fries. I just walked in, had the interview, got paid $14 an hour, and started to learn.”

Family circumstances led Foster to help provide for his family by working multiple jobs.

CHRISTIAN FOSTER

Christian Foster, a line cook at Burton's Grill in Charlotte, is also a mechanic and studying to earn welding certification.

“My grandpa died, and then my grandma she got dementia, and then my mom got cancer,” he said. “I grew up lower middle class, so in other words, just getting by. I wasn't ready for college.”

Foster, who has Asperger’s, a condition on the autistic spectrum, said he considers culinary work an art form and the kitchen works best when everything feels synchronized, although the fast-paced and unpredictable environment can sometimes be overwhelming.

Despite the challenges, Foster said he enjoys structure the job provides as well as relationships with his co-workers. 

Carlos Montalvo, a 20-year-old certified shop technician describes their typical day preparing tools, servicing forklifts, and painting. He says those skills translate to the project car he drives: a 2003 Ford Mustang.

“A really good day at work is probably when we’re completely busy and we have multiple forklifts that need to be done in a day,” he said. 

Montalvo recognizes how skill sets like problem solving and good memory allow him to work efficiently.

“My first preventive maintenance, pretty much you change all of the filters on the forklift — oil filter, transmission filter, diesel fuel filter, water filter — and I got it all done in one day,” he said. “Half the people who were working there before, it would usually take them three days.”

Montalvo understands college isn’t for him and he does best when physical tasks are involved. “It's a little bit harder for me to learn when it's through books and reading lessons rather than being hands-on and physically working on it,” he said. 

Nearly a quarter of Charlotte’s workforce is employed in transportation, production, construction, and repair-related industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Transportation occupations account for nearly 11% of the workforce, while construction and repair 4%, and food-service industries employ 9%.

Comparatively, white-collar occupations account for roughly a third of Charlotte’s workforce. These jobs are typically office-based or professional positions that rely less on manual labor and often provide salaried pay and benefits such as healthcare, retirement plans and paid time off.

John Anthony Zoler, 19, works at Zoler Construction LLC, the company his father started. Five years after joining the firm, the younger Zoler is in a leadership role at the family business, which specializes in “tilt up construction,” a type of carpentry involving steel work, warehouses, and commercial properties. The labor is intensive: workers carry 200-pound braces on each panel, and there are hundreds for each building,

“It's not for everybody,” Zoler said. ... “Right now, my shoulder is healing, because I had to carry some heavy braces for the panels that we poured today. And I hurt my finger really bad, but it’s fine.”

Zoler admits there’s a physical and mental toll of leadership but eventually discovered his most effective way to manage is “lead by example.” 

“I feel like [what] I’ve learned being in this business, and I don’t feel like the office job would provide…[is] learning experience.” he said. “That’s another reason why I chose to do what I do.”

A common misconception is blue-collar work means being stuck in the middle class. It’s seen as manual labor, but the reality is business, technical and leadership skills are required. 

“The only way that you can get out of that mindset is if you do work for your own company” Zoler said. “You’re going to earn more than an engineer if you actually put in the work and talk to clients to close deals.”

As the child of immigrants, Zoler said expanding the family’s business is tied to a larger goal: securing their future.

“That's what keeps me going,” he said. “I’m never going to leave my parents’ side. They’re always going to have my support and everything. I want to see my business boom. I want to see 15 company trucks, I want to see my projects, expanding my dreams coming true.”

Nohe Estala Mojica is an executive chef at Burton’s Grill. He previously left the kitchen to work in construction, but his passion for cooking eventually brought him back to the industry.

Mojica said he has no formal culinary education and instead worked his way up through years of hands-on experience in the kitchen.

His biggest challenge is scheduling labor based on the employees’ experience in the line and keeping within budget to meet quality standards.

“We get busy at dinner time. That’s totally a different game.” Mojica said, “so I definitely need two people for one station.”

During night shifts, volume is much higher, which requires more than one person per station. 

“When I’m short-staffed…I have to do multiple jobs.” Mojica said. “I’m in charge of making sure the plates are coming right. But when we’re short-staffed … I have to be on the line and wash the dishes at the same time.”

On the other side of food service, Shirley Bertha is cafeteria manager at Johnson C. Smith University, where students often refer to her as “Auntie” or “Granny,” a reflection of the relationships she’s built over 29 years. 

Despite her experience, Bertha said she still feels long-term workers do not receive the benefits they deserve.

“A lot of people have been here for years, and they don't get the seniority that they need to get,” she said. “I’m here 29 years. I don’t have the proper seniority that I’m supposed to have.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, projected aircraft mechanics job growth is 5%, which is faster than average with openings of 13,100 projected yearly.

“There’s a shortage of aircraft mechanics… and the economy is heavily dependent on jobs like these that cannot be replaced by AI,” said Christian Varnado, assistant director for career services at JCSU, citing examples such as plumbers and electricians.

“A computer is not going to [help] if you have a clogged toilet,” he said. “Good luck putting that in ChatGPT.”

There has been an overemphasis on four-year college degrees instead of trade school, leading to stigma against blue-collar work compared to office jobs. Varnado described a growing generational gap in blue-collar industries where experienced workers are approaching retirement while fewer younger workers entering the field.

“There aren’t enough people coming behind them to replace what's going to be lost in the future,” he said. “It’s going to have a true impact on how the economy as a whole is going to be able to survive.”

Varnado said the labor shortage is no longer affecting only local businesses, but major corporations that rely heavily on skilled trades and technical labor.

Corporations have acknowledged the growing shortage of skilled workers in trade industries.

In the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said blue-collar jobs are what helped build the country into what it is today. He recalled how a morning work shows the impact on the shortage. 

“We had 5,000 openings,” he said. “A bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it. $120,000 a job a year, but it takes you five years to learn it.

“We are not investing in educating a next generation of people” Farley said. 

Initially, high schools would include trade courses like electrician as an elective but in time, schools decided to get rid of them.

“When those types of curricula got pulled out of the school, you didn't have as many kids exposed to these careers,” Varnado said. “If you don't have enough electricians and plumbers to do the work, then that's just going to raise the cost of building.” 

Varnado takes an optimistic view in the younger generations for hands-on jobs, possibly for a change of pace from the emerging tech industry. Younger workers may begin looking for careers that feel more problem-solving oriented, “want to do something a little bit more hands on, solving problems that a computer cannot solve, or the AI cannot solve,” he said. “It could be more intriguing based on the fact that people just kind of want to do something new, where everything is not instant.” 

Foster and Montalvo said they are interested in pursuing welding, while Zoler is focused on expanding the family business.

“If somebody is thinking about doing blue collar, I think they should just do it,” he said. “If this doesn’t work out, then do something else that [you] have interest in, just a life lesson. Do what you love.”

Comments