I'm speaking from the POV of those who go into the trades. I'm from a very working-class/blue collar background, and most people who choose to be plumbers aren't choosing that over being a lawyer, doctor, or even a grocery store regional manager. They're choosing it over the service and hospitality industries or basic white collar work.

Prior to the pandemic, most of those career paths/jobs were only getting you like 10/hr and raises are either non-existent or at the whim of your manager (and still small). The trades usually have defined pay scales and increase to a basic standard of living pretty quickly. It's easier to support a family as a 25-year old plumber than a 25-year old Walmart employee or a 25-year old bank teller, for example.

I wasn't looking at all jobs, only the set of jobs that would be competing for the career decisions of future plumbers.

"High" is a relative term.