Swiss apartment’s stubborn roller shutter sparks wider skills shortage debate
A Zürich apartment roller shutter broke and refused to go back up after a summer blackout strategy. Despite a team effort, the shutter stayed stuck, forcing the resident to postpone fixes until morning.
The manufacturer’s contact was photographed, but the bigger issue looms: who fixes these mechanical problems in a labor market short on skilled tradespeople? 
Just after struggling with the shutter’s manual jam, Switzerland’s former ambassador to the US weighed in on the hands-on labor shortage.
“This is where there’s an acute shortage of skilled labour and it’s going to be these jobs that will not be touched by AI,” he explained.
“There’s too much focus on consulting and big tech and not enough on the people who will need to build the infrastructure to house and support these businesses.”
The stuck shutter highlights how critical—and overlooked—the role of trades is for maintaining infrastructure, especially in buildings without air conditioning.
A “round-the-clock service of highly trained, exquisitely turned-out handy boys” was floated as a solution for these urgent, real-world fixes.
Canada’s similar trade-school shortages suggest a growing global problem: infrastructure projects risk gridlock without fresh approaches to training and valuing skilled labor. Climate-resilient, well-paid, AI-resistant careers in trades could be a part of the answer.
No word yet on when the Zürich shutter repair crew will arrive, but it’s clear that hands-on skills are in dire need of a tech-age revival.
