Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by module0000 on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @01:16PM
(#15750181)
That's a good list...a lot of it rings true, especially point B. The chances for me to work when I was young were everywhere. I did mow lawns, I raked leaves, painted houses, and every other odd job that a 13 year old would be allowed to do.
Now I imagine explaining to my friends or wife that I hired a 13 year old to paint our house. With 0/0 stars on google, angies list, etc. It's hard for young people to "break in" to something as mundane as yard work and painting.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by warcher on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @02:48PM
(#15750950)
It's funny- I was an unlicensed grey market house painter for a while in college. I booked most of my jobs while standing on top of a ladder, where somebody would stroll up asking me if I'd do their house next.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by jpindar on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @08:42PM
(#15753496)
Yep. When I was a teenager, I had a job delivering newspapers. I had to get up and out very early in the morning, even in bad weather, and deliver papers on my bike, and collect the payments for them in the evening.
Nowadays, far fewer people get newspapers, and the newspaper deliver jobs are looking for someone with a car. And I assume they pay for them online.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by roseburg on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @02:09PM
(#15750613)
I think it's both the dog and the owner and our culture that looks down on the trades, or blue collar work. Kids are being raised and taught to work hard so they can avoid working with their hands. Trade jobs are almost seen as a punishment and schools do nothing but funnel all students into the college pipeline.
In the vision of life that is projected for students, the trades do not find themselves anywhere in that vision. It should come as no surprise that we have a shortage right now, it should only surprise us that it's not worse. Immigrant labor has long hidden the fact that American's are raising their kids to avoid the trades, and we will all pay the price for it.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by nradov on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @02:40PM
(#15750868)
The mikeroweWORKS Foundation is doing a great job of raising the status of manufacturing and skilled trades work. Worth supporting.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by akgerber on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @03:15PM
(#15751157)
Kids don't walk to school in many modern neighborhoods because they're not designed to be safe for walking, sliced through by wide high-speed arterials that encourage driving at dangerous speeds. I grew up in a 1900-1920s neighborhood and most kids walked to school.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by chrisbennet on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @05:03PM
(#15752032)
So some of the reasons are "structural" as well. Good point.
I bet there are other, similar, reasons along those lines.
Re:Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?
by vorotato on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @02:22PM
(#15750723)
For my first job out of highschool I applied to over 40 locations, and finally got an unpaid job tips only as a rickshaw driver. I'm pretty sure it was illegal for them to do that, but I also really needed a job. For context I'm 28 and live in the american south east.
(a) Two working parents or a single parent family may result in children "being raised by wolves" to some extent. These are good parents/people but child rearing is a time intensive business.
(b) Lack of jobs for young people. In my neighborhood, a lot of lawn mowing jobs are done by services instead of the neighborhood kid. The "entry level" jobs are often taken by older people who can't afford to retire.
(c) Single child families where parents spoil their children resulting in a sort of learned helplessness. I can't think of anyone of my friends children that mows their parents lawn of shovels the driveway. The dad or mows the lawn and snow blows the driveway. My brothers kids are the exception.
(d) Lack of exposure to real world failure or responsibilities. How many parents are going to let their kids walk to school never mind use a chainsaw or go hunting by themselves?