Professionals like carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, electricians, etc. actually, make pretty decent money. It's usually at least a living wage. But it's not "easy" work, and most people wouldn't want to spend decades doing those things every day until retirement. I don't know how my father did it for 30 years, but he was a sanitation worker for the county. He never missed a day of work. Other than the two weeks, he took vacation every summer.

It had medical benefits and basically paid middle-class type money. He was a better man than me. But growing up on my grandparents' farm and my grandfather was so hard on him and his siblings, they thought going in the million during WWII or being a sanitation worker was easy money, compared to working the farm.