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True statement: I recently got to ride on my Doctor's boat, and then on my plumber's yacht.
Reminds me of one of my favorite quick jokes.
A Doctor calls a Plummer over to his house to fix his leaky pipe. The Plummer goes into the house and does some Plummer things for 15 minutes, comes out and hands the doctor a bill for $300. The doctor in shock says "how can you charge that much for your time, I'm a doctor and even I don't make that much". The Plummer looks at him with a smile and replies "Neither did I when I was a doctor".
I get these doctor v. plumber lines are born from humor and irony.
But I've got a 100% legit comparison.
One of my lifelong best friends is a plumber. I know his income because my admin. does his taxes and I hel phim invest. Last year he made $103,000 and probably worked 70hrs. per week and his body is breaking down.
My son is in the 3rd year of a 7 year neurosurgery residency. He got a job offer last week - I never got an offer for 4 years down the line - but such is medicine.
Nuts and bolts of his offer from a cold weather state/hospital out west, the dearth of young neurosurgeons there partially explains the generosity.
Pay - $550K for ~48hrs. per week (it's medicine so 48 really means 70 probably) escalating to $700,000 after 4 years. With 10 weeks vacation (there are lots of strings to the vacation though - he can't split for 10 weeks etc.). The work days are rigged such that he could live in Dallas 3 days and work there 4 days.
$20K per year car allowance for 4 years
$25K per year housing allowance 4 years
$300K bonus if he stays for 5 years
There are several productivity and outcome based bonus that would likely equal another $70-90K per year.
Inside track to a professorship/residency directorship at the state medical college/hospital that does not have anything in his area now.
$50Ky "retention bonus" if he decides to do a fellowship in neurophysiology or whatever.
$25Ky "retention bonus" if he decides to get a Ph.D in math, physics or whatever. In other words they will pay him while he earns fellowship or Ph.D.
He's probably going to pass because he does not like cold weather.
Skilled trades are booming in western Oregon. My partner just got his CCB# and is already booked through 2020 and will probably be hiring others, just in residential remodels. Find a trade, get good at it. Be a man of your word; honest and fair. Also being a mechanic for any kind of equipment pays very well. Healthcare equipment repair and maintenance is SCREAMING for new techs. Also, industrial and residential electricians. Take practical courses of study at local community colleges. Apprentice! Unskilled work is easily automated and will always be low-paid. Learn a trade, and always keep your skills current with new developments.
Horrible. If you have a skill you are overqualified & those in the skilled positions have a gift of gab; not skill.
The husband is a welding supervisor & is aerospace, DOD, mining & underwater certified, can machine, fabricate, program & hang highrises, has a household of 5 & makes $45k.
The fact is there are NUMEROUS worthless degrees offered by colleges today, and if you go into debt pursuing one of these worthless degrees, you would have been, on average, much better off pursuing a trade. To make matters worse, many students who pursue these worthless degree tracks today will compound their problems by pursuing an advanced degree program that is equally worthless. Again, if you are using loans to finance these poor decisions, then you are basically going to live a life of student loan debt slavery.
Millions of students are in this very situation, are vastly underemployed and loaded with student debt, and thus why there is $1.6 trillion in student debt and screeching cries for a bailout due to their poor decisions related to their higher education track. Students buy the BS professors and higher education "institutions" sell them in pursuing these worthless degree tracks until the bills come due.
A college degree today in no way, shape, or form guarantees you are good job after graduation. An advanced degree doesn't either. You have to be very selective in the area of study you are pursuing to make sure it has MARKET DEMAND. Avoid as much debt as possible. There are so many recent graduates today that regret their college degree because they are $50K+ in debt and making $45K-$60K barely getting by. It makes no sense, but hey everyone should have a college degree - wink, wink.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,206,701 times
Reputation: 57821
Quote:
Originally Posted by SWFL_Native
$15/hour min wage is going to wreck their employment prospects as we enter the next recession.
Lots of opportunity for additional forms of AI/Automation/Machine learning coming our way.
Those day laborers that stand outside Home Depot are getting at least $20/hour, cash, tax free. I know that now because my neighbor is using one for some yard work. He takes the bus to the nearest stop and my neighbor picks him up. He said he went down there and asked how much to do some yard work for a couple of days, and that guy was the lowest at $20.
Because of the construction boom, here there is a shortage of workers in the trades, and they are starting at about $35/hour for unskilled laborers. Union electricians can make as much as $150,000.
Unions have been on the decline for years (in those areas where they manage to remain relevant) and increasingly struggle to stay afloat. Only 10 or 11% of American workers are members of a union (compared to 30% in the 60’s) - and the Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME was significant as well. Long gone are the days one can expect to latch onto a well-paying (i.e. overpaid) blue-collar union job in which he is set up for life (often irrelative to merit).
College degrees are ‘worthless’ only to those who need an excuse not to get one. The US ranks 17th in overall educational performance globally - and high-paying union jobs will continue to decrease in the US (and do not provide stability in today’s world even when they are had). Planning one’s future - even through a local or community college - will go much further than an unskilled laborer (even if said laborer temporarily makes $35 an hour).
Last edited by CorporateCowboy; 07-28-2019 at 05:43 PM..
Reason: Typo on AFSCME
How are blue collar workers faring in your part of the USA?I live in Midland/Odessa in the Permian Basin of Texas.People who have never went to college are making 6 figures working in the oilfield. However, this could all change fast if there was a bust.Do you all know of any other parts of the country where someone with no college and only a high school diploma or GED can make a good living that allows them to be able to afford a house and family?Do you all know of any other areas where the working class can make 6 figures?I dont know how manufacturing is in other states.Also, people can make a good living working in a plant or a refinery in a job that is more stable than being a roughneck.Also, I know skilled tradesmen like HVAC,electrictians, and plumbers/welders can make a good living especially if they own their own business.Sorry for being longwinded.lol.
The water pipe from the meter going to my house broke right where it went thru the basement wall, it was a muddy mess and I’m getting on in years so I called a plumber. He came out the next morning, had to dig down about two feet. PVC pipe, so he simply glued in a short section of pipe with two or three new fittings. I discovered he did woodwork like me, so we had a good conversation. He and his dad ran the plumbing business, mostly him. He said he wanted to do more woodwork, but his plumbing occupied all his time. When I asked, how much for the repair, he said $179. It was about an hour job. He was a high school graduate and definitely a blue collar worker. I would say he makes a good honest living, his job is dirty, but there will always be a demand for plumbers.
The water pipe from the meter going to my house broke right where it went thru the basement wall, it was a muddy mess and I’m getting on in years so I called a plumber. He came out the next morning, had to dig down about two feet. PVC pipe, so he simply glued in a short section of pipe with two or three new fittings. I discovered he did woodwork like me, so we had a good conversation. He and his dad ran the plumbing business, mostly him. He said he wanted to do more woodwork, but his plumbing occupied all his time. When I asked, how much for the repair, he said $179. It was about an hour job. He was a high school graduate and definitely a blue collar worker. I would say he makes a good honest living, his job is dirty, but there will always be a demand for plumbers.
And how much of that $179 did he get to keep? Did he have full benefits already paid for? Did he own the business? What expenses came out of that revenue number? Was he consistently billing 40 hours a week at that rate? Or charging out that rate because of all the hours charging zero?
He’s not making $179 an hour any more than I was making $300 an hour in public accounting when that was my billable rate at age 25.
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