Comment by wonderfulvoltaire@lemmy.zip on Fear of job loss hits its highest point in years—but workers won’t accept less than $81,000

Where are these jobs you speak of which such a salary

The trades: carpentry, plumbing, roofing, etc. Plus side, it doesn’t require a degree.

Where I live, two of the three trades you listed require completion of 4-year apprenticeships, including a minimum of 6 weeks of in-school technical training per year. It’s much cheaper to train as an apprentice than it is to pay other post-secondary tuitions, and you earn an income most of the time you’re an apprentice, but the reality is a lot more complicated.

And it’s also very easy to be employed in most trades and not make that much. It depends on which trade you’re in, how much punishment you can take, and whether you’re in a union job or not.

Basically, jobs that destroy your body, so you can’t work past 55 anyway.

As if sitting at a desk all day doesn’t destroy your body.

I’ll pick a physically active job any day of the week. If you choose not to wear your gloves, knee pads, ear defenders, goggles etc. it’s on you.

As if sitting at a desk all day doesn’t destroy your body.

It does. Which is why a standing desk is better, if you’re at a screen all day.

And if you can get a standing desk with a treadmill, then it’s peak health.

There are so many ways to make a desk job less terrible.

Then be smart about it. The money you saved from not paying for college can go into a retirement account. When your body is “destroyed” you have retirement income.

That’s not really a solution though, right? It’s more like a minimal survival mechanism restricted to those privileged with financial literacy and good discipline/planning in a system where people are (paradoxically) forced to trade their health for livelihood. Many, many people will fall short of such a bar through no fault of their own.

All I’m hearing are excuses man. You can’t do it because you don’t have financial literacy? Then get literate in finances. You guys will go to school to learn all these things to get a job but won’t take the time and learn how to budget, save, understand credit, how to manage money. They didn’t teach these things in school when I was in grade school so after fucking up with student loans I took the time to buy some books and learn it. It’s not rocket science and you have to deal with money every day so learn how to manage it properly.

Next there’s discipline and planning. Why can’t you be discipline with your future? You just want to spend recklessly and expect the state to have your back when you get older? Do you really think there will be any assistance from the state when you retire? Do you even trust the state to take care of you without strings attached?

I’m tired of people complaining about this “back breaking labor”. It will break your back if you aren’t safe about the work. The same is true for these office jobs except it’s mind numbing work. You can get very unhealthy just sitting down in front of a computer all day for years. You can get burned out for working too many hours trying to reach a deadline. At least the back breaking work has unions. In both situations you will trade your health for a livelihood.

Even if I can do those things, many can’t. Do they deserve to suffer?

Or you transition to an owner/management role so that you can stop punishing your body in your 40s

Not everyone can be an owner/manager

That’s the wonderful thing about trade work, you can just become an owner. Then you train young people, they beat up their bodies for a bit and then they become an owner. That is the idea behind apprenticeships. Or you join a Union who will protect you and make sure the owner of the company does the bare minimum and take care of the health and safety of their employees. Or you go a different route and consult. Or find a niche and start selling products that were hard for you to find but are needed in your industry.

People who boo hoo on trade work are in the same vein as the ones who say you need a college degree to be successful. A lot of people have made a really good living out of trade work and they don’t have to “destroy their bodies”

You still need to be enterprising and have business skills. Some of the tradespeople I know are just struggling to get by because they don’t know how to manage their money.

Heck, I’ve heard that a shockingly high percentage of professional athletes end up broke within a few years of retiring from sports. We’re talking about people who make millions a year ending up with no money and even declaring bankruptcy!

Those people can die homeless then!- Evil idiots that can’t think beyond one step.

Better save and be prepared to retire early.

Trade work, office type jobs in big cities with an established career, police, and Onlyfans.

Police are an excellent example of why unions should be armed.

Everyone should be armed and proficient, if they so choose and aren’t a violent criminal, and if they have a union card they are all the better a citizen.

Most only fans creators aren’t even able to pull min wage. It’s a side gig for all but the top percent or two.

You can make minimum wage working as a coder or 6 figures. They only asked where jobs that pay $81k are.

That’s an idiotic way to interpret that. You end up with an answer so broad as to include almost any job in existence. Reigning it into a realistic earning amount for the position is the only rational way to approach that.

Think next time

A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

Our Philosophies:

All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.

Our Goals

Higher wages for underpaid workers.
Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
Better and fewer working hours.
Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.

Fear of job loss hits its highest point in years—but workers won’t accept less than $81,000(fortune.com)

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