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There is a race to the bottom in terms of wages and benefits everywhere. Many employers are cutting labor costs in every industry. They want top talent but do not want to pay for it anymore. They are getting rid of entitlements such as health benefits, vacations, sick time, and other perks.
The gig economy is getting more popular where employers just pay cash for the gigs and don't provide anything else. In addition, the temporary employees have to work like crazy so that their contracts get renewed again and again, instead of having permanent salaried positions with benefits.
The new world of work is getting worse (for the workers that is), but better and brighter for employers who are saving a lot on labor costs, and grinning as their temporary workers are working frantically trying to outdo each other so that their temporary gigs get renewed again, and engaging in bidding wars with newcomers who are willing to work for less.
A race to the bottom indeed - for the workers. But for employers - substantial labor cost savings. Wow, what a new world!
And now our Congress is going to give them a big tax break. A third political party is desperately needed to fight the proactive corporate Republican party and the lay down and die Democrats. We truly need a party like Western Europe's Social Democrats. With the Social Democrats Europeans have a minimum of 20 days of vacation by law, sick benefits by law, maternity benefits by law, and other perks.
What are we doing wrong? In what is left of our Democracy why don't we see the light.
That is why smart kids intern while in college. My godson at 27, twice promoted, works for a corp with many like him, who interned. By the time he is 40, he would end up promoted several more times, as will many colleagues around the same age.
Picked majors that have great outlooks, schools that are atop that field, plus worked as interns to gain invaluable experience. These employees entered market by 25 with MBAs plus work experience in college.
Right now, he is home (where he grew up) on 10 day vacation, and his employer paid for the trip as part of his relocation package to hq. Many at the corp, including him, are looking at salaries in the hundreds of thousands within a few years. I had no idea that was peanuts. (sar)
A lot of this depends on your location.
I had an in-field internship in 2009. Granted, the economy was awful then, but I was proud of myself for getting it. That internship, and a fairly diligent job search, got me $14/hr out of field work.
Part of the problem was my location. I live in northeast TN. There's virtually nothing here outside of medical and local government. The nearest job center, Charlotte, is a little more than three hours away. Companies from that area could find enough qualified candidates locally.
If I had gone to school and graduated in Charlotte, I'd likely have had a much different outcome.
But don't you see? Everyone can pull themselves up by the bootstraps and be a CEO! The market can handle endless amounts of CEOs, doctors, lawyers, and engineers!
I actually support having more CEOs. Then their really high pay would go down as they wouldn't be as in demand anymore. Why didn't we think of this sooner? We've got to start producing lots and lots of CEOs. Then the income inequality problem with them will go away.
I don't know how they can hold onto people at those wages. We can't even keep people at $18/hour anymore at the factory. They quit after 2 days on the job. How are they getting people for $11???
I don't know how they can hold onto people at those wages. We can't even keep people at $18/hour anymore at the factory. They quit after 2 days on the job. How are they getting people for $11???
Location and cost of living. I live in Tennessee. $11/hr is common here.
Location and cost of living. I live in Tennessee. $11/hr is common here.
Cost of living is high here in NJ, but CNA's don't make more than that here, either. Most of the CNAs where I work work double shifts to make it. I think the difference between the factory jobs and health care might be that nurse's aides are most normally women, who have never made $18 an hour so don't expect to, while maybe blue collar men have more options for higher salaries?
You don't know how some of the labor market works--
There are places that hire H2b visa workers and house them in dorms and count that as part of their employment package---
Field workers in some states--hotels/resorts can do that--nannies or live-in nurses--
And there are many, many times where the employer is the one who sets the wage--alone--
Take it or leave it is the response if the worker tries to get an uptick...or better hours or conditions...
Taking unions out of the workforce evacuated much of the bargaining power of workers
Using contract workers also took power away from the individual worker who know s/he has a ticking time bomb starting the day the job starts...
Especially if these jobs are in areas where there is no rental stock or the rental stock is far beyond what they can afford. Do you really think the subway workers in Aspen Colorado are paying 8,000 a month in rent to live in the same town as billionares .....
That is why smart kids intern while in college. My godson at 27, twice promoted, works for a corp with many like him, who interned. By the time he is 40, he would end up promoted several more times, as will many colleagues around the same age.
Picked majors that have great outlooks, schools that are atop that field, plus worked as interns to gain invaluable experience. These employees entered market by 25 with MBAs plus work experience in college.
Right now, he is home (where he grew up) on 10 day vacation, and his employer paid for the trip as part of his relocation package to hq. Many at the corp, including him, are looking at salaries in the hundreds of thousands within a few years. I had no idea that was peanuts. (sar)
Internships are hell to get, I was never able to get an internship and I went to a top tier school. Getting an internship was about as ruthless and cut throat as it gets. I would rather be in a shooting war than going through that again.
I notice you like to type out a lot of stuff as if its trivial when in fact some of the stuff you write is either non trivial or boarder line impossible to actually execute in real life (ie relies in large part on family connection or amazing luck). Sure these things can be done but if you don't start off with some connections or other help you will spend a large part of your life exhausting yourself just to avoid mcjobs.
In my opinion that is a societal issue. When the path to success becomes too narrow or too torturous that's when we start flirting with socialism. People will only tolerate so much strategic barriers to entry thrown up in front of them before they start voting differently. You seem to advocate for the maximum number of barriers possible with the tone of your posts. The tone of your posts indicated that you would not be opposed to a dystopian hunger games society (so long as you were in the capital of course, because of your hard work of course (read family connections/luck with some moderate work done). I think its satanic/evil.
I don't know how they can hold onto people at those wages. We can't even keep people at $18/hour anymore at the factory. They quit after 2 days on the job. How are they getting people for $11???
You have to tolerate people getting to work when ever and doing what ever. No one is going to work hard at $11/hr, they are likely saving up for enough gas money to leave.
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