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Plumbers bask in post-pandemic demand boom, data shows

Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest on inflation and where prices are not rising.

Video transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: And, I mean, prices rising not necessarily a huge problem as long as wage-- wages rise in kind, which has not been the historical trend here, Rick. But when we dig into it, one subset of workers at least seeing a bit of a boost in terms of their wage-- depending on where you look in the country-- that would be plumbers. I know there was a short supply of them in Texas after that energy outage and cold front that we had, but what are we seeing when we look into the way the plumbers might be making a bit more in today's day and age?

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah the eye- popping figure here is there's a new study from a trade group that finds that in at least two markets-- and these are both in Illinois-- plumbers are now earning over $100,000 a year. And anybody who's ever tried to hire a plumber may not be terribly surprised by that, because it is hard to find plumbers, period, and it's hard to find good plumbers.

So what seems to be happening is we've got a construction boom, everybody wants to do a DIY project and remodel their house. That's what people been spending their money on for the last year, and there just haven't been enough plumbers. And I think the same is probably true for carpenters and roofers-- I think are in short supply. So what is supposed to happen is when there's a shortage of these kinds of specialties, pay goes up and that drives more people into these professions and helps settle the shortage problem. Of course, you need some training, it's going to take a while. So it's going to be some time before we really straighten out these various kinks in the economy.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah that's a good point. It's going to be interesting to see how quickly some of those prices go up--

RICK NEWMAN: I'm happy for the plumbers.

AKIKO FUJITA: --or how sustainable those prices are.

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah I mean, they are sustainable for the time being, I think, because just look at the demand for-- for housing, to purchase homes. I mean, lower interest rates have led to a surge there, and then people have just been spending a ton of money to fix up their homes. Now as people go out more, they start to spend their money on travel, it's probably reasonable to think that people will spend less fixing up their homes. But, you know, we're not all running out the door to go back to the way it used to be-- we're sort of putting one foot out the door. So this transit-- this transition back to normal is going to take a while.

ZACK GUZMAN: Indeed. Rick Newman bringing us the latest there, including six figure pay for plumbers. Appreciate it.