They do if the jobs pay enough to live. There are a lot more classes of young people than recent grads from big universities. See Amazon warehouse and airports.
If I attended Oregon State, why would I want to earn $70k base with almost no stock and bonus to work at Intel or Micron as a New College Grad Process Engineer in Beaverton or Boise where I have income tax when I can make $110-140k base with a 10% bonus and stock at Amazon, Google, or Microsoft in Seattle (let alone smaller startups or non-name brand companies like UIPath) while paying no income tax.
The classes you study in EE/CE are extremely similar (and often the same) to those in CS so I may as well earn more with a better quality of life.
Salaries in the Semiconductor industry in the United States are stuck at 2000s levels, which lead to the massive outsourcing of electronics talent to Taiwan, South Korea, PRC, Israel, India, and Malaysia because you could pay $50-70k salaries and still get top of the barrel talent in the EE space (though Israel is seeing the same shift to software - sad days for Haifa).
Then you aren't one of those people. I thought this was about technician level with high school and associates degrees
Also people make career choices for reasons other than money. For example, interest and geographic location.
I almost was.
> I thought this was about technician level with high school and associates degrees
The article is about students attending Bachelors and Masters programs. Even process and manufacturing roles require a 4 year degree now. I have friends who are specifically working these jobs at the Intel fab in Beaverton (hence my call out of it)
For example
LTD Manufacturing Equipment Technician - Intel (Hillsboro, OR)
Associate’s degree or Bachelor’s degree in a Mechanical or Electrical STEM field related to semiconductor manufacturing technology • Examples: Microelectronics, Mechatronics, Electronic Technology, Equipment Technology, Industrial Technology, Manufacturing Technology, Avionics Technology, Electrical, Chemical, Materials OR Semiconductor related Scientific STEM Degree
> people make career choices for reasons other than money
Not if you have college loans to pay off.
The evidence that people are taking the exact jobs you say nobody will take disagrees.