Is a college education worth the cost?

[JohnH]

Yes, but if you do new work, it is not exactly steady work. People who do repairs are much more secure. Most of the Union guys are doing new work.

People who do repair work are pretty well employed too.

Note that I am referring to a journeyman or master electrician, not someone who first saw a circuit breaker last week and now works for a private equity owned firm selling panel upgrades.

which cannot even pull the required permit where I live.

It is the people that do the initial construction and large-scale commercial renovations that have the less certain flow of work. The repair guys doing old work normally have a stedy flow.

Sure they can. The PE firm has one actual electrician on staff who pulls permits and then they send green beans out to do the actual job.