According to statistics released by the US Department of Labor today, the week ending Nov. 24, there were initial claims of 352,000, an increase by 23,000 over the previous week’s revised number of 329,000 claims. In unadjusted data, year over year there was virtually no change from last year’s claims.

For people in the trades, the news was generally not that bad. For example, layoffs in the auto industry in Michigan were down nearly 6500. California also had “fewer layoffs in the trade ands service industries” resulting in 5905 less claims. New Jersey’s 3,000 less claims were the result of “fewer layoffs in the transportation, warehousing, trade, service, and manufacturing industries.” Meanwhile, Texas was the only state with a comment on its increased claims, with “layoffs in the information [industry]” leading the way.

So what does it all mean? About a decade ago, high school guidance counselors wisely noted that it was a good bet for young people to go into computer and technology related careers. Many manufacturing jobs were all being shipped overseas. We’ve seen in the meantime, though, that that trend has turned and we now have a shortage of skilled labor while many software jobs have gone to cheaper laborers overseas. Alarms are being raised all over the country that the next decade will see high rates of retirement in trade-related occupations and not enough new bodies to fill the holes in the workforce.

Nothing’s guaranteed in life, of course, but it’s time to get the word out that trade school is a good bet, once again.