I'd say that the reason why people aren't picking up the trades is there's this societal expectation that in order to succeed you need to go to Uni. Now, I did go to uni for about 3/4 of a course, and I can tell you, unless you're aiming to be an engineer, doctor, lawyer or scientist, there's really no need to go to uni.
I also blame the media. I mean, I studied that ****, I know the whole purpose of modern media is to split society into groups to make it easier to sell them ideas. Ever since 2016, when this whole IdPol thing went overboard, we have SJWs on both sides of politics fighting over each other, thinking that for some reason they're victims. Those who have their faces buried in the Australian think they're being discriminated against for being white, those who bury their noses in Vice (owned by the same company as the Oz) think that Straight White Men are the source for all their problems. When I called both sides of the media cycle on this bullshit when I was in uni, I got rage from pretty much everyone except one lecturer... Who knew exactly what the **** was going on. At that point, I dropped out of uni and got a full-time job in my field. Still work there to this day.
The media's job is to give people a distraction, to make people think they're a victim of some sort so they can be more easily sold to. Truth be told, the death of tradies isn't because people are losing faith in the trades, the reason is that people feel that putting on an apprentice will hurt them and said apprentices feel they're owed the world for being able to just sharpen a tool. Dude. You're a greenhorn, of course you're going to get paid jack for literally sweeping the shop floor, and your shitty boss isn't doing you any good by only focusing on his profits. There's more to be made than money. Craftsmanship is infinitely valuable.
I agree, Modern universities/educational institutions are all about checking boxes and passing as many students as possible, The whole point of unis is to make a profit. But keep in mind that this is also true for people taking on apprentices. They think that they're going to get the perfect person when they take on an apprentice. Of course you're not. That dude's going to know jack **** about rebuilding diffs. That's why you need to teach them. You need to be a leader, and give them a good reason to follow you. When you pour time into a person, you're going to get money in return eventually.
The only way we're going to solve this **** is if we start to see leaders in the industry take people on and train the next generation of craftsmen, and for those kids to understand that yes, you will fail. No, you are not special. The only way to become exceptional is to be exceptional. The only way to encourage exceptional people to shine is to help them to become that way. Master craftsmen only became masters because they had masters themselves, and they learnt to get with the time. The modern CNC machinist has more capability than an old-school machinist who manually operated a three-axis bridgeport, but it still takes that bridgeport knowledge to know how to use a CNC.
And for ****'s sake. Be the role model you want your apprentices to be. Don't want them to be pusscakes? Stop being a pusscake yourself.