Raising two children is a job in and of itself. Considering our children are the future's consumers, you'd think it would pay better.

Teaching in public schools would definitely fit in this category.

Teachers can afford to raise children.

This really depends on the state, but in many areas in the south, they cannot.

((Assuming we're talking about the US))

Both my parents were teachers in the South and I had everything I needed and a lot of what I wanted, including computers when they were really expensive. I even grew up in a house.

A lot of (rural) areas in the South are so poor, teachers are among the higher pay scale because they have a steady paycheck with health insurance. My area was a city though, so teachers were on the lower end.

Well yeah. Just not their own.

Snark aside, it's hard to imagine how you could raise kids plural on what a teacher makes here in Seattle. Even the absolute top of the teacher salaries here, after 12 promotions and with a PhD, pay about what my very first tech job did, many years and much inflation ago. I would never have tried to raise kids on that money.

> Teaching in public schools would definitely fit in this category.

Maybe not fresh-out-of-college but after 5ish years they almost certainly can afford it.

The playground supervisors probably can't though.

In most places in the USA, two married social workers can afford to raise two children without starving. It's only a few expensive areas where this is impossible.

Employers in high cost areas take advantage of the informal subsidies being discussed here to underpay social workers (as well as other socially valuable occupations such as teachers). But that won't change until the workers move away or switch occupations. There's just no incentive for employers to pay living wages as long as workers are willing to accept less.

If they're directly employed by the government, that's one thing. Nonprofit sector is another thing entirely, with generally poorer pay and benefits.

There are jobs that we pay lip service to, like musicians and teachers. But ultimately, the jobs we actually value are people in finance who make sure that our savings don't disappear.

Garbage people.

Aside: what is the gender neutral term for Garbage Man? Garbage people sounds like I'm disparaging them.

"Garbage collector"?

Sanitation workers