Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

My two neighbors received heating oil delivery two days ago. One liter costs 1.40 euros, last year they still paid 0.66 cents.

You certainly mean 66 cents.

Nevertheless, both stick to their good old oil heating. ;)

Well, they are now paying 14 cents/kWh. Just look at what you currently or starting in October have to pay for gas, that is at least the same. And with oil, you have it, if you have it. Namely in the basement and within your own disposal area. With gas, on the other hand, you only have a contract that - as we currently see - can still be changed at any time. So only a state-changeable entitlement, not unlike a pension. If it's gone, then it's gone... then you can only figuratively look down the (4000 km long) tube....

This, however, also leads to problems, as better economic conditions often go hand in hand with academic qualification when choosing a profession. That's why typical real craft trades are so little valued as training today. In the craft sector, a lot will have to change in the future so that our national economic needs can still be met. That would include appreciation, financial incentives for journeymen, and reduction of elitism, so that this training is once again seen as adequate and not as a fallback just because perhaps the parents are academics.

This is already happening now, which is very good. In the south, the first company is offering a 4-day week with 8.5 hours per day. I also hope that salaries have increased due to more demand and less supply of skilled workers. Our garden landscaper with Polish skilled workers says that he no longer gets skilled workers from Poland for under €3,000 net.

...
Education is already predetermined. Even if a child is born with naturally good intelligence, but the environment is difficult and there are no good role models, the likelihood of making a breakthrough simply diminishes immensely. And honestly... to those who are parents here: do your children have contact with children from precarious backgrounds? So where should the role models come from?
As a child, I was once invited by the family of a friend to a week of riding camp so that she wouldn't have to go alone. God, what a stroke of luck that was for me. We could never have afforded those 250 DM in a million years.

that's probably true. Of course, there are exceptions. My father is a master tailor, a very poorly paid craft profession. Nevertheless, my brother achieved the highest academic title. He is a professor at FOM, and they also take care to make sure these things can be done differently in the future. My brother reports exactly what you described here. Extremely difficult, but not impossible to make a "class switch."

My sister as well as I dropped out of university, but fortunately none of us are low earners anymore ;-). All the children of my siblings (there are six) have, at the latest on the second educational path, finished their studies or are still working on them. I have no biological children, "only" one adopted child and two stepchildren. They come from a very poor background abroad, and only the youngest "made it" with a lot of support (private school) to get a good degree (not a university degree).

Also: I only never had my own room very early on (shared with my brother), despite very, very little money in the family, I never had the impression that I was missing anything or couldn't do something I wanted to do.

You probably mean 66 cents.

You are right, sorry, it should have been 0.66 euros. Well, I am only allowed to pay for gas in the old house "still". In the new little house, then electricity, as I operate an air heat pump there. Luckily, the gas and chimney sweep fees do not apply there.

It is already the case by now, which is very good. In the south, the first company is offering a 4-day week with 8.5 hours per day. Salaries should also have increased due to higher demand and lower supply of skilled workers, at least I hope so. Our landscaping contractor with Polish skilled workers says that he can no longer get skilled workers from Poland for under €3,000 net.

€3,000 net? I can hardly believe that. They would deserve it, but that seems quite high to me.

Could an experienced user please contact a moderator to minimize these off-topic posts? [..] ...maybe this is just the wrong thread I have ended up in...

This thread is exactly the indicator that the construction industry, like other sectors, is heading full speed, unbraked, into a massive wall. There are simply hardly any threads & discussions left for purchases and new construction projects. So the activity shifts to the small talk thread, where about every 10 pages a useful piece of information appears. Only this itself is also a valuable piece of information.. ;)