Ray From Cleveland
Diamond Member
- Aug 16, 2015
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We can't deny that doing what we did today cost a boatload of money. But it is all relative. I started where I retired from making ~9.50/hour and was very happy, now the job pays in the 40s to start.Here is what I see in the job market, which doesn't mean what I see as reality it is just what I see.
The young who can't pay their bills are also the ones who didn't get an education or training and apparently don't want to as long as they have an iPhone.
There is definitely a market out their for trained skilled labor, one that enough Americans are not being trained to fill. So bitching about companies hiring people from India to fill a need that they can't fill with Americans seem to be a bit disingenuous. (outsourcing is another subject)
So that leaves the minimum wage jobs. Jobs that will soon be filling with AI. It would be far cheaper to employ robots that require no benefits then to hire a minimum wage person who requires nearly half as much more in benefits.
The problem is that younger people today don't try nearly as hard as the generations before them. When I was younger, I often held two jobs. At one point, three jobs.
If you don't want to make minimum wage, then get into a line of work that pays better. In my industry, we are short over 30,000 drivers today, and that number is expected to grow as the Baby Boomers retire. But what can they do? They can't get Americans to take these jobs. So now they are bringing in foreigners to do the work.
It doesn't take that much money or time to learn how to drive a tractor-trailer. Most of it is experience. Some companies will not only give you the training and get you licensed, but they will pay you while you learn. All you have to do is work for them for one year.
I agree, they need to get off their butts and learn something. But life is easy. I had a person complain about going to work in the dark. I mentioned that I went to work and returned from work in the dark many, many years.
Maybe parents are giving their kids too much help??
That's exactly it. Statistics show that people are living with their parents longer than anytime in our history. Hell, when we were younger, you couldn't wait to get your own place. it was such a liberating feeling having your own apartment or house. That desire is less present today in younger people. It coins the term "moms basement."
I guess that depends on where you live. I've rented to minimum wage workers before. Actually turned out to be pretty good tenants. Yes, they have to work a lot, but they are able to support themselves. Usually it's at least two people in the apartment. But it can be done.
It's less economics than it is desire. Although I have to admit, the relationship we had with our parents back then was different than younger people with their parents today. Back then it was called the Generation Gap.
We couldn't wait to get our own place because you could smoke pot when you wanted, have parties with your friends, have girls sleep over. Today, you can do that shit in your parents house and many wouldn't object.