"Hard-Working American" Myth

my girlfriend working a ministry of education job gets twice the pay as me, sits down all day and alternates between meetings discussing things.
And she gets paid for a 1 hour lunch.

I (and everyone else where I work, which is more the issue here as I certainly don't count on staying here very long) stand up 8 hours repetitively and quickly assembling car parts and do not get paid for lunch.

So I mean I know you can categorize "work" in different ways, but its pretty clear to see what is harder work in this case (and she would agree with me).

 

yeah roofing in July must be a walk in the park.

 

In a literal sense, yes they are.

Back on topic, hard work will not get a person ahead in life by itself. You need a plan. That is where a lot of people screw up and end up living hand to mouth, even with a good job. Also, a valulabe skill is required. No one getting ten bucks an hour will get ahead no matter how hard they work or how good their plan. Thriving is not easy, or simple, but it is always doable.

 

if you honestly believe the playing field is equal than there is no debate to have. The facts and statistics don't matter much because u already have your idea set in stone.

The fact that women get paid less in 2014 for doing the exact same job should be proof enough that the playing field is not level.

 

In regards to your examples of hard working sectors, assembly can be, and in most cases is, done by automation, so to expect growth in a job like that is a thing of the past.

As for entry level trades you cant expect to be making good money right away, that is why Canada has the apprenticeship program. You put in the years and gain your journeyman ticket, then start making money.

If anyone who has apprenticed under me demanded six figures i would laugh and show them the door.

Do you live out east?

 

Now that's what I call the real American spirit in a nutshell: "I may be being economically exploited now, but through hard work and determination I will one day be the one doing the exploiting."

 

Tell that to all the college graduates jobless and living with their parents, riddled with debt.

Yeah, but they should at the very least pay liveable wages. When you have a multi billion dollar international company like Walmart that pays $8 an hour, there is a problem there. Besides, their middle management employees make shit too.

 

six figures?
I'm talking 30,000.
My friend is a framer for houses and has been with the same company for 5+ years, he still takes home less than 35,000 after taxes. And that's with working every Saturday.

The apprenticeship program is good, but its not like you can just walk up to someone and be there apprentice.

 

hiya Kong,

i'm not really disagreeing with you. i think there is a glass ceiling for women in the workforce, particularly if you're a working female with children - and i think it's harder to advance in most corporate structures if you're not a white male, but i think those hurdles become more onerous above the 40K per year earnings level - not so much in the move from Taco Bell into the lower middle class.

i also think that if you're a black petroleum engineer, or a hispanic petroleum engineer, or a female petroleum engineer, you'll do quite well despite the "non-white-male" handicap.

i think if you're a white male who didn't give a shit about academics during you're K-12 years and you're stuck at Taco Bell, you're fucked either way.

- IGIT

 

Is your friend now a journeyman? 35k a year after tax is nothing to scoff at for framing, thats over 50k a year before tax.

When i was an apprentice i was lucky to make 15 bucks an hour. That didnt deter me from my trade however since higher income comes with more experience.

I prescribe to the thinking, work smart not hard. In terms of framing the young guy is going to bust his ass, spend 2 weeks to frame up a small bungalow, and make mistakes. where the guy with 15 years under his belt does it in half the time and works half as hard, and does amazing work. Who will the developer use more often? Who can demand a higher rate?

 

that is the general idea, yeah.

 

Thats a lot more work than anything blue collar

 

I know, right?? Imagine a world where each of us had to settle for only what his or her own, individual productivity could produce... *shudder*

I want my own pyramid, dammit, and I don't care how many clock-punchers have to toil their mediocre lives away in order for me to have it!

 

hah,no. it requires more training, not more work.

 

Hey, I want the guy to ask his girlfriend if, for exactly the same salary/hours, given the choice, she would keep her current job or opt to work as (for example) a jack-hammer operator for the highway department.

This will tell us which work she would deem the harder.

QB, you're confusing "more work" with "more thinking". Thinking is certainly one, limited type of labor. And of all the types of labor, it is, by almost any intelligent person's standards, the least distasteful type going.

 

pretty much. not everyone can be 1%

 

Maybe if more quit these "entry" jobs and less started them
Lets see how that would work for you

Maybe you should pick and dump your own trash

 

This
They crap on these kind of jobs and people who do them

Like I said to the second guy who posted..Pick and dump your trash

 

Unfair wages? Lol. Putting a burger on a bun is not worth half of what people are mandated to give others. Get a real skill.

 

Economics rewards those who are useful to society.