Re:Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles
by bduerst on Wednesday August 13, 2014 @12:27PM
(#8173664)
I don't think you fully understand what fungible means.
Can a janitor do your job? No? Then your labor is not fungible.
Can you do a janitor's job? Yes? Then that's fungible labor.
Most blue collar labor is fungible - meaning that just about any person who is not incapacitated can do it.
Re:Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles
by lsc on Thursday August 14, 2014 @08:40PM
(#8180533)
>Most blue collar labor is fungible - meaning that just about any person who is not incapacitated can do it.
I think you underestimate the skill and training required for many blue-collar professions.
I probably have apprentice-level skills as a plumber, an electrician and as a mechanic. I know enough to say with some authority that it would take years for me to get to journeyman level. I don't think the average person could be a really good programmer, and I don't think the average person could be a really good master mechanic, either.
Oh come now. All of us are fungible. None of us are irreplaceable (at least not to our employers.)