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The reality is and what we're seeing is there is not a need for "full employment" IRL there hasn't been for a long time. Computers automation and the educated upper crust have folded lik6 jobs into 1, and can do it in 1/4th of the time. Our economy is predicated on everyone having a job in order to pay rent and mindlessly consume, but for us to just live and remain US?
computers have eliminated the need for as much admin etc etc. We simply don't need so many people working to be functional anymore. This is uncomfortable and getting to the idea of an American work ethic and thus won't ever really be spoken about or embraced but a lot of jobs at this point is just to keep folks busy and out of trouble.
The fact that we have to bend over backward to prepare people for jobs, or provide full benefits and double the minimum wage for mundane jobs....or "create jobs" should be an indicator that they're probably not needed jobs.
The Taco bell near you could automate out that entire building save 1 or 2 people, but it would be very unpopular and draw the ire of local officials and social media. But again, that's not a necessary job/business.
Right I agree with much of this. Automation has been a threat for a while and I think it's definitely happening. I think this is exactly what companies did so they could rid of those types of jobs which ultimately created less jobs which has had a trickle down effect. If i were a 45 year old admin assistant I'd probably be having trouble finding a job if I didn't have one. Places can easily hire an energetic 25 year old looking to climb the ladder over a person with more experience who probably needs the job more. I also wouldn't want to be resorting to working as a waitress or a cashier somewhere if i were in that predicament. There isn't always time to better oneself or learn new skills when you have a family so I guess this is how people are ending up on the streets.
some people want a stress free job like a receptionist or a part time type job a tech company or a fidelity. These jobs are gone though. Another job I just thought of is a bank teller. This wasnt exactly a hard job to get and probably paid decently, better than restaurant work but there aren't many of these left because no one goes into a bank anymore. They dont need to.
I have had jobs where i felt like I was doing the work of 3 or 4 people. Not fun.
Where are all these lower end jobs besides in restaurants and bars?
Retail, hotels, the MBTA, universities and hospitals (lower level support staff, janitorial staff, landscaping, labor), customer service, DMV, TSA, and even low-level staff in corporate (though you typically need help getting your foot in the door).
It's really no different here than in other parts of the country, except that we have so many more high paying jobs and so much less land to build on (like SF, we're hemmed in by the ocean and we also have a lot of suburban towns with low-density build up that has been brewing for 200 years) that both our housing cost and competition for lower-level office jobs is that much higher.
44% of Massachusetts residents have an undergrad degree and 20% have an advanced degree. While that puts us second to only Washington, DC, it still means the majority of people do not have degrees. WV, MS, AR, and LA are all under 25% with college degrees, but those states also tend to be pretty poor independent of educational achievement. There's a fair bit of brain drain from these states.
But none of those jobs allow someone to be able to still afford to live in the city. There few customer service jobs out there these days. We already pointed out that most lower level jobs in corporate are still going to young people with high ed degrees (at least that's how it works at my place).
I dont think MBTA jobs are as easy to get as you might think. They're pretty competitive...the pay is quite good.
DMV seems like an awful job and how many DMV positions are there even these days? not many. I can't tell you the last time I had to go to the DMV because most things can be done online.
Hotel jobs these days seem to be the people who check people in or the people who do the cleaning. I notice the people who check folks in tend to be standing all day.
Janitorial jobs seem to be done by immigrants these days. I mean someone has to do the job but doesn't seem like someone already living here wants that job.
There are very little teardown and new construction of old houses in the Greater Boston area. Old and poorly maintained SFH housing either continue to stick around forever or the new construction is some overly dense building in the place of an old gas station or parking lot. Not a lot of middle ground where a previous single-story SFH becomes two taller SFHs or 2-4 townhouses. Even eyesores and pieces of turds built cheaply as tract housing 50-70 years ago tend to stick around forever in the Boston area as if they were historic artifacts that must be preserved for another 300 years.
There's actually a lot of land in the Boston suburbs with SFH lots much larger than that of the Seattle area. But it seems like no one subdivides those lots for more SFHs or townhouses. At least not on a large scale.
I feel like on the West Coast I see far more teardowns of old bungalows and ranches for new construction than I did in the Boston area. Like one single street in Seattle will have more of that going on than an entire neighborhood in Boston. Hasn't helped lower housing prices though.
But none of those jobs allow someone to be able to still afford to live in the city. There few customer service jobs out there these days. We already pointed out that most lower level jobs in corporate are still going to young people with high ed degrees (at least that's how it works at my place).
I dont think MBTA jobs are as easy to get as you might think. They're pretty competitive...the pay is quite good.
DMV seems like an awful job and how many DMV positions are there even these days? not many. I can't tell you the last time I had to go to the DMV because most things can be done online.
Hotel jobs these days seem to be the people who check people in or the people who do the cleaning. I notice the people who check folks in tend to be standing all day.
Janitorial jobs seem to be done by immigrants these days. I mean someone has to do the job but doesn't seem like someone already living here wants that job.
Lotta people are grandfathered not housing or have been in those positions enough + subsidized housing. Off the books living arrangements, SRO's, living with family etc etc.
There are very little teardown and new construction of old houses in the Greater Boston area. Old and poorly maintained SFH housing either continue to stick around forever or the new construction is some overly dense building in the place of an old gas station or parking lot. Not a lot of middle ground where a previous single-story SFH becomes two taller SFHs or 2-4 townhouses.
There's actually a lot of land in the Boston suburbs with SFH lots much larger than that of the Seattle area. But it seems like no one subdivides those lots for more SFHs or townhouses. At least not on a large scale.
I feel like on the West Coast I see far more teardowns of old bungalows for new construction than I did in the Boston area. Like one single street in Seattle will have more of that going on than an entire neighborhood in Boston. Hasn't helped lower housing prices though.
A lot of stigma around that type of housing stock. In New England, it's synonymous with working/lower classes. It wouldn't go over well. They do build a good number of new triple-deckers on vacant lots in Dorchester/Roxbury. They blend in so well after 10 years you'd be surprised to learn that they're new construction.
I also don't think lots are easily able to be subdivided in Mass. btw. I've seen those types of things rejected in the city of Boston in various neighborhoods, recently
But none of those jobs allow someone to be able to still afford to live in the city. There few customer service jobs out there these days. We already pointed out that most lower level jobs in corporate are still going to young people with high ed degrees (at least that's how it works at my place).
I dont think MBTA jobs are as easy to get as you might think. They're pretty competitive...the pay is quite good.
DMV seems like an awful job and how many DMV positions are there even these days? not many. I can't tell you the last time I had to go to the DMV because most things can be done online.
Hotel jobs these days seem to be the people who check people in or the people who do the cleaning. I notice the people who check folks in tend to be standing all day.
Janitorial jobs seem to be done by immigrants these days. I mean someone has to do the job but doesn't seem like someone already living here wants that job.
Not many jobs that require degrees allow people to live in the city unless you're willing to live with roommates, have no plans of buying (or help from family), or have two incomes.
Hell, I make in the low 6 figures and if I lived in Boston, Cambridge or even Newton or Brookline, I wouldn't be able to save for a down payment for a house. That's why I'm out in Marlborough (where I moved when a promotion after I earned a master's degree finally allowed me something better than sharing 1 bathroom with multiple roommates in Medford), and even here small single family houses or townhouses start at $350K on up while the condo stock is old, mostly renter-occupied, and blocked at every turn from expanding.
It's a problem from top to bottom. And why would an employer hire an entry level worker with no college degree over someone who has one? That's the unfortunate part about the competition for these lower level jobs - it's that much harder to get your food in the door even if you would be totally capable of the job.
I think the reason places like Boston and SF are so expensive is because they have a certain dense, walkable uniqueness to them that is somewhat rare for the US. As a result, these cities attract educated, well-traveled people which then causes a raise in housing prices. Then, larger white collar companies see this, they move to these cities and that attracts even more white collar workers. The causes the blue collar to be forced out and live in less interesting places (NH). At the end of the day, can you fault Boston for trying to lurer in big companies that bring in loads of tax dollars?
However, for the people on the poorer side to begin with, they struggle to find affordable housing so many of them move to the street. Couple that with the fact that if any of us were homeless, we'd probably find a way to get to places like Boston, NYC or SF because begging for change is far easier when you have people walking around. Plus, due to guilt from the upper classes for displacing the poorer classes, the cities fund services for the homeless, so I'd imagine they'd come to Boston from places that have services that can help them.
The homeless population in the US isn't any worse than say much of Europe (actually the numbers are lower in the US), but we're unique because they seem to take over swaths of certain cities. If we truly want to even things out a bit, don't blame Boston or SF. Blame Tulsa or Des Moines or even Pittsfield for being unwalkable places with limited services that modern tech companies don't want to move to (because the young and the hip don't want to go there) that result in fewer services for the homeless. If other cities around the US step it up, Boston and SF won't be so unique.
On a completely unrelated matter, the first time I ever saw a homeless tent city in my life was in Nagoya Japan. I used to see tent cities set up in parks in various cities around the country and it shocked me. I had never seen so many homeless in my life, but at the same time I never felt unsafe being in those areas.
There's definitely a feedback loop. It's a case of "them that has, gets".
Make a RER system that makes it cheap, quick, and convenient to scoot around the metropolitan area and have a line going to a further out airport or two so that Logan airport can be shut down and redeveloped and height restrictions in downtown and seaport can be lifted.
Just now got off the phone with a friend who works at Deloitte.
Was living at Harbor Point in a 2BR with a roommate. Aug 20th forced to move back in with his parents in Canton. Rent got up to high.
Ivy League grad.
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