As unemployment in the US inches dangerously close to 10%-- there are actually some jobs that employers are struggling to fill.  In an age when many information jobs have been outsourced, there are openings for skilled trade workers in communities all over this country than there are qualified people to fill them. Employers are looking for applicants who have education and experience working with their hands—and those workers are getting harder and harder to find. Today, Where We Live, we’ll talk with two authors who’ve been pondering the meaning of work, trade and craft. They fear that in a rush to get high school student into college and so-called “knowledge careers,” we’ve steered many young people away from the realm of craftsmanship, where success is based on a straightforward responsibility for quality work.

Join the conversation. Have you ever experienced the satisfaction of creating or fixing something with your hands? Leave your comments below.

*This program originally aired on June 26, 2009.