The late, great D. Brian Baker, president of Custom Vac Ltd. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a frequent contributor to The NEWS, once said the labor shortage in the HVAC industry could be attributed, at least in part, to families having fewer children these days.
“Our parents and grandparents had so many kids, because they worked on a farm or had their own small businesses that required skilled labor, so they produced their own labor,” Baker said. “When I grew up, it was not uncommon for families to have four or more kids, and most worked in the family business.”