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^^^ Absolutely right about the failure of our culture to take seriously the need for job preparation.
However, specifically, I'm not sure about Physical Therapy as a good bet for a career. Odd as it may sound, I think our health care field has expanded about as far as it ever will, and the future looks bleak for careers in health. A bubble, in the current parlance. The number of people with effective insurance is the highest it will ever be, Medicare and Medicaid will be reduced if not scrapped altogether, and hospitals will be unable to continue to wink at emergency room non-emergencies. PT's and others are now getting a piece of a $3-trillion pie, and that money simply won't be there in the medium term future. It's not there now, but we can pretend, can't we?
Not that I want to dwell on PT, but the fact is, in our present climate, anyone who thinks career prep is a life-time fix is not seeing the big picture. There is almost no career field right now that will, with any degree of confidence, be relevant in 2030, when our graduates (or slackers) are hitting middle-age. Those physical therapists up there will be lined up for McJobs in a decade or so, unless they start over again with a mid-life career change.
Virtually every adult American has, right now, the last good job they will ever have. This has been generally true since the 80's, but nobody realizes that until they themselves lose that good job, and start showing real estate or selling used cars. An overwhelming number of new hires are people younger than you are, and when your job ends (which it will), you are at the end of your productive and remunerative working career. And that goes for the physical therapists, too.
When we were all starting out with our new computer-centered lives, I got online at a dial-up ISP, one of a half a dozen in a small city, started by a bright and energetic and knowledgeable young man who was on the ground floor of the fastest-growing phenomenon in the history of the world. He was doing it right, with the expertise to offer a good service and take care of his Windows 95 clients, who a year earlier had to dial up a toll call to get online. It doesn't get any better than that. No place to go but up. Now, at about 40, he's a retired dial-up ISP pioneer. I wonder if the McDonalds in Rolla MO is hiring?
physical therapy is a great position to move into over the next decade or two at least. the projections for increases in knee replacements alone are huge. someone has to help all those people with joint replacements get through rehab. and it's not just old people. i tore my ACL last year, and i had about 40 sessions of PT before all was said and done.
Agreed. McDonalds doesnt even pay enough to cover gas costs these days let alone other living expenses. If McDonalds jobs are the best this "recovery" is producing, it's another sure sign America is in permanent decline.
i'm not about to claim that McDonalds' jobs pay well enough for people to live, but news like this speaks to a broader picture. McDonald's would only hire more employees because they need to meet a higher demand for their products. Higher demand for their products speaks to people spending more money at McDonalds than they were before. People spending more money at McDonalds can also be an indicator that people are out and about shopping for other things more often, and while out, they happen to be stopping at McDonalds for lunch. It's not that McDonalds jobs fix our economic problems, it's that McDonalds jobs point to indications that our economic conditions are improving, and as a result, McDonalds needs to hire more people to meet new demand. And remember, McDonalds selling more products means more truck drivers have to deliver more goods. The silver lining of the health aspect is....more cardiologists will be needed also. lol.
point is, it's good news for the overall health of our economy...no pun intended on the use of the word health.
i'm not about to claim that McDonalds' jobs pay well enough for people to live, but news like this speaks to a broader picture. McDonald's would only hire more employees because they need to meet a higher demand for their products. Higher demand for their products speaks to people spending more money at McDonalds than they were before. People spending more money at McDonalds can also be an indicator that people are out and about shopping for other things more often, and while out, they happen to be stopping at McDonalds for lunch. It's not that McDonalds jobs fix our economic problems, it's that McDonalds jobs point to indications that our economic conditions are improving, and as a result, McDonalds needs to hire more people to meet new demand. And remember, McDonalds selling more products means more truck drivers have to deliver more goods. The silver lining of the health aspect is....more cardiologists will be needed also. lol.
point is, it's good news for the overall health of our economy...no pun intended on the use of the word health.
You seem to have missed the point of the OP. McD's wasn't having lots of openings. They were being inundated with applicants for the few openings they did have.
i'm not about to claim that McDonalds' jobs pay well enough for people to live, but news like this speaks to a broader picture. McDonald's would only hire more employees because they need to meet a higher demand for their products. Higher demand for their products speaks to people spending more money at McDonalds than they were before. People spending more money at McDonalds can also be an indicator that people are out and about shopping for other things more often, and while out, they happen to be stopping at McDonalds for lunch. It's not that McDonalds jobs fix our economic problems, it's that McDonalds jobs point to indications that our economic conditions are improving, and as a result, McDonalds needs to hire more people to meet new demand. And remember, McDonalds selling more products means more truck drivers have to deliver more goods. The silver lining of the health aspect is....more cardiologists will be needed also. lol.
point is, it's good news for the overall health of our economy...no pun intended on the use of the word health.
Or it could be an indicator that people still need to buy lunch and instead of their favorite restaurant, they can only afford McDonalds...
McDonalds like many corporations are taking advantage of economic conditions to upgrade their workforce and to replace less motivated workers with people who a desperate for work.
To say that this is indicates improving economic conditions is a stretch at best. What it really represents is a major downshifting in lifestyle and affordability.
You seem to have missed the point of the OP. McD's wasn't having lots of openings. They were being inundated with applicants for the few openings they did have.
lots of people are applying for the openings, but i would say 50,000 openings is lots, not a few. it's spread over 14,000 locations, but if you have 5 mcdonalds within 20 miles of your home, which isn't crazy depending on where you live, that means there's about 15 jobs coming to your neighborhood. sure, it's not shaking the economy back to life...but it's a good indication of better things overall.
Or it could be an indicator that people still need to buy lunch and instead of their favorite restaurant, they can only afford McDonalds...
McDonalds like many corporations are taking advantage of economic conditions to upgrade their workforce and to replace less motivated workers with people who a desperate for work.
To say that this is indicates improving economic conditions is a stretch at best. What it really represents is a major downshifting in lifestyle and affordability.
good point. it can also be an indicator that people are further downgrading their good purchases. but i think the general thought process over the past 3 years during this downturn was that a lot of people stopped eating out altogether, and grocery stores were benefitting from people cooking in-home more frequently.
again, the overall point i was trying to make is you have to look at the big picture of things. it could certainly be what you said though. McDonalds is adding 50,000 employees nationally. they may be replacing some low-performers in the same process, but from what i read, they are increasing their total workforce by 50,000 people.
Or it could be an indicator that people still need to buy lunch and instead of their favorite restaurant, they can only afford McDonalds...
Well there you go, surely a sign of the economic hell we are suffering through when the working class can't go to a nice sit down restaurant and must instead spend $6 at a fast food place when eating out for lunch every day.
Well there you go, surely a sign of the economic hell we are suffering through when the working class can't go to a nice sit down restaurant and must instead spend $6 at a fast food place when eating out for lunch every day.
God help us.
The McDonalds dollar menu is actually very attractive in these economic times. For me, when gas was $2.50 it was Sushi and Steak, and now it's McDonalds and Taco Bell. I cringe at spending anything over $5 on a meal when a year ago I did it without thinking about it.
I'm not trying to be cruel, but this is what happens when you have a sports and entertainment oriented culture that is blase about education at best and openly hostile to it at worst.
That sucking sound you are currently hearing is the 200,000+ tech visas we have to give out to people from the pacific rim because we don't have enough science and technical people here in the US. Instead we have masters of the xbox, blunt rolling and crossover dribble...applying for those McJobs.
It's funny that you see it that way. The way I see it, we don't have enough tech and science people because the jobs pay poorly relative to the financial industry. The smart students go where the money is, and the only way to make the salaries go higher is to stop allowing 200,000+ tech visa applicants into the country.
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