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A comment on If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wage would be $24 an hour. Parent comment

Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by sneak on Friday October 09, 2020 @03:51PM (#24733730)
There are many millions of busses to drive, bags to load, passengers to drive around, trash bins to empty, and floors to be swept, vacuumed, and mopped. I think perhaps you underestimate the massive size of the unskilled job market.
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Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by TT3351 on Friday October 09, 2020 @04:09PM (#24733894)
0 of those jobs consist of solely "pushing a broom," which as a phrase dehumanizes and strips "unskilled" workers of their dignity.
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Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by SketchySeaBeast on Friday October 09, 2020 @04:09PM (#24733902)
Busses are definitely a specific skill requiring specific certification. I don't know if dedicated bag loaders exist these days but everyone has other job requirements. While yes, the market for low skill jobs is large, I think you're still diminishing these roles.
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Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by slumpt_ on Friday October 09, 2020 @06:03PM (#24734884)
I see a lot of this on HN and it’s disappointing. Place can be a bit too steeped in privilege and survivorship bias at times.
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Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by mason240 on Friday October 09, 2020 @04:52PM (#24734315)
Bus drivers are not making MW anywhere.
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Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by SketchySeaBeast on Friday October 09, 2020 @04:54PM (#24734336)
And they require skills. Which puts them firmly out of the mindless, worthless, broom pushing category that was being constructed here.
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Re:If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wag... by yifanl on Friday October 09, 2020 @04:41PM (#24734227)
Tell your CEO to do janitorial work for a day and ask them how qualified they felt to do unskilled work.
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