Skilled trades are a must and that comes from training whether from a union or trade school. I believe in a top wage negotiated by collective bargaining [journeyman wage in skilled trades]. A beginning employee starts out at a percentage of that wage and receives a percentage increase after a set time and has demonstrated an increase in skills judged by an appointed journeyman in the workplace. If in the opinion of that journeyman the person has not advanced in skills, no raise is earned and continues at that wage until the person has proven otherwise. The top wage is then renegotiated each year. The more skilled and productive a pool of employees are in any industry has to be the business of that collective body union or otherwise. In the perfect world when a business needs an employee from that represented pool the employee shows up educated, skilled along with the necessary tools to do the job and guaranteed a fair living wage from the employer for it.
Theft of employees by competition is stopped in its tracks and bidding for production costs is not determined by how cheaply you can pay workers. That cost is level across the industry. Once a person takes a job he stays there and does not shop employers, if he quits he goes to the back of the line and waits to be sent out for another job.
I am sure you run your household by trying to pay the lowest rate possible for any good or service. If you are having a bathroom remodeled at your house would you pay a contractor $20k when there is someone equally qualified that would do the job for $18k? Also, would you pay $4 for a gallon of milk if a grocery store next door is selling it for $3? You wouldn't. Yet, you expect a business owner to do that very thing when it comes to labor. When you eliminate competition in the marketplace you reward complacency.