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In all the discussion of a livable wage and the minimum wage law, I never see any discussion about how well the poorly educated folks who worked in a factory did in the 1950s to 1970s.
I have a number of relatives who graduated from high school went straight to the factory and made a nice middle class income which would be similar to $20 an hour today. They were not trained in anything, they just did grunt unskilled labor.
If these guys could make such nice incomes in the 50s, 60s and 70s, why can't restaurant workers and retail clerks, who come from a similar background, be paid well today?
In all the discussion of a livable wage and the minimum wage law, I never see any discussion about how well the poorly educated folks who worked in a factory did in the 1950s to 1970s.
I have a number of relatives who graduated from high school went straight to the factory and made a nice middle class income which would be similar to $20 an hour today. They were not trained in anything, they just did grunt unskilled labor.
If these guys could make such nice incomes in the 50s, 60s and 70s, why can't restaurant workers and retail clerks, who come from a similar background, be paid well today?
Because the unskilled blue collar work was physically demanding, dirty and somewhat dangerous(some of it very dangerous). So no it was not unfair. Next?
Because a lot fo the posters are stuck in the 50's and 60's, and dont understand just how different it is today. Thats part of what drives the rights hatred of the minimum wage increase. You see these people often going on about how fast food isnt a permament job, and just go get something better.
Thats because back then, that was a perfectly valid answer. Because back then a willingness to work hard made a massive difference. The manufacturing lines didnt require a degree, and hiring was often based on (minus the usual "I know a guy" thats always been around) wether you had worked somewhere before. A work history=employed. And making good money. Today? Today is different. And they just dont comprehend it at a gut level. So they make arguments that match their views based on their experiences back then.
Who stayed at mcdonalds back then? Losers. Generally ones that went form job to job. Fast food employed people who had no drive. No desire for improvement. Slackers.
Because the unskilled blue collar work was physically demanding, dirty and somewhat dangerous(some of it very dangerous). So no it was not unfair. Next?
Unskilled blue collar work today pays minimum wage. Go work at a chicken processing plant. It pays minimum wage, has a surprisingly high injury rate (some truly horrific injuries BTW), Its dirty and nasty.
Because the unskilled blue collar work was physically demanding, dirty and somewhat dangerous(some of it very dangerous). So no it was not unfair. Next?
Yeah, when I was a kid in college, loading trucks after school, each loader would handle 30 tons a night. And by "handle" I mean pick it up off a pallet, and put it on the truck, 60 pounds at a time. The hard jobs from back then just do not exist today.
In all the discussion of a livable wage and the minimum wage law, I never see any discussion about how well the poorly educated folks who worked in a factory did in the 1950s to 1970s.
I have a number of relatives who graduated from high school went straight to the factory and made a nice middle class income which would be similar to $20 an hour today. They were not trained in anything, they just did grunt unskilled labor.
If these guys could make such nice incomes in the 50s, 60s and 70s, why can't restaurant workers and retail clerks, who come from a similar background, be paid well today?
Part of the problem I think, is that our perception of what is "real, valuable work" has changed.
Now we extravagantly reward people who do nothing more laborious than moving numbers around in the ether while those who do actual physical and/or mind-numbingly tedious work are treated like dirt.
It used to be perfectly acceptable to not go to college, to not aspire to be a manager but to simply want to do a good, honest day's work for a wage that allowed one to pay bills and raise a family.
A blue collar worker is NOT unskilled. They are paid well. I hired a plumber and an electrician a couple of weeks ago. Both owned their own business and I paid both about $80 an hour!
On the other hand, minimum wage jobs were never intended to be full time employment that would support a family, particularly in high cost urban locales. We are now a society with an ever growing pool of unskilled and poorly educated labor and the liberal logic dictates that we try to solve all these issues by paying people more for a job that does not command a premium wage.
I wish these folks would simply come out and ask to be paid 6 figures and end the charade of the disappearing middle class talking point. If you don’t like what you get paid, go work at a fast food joint that is run by a liberal; I am sure that they will pay you at least 50K per with full benefits, because the liberals are fighting for the middle class!
It was fair but they didn't have a president encouraging many millions of impoverished third world cheap workers to come illegally and grab up millions of jobs.
Unskilled blue collar work today pays minimum wage. Go work at a chicken processing plant. It pays minimum wage, has a surprisingly high injury rate (some truly horrific injuries BTW), Its dirty and nasty.
Next?
And that's because to the up to 30 milliion illegals minimum wage in the US is beyond their wildest dreams, in their country they would be lucky to get 50 cents an hour for this work. Immigration laws are not being enforced.
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