The rise of the McJob (drugs, military, compare, education system)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
10 years after the Recession started.....46% of Floridians, and a close number to that here on the "rich" Gulf Coast near the water...
"The share of households where income is insufficient to sustain a survival budget – the bare minimum needed to live and work in the modern economy"
Believe me...those are not only McJobs. You can do skilled work in a hospital here and make $12 an hour. Remember, minimum wages is LESS than $8 an hour.
The poverty here is staggering. I'm not talking statistics (although the article is bad enough). I'm talking about what you see every day. Homeless people right next to McLarren (300K+) sports cars for sale. 10's of thousands living in housing that must be killing them (mold, insects, rot and more).
Most people would never see this....and even if they did, it would be a flash as they drove by. But ask anyone who delivers stuff or provides services in the areas once you turn off the main streets.
If they dont pay squat and there is no CLEAR and NEAR advancment to near 6 figures (which is the amount needed to build true wealth AND lead a middle class life style in most areas.
I would consider a 12/hr job a McJob. The only exception would be if that skill set allowed you to defray a significant expense from your budget. For instance learning to do your own mechanical, electrical and plumbing as those people generally want a small fortune for doing relatively simple tasks. The ones that you end up calling are already jounied out and have their own business license and if not the parent company is getting most of the bill rate so I just opted out and i know alot of people doing the same thing. Thus most of these people have to survive off commercial projects which are boom and bust.
Anecdote and talking points aside...which party fights for LOW minimum wages...and/or even the removal of any minimum wage?
Texas and Florida, a total of 50+ million people (1/6th of the country!) both have $7.25 an hour minimum wage.
That's disgraceful.
GOP does, but if families got involved it would not matter who was in office because people would not be compelled to work these jobs. They could stay home and learn to weld, take MOOC's on Edx and even get an Edx degree with no debt. Use LIMITED hours at a mcjob to pay for a cheap car and other basic expenses and equipment to learn on. Everything can now be learned on youtube and you just have to save to buy the equipment to learn on.
But this business of barely scraping enough money together to pay the rent seeker and have to work 60 hours at McJobs is a fools errand.
They could be more brazen with a hole supervisors at their jobs and not take flack and could hold out for real jobs, etc etc.
Maybe certain people - but the lowest paid state residents in the US - MS - make an average of $18.71 (mean hourly wage).....
Statistics show it to be very low....since they are in dead last place.
My son, who is fairly good at avoiding hard physical work, got his first job at Pizza Hut. After a few months there he got a job in the drive-up window at a local bank for the SAME hourly wage (low!). He told us that if he was going to work for peanuts at least he would be in A/C and sitting down.
He's doing really well now.....got a grad degree and married a woman who also has one.
Work smart, not hard...or both. But not dumb and hard.....IMHO.
I agree, but the KEY is being able to tell the pizza hut manager to take a hike because you have a family safety net. With out that net people are less willing to take risks because then they have one foot on the streets.
Hard physical work should be paying 70/80 hr but there are enough dummys willing to do it cheap .... so its not that he is affraid of hard work its that to many dummys are driving the price points down to the point its not worth doing if you have any sense in your head. Hard physical work breaks your body down and most people cant do it past 30 ish so if you are smart you know that you need to CASH in in those 10 or so years and the only way to do it is if your making AT LEAST 70 hr and have an exist plan to transition into a cosy career after 30.
As noted by other commentators, folks on the Left are too apt to discount the degree to which personal initiative plays in an issue like this, while folks on the Right are too quick to dismiss the effect that structural barriers have on grown adults struggling to earn living wages.
Both sides are too reticent to acknowledge an even more uncomfortable truth: we have an underclass of people with below-average intelligence in an economy where more and more jobs, including low-paying jobs, require more and more reasoning ability and technical knowledge. What if many of them cannot learn the skills necessary to get those jobs? Tough luck for them? I'm guessing most of you are unwilling to go down some sort of social Darwinist route. What are we going to do with these people as our economy continues along in this fashion?
If they dont pay squat and there is no CLEAR and NEAR advancment to near 6 figures (which is the amount needed to build true wealth AND lead a middle class life style in most areas.
I would consider a 12/hr job a McJob. The only exception would be if that skill set allowed you to defray a significant expense from your budget. For instance learning to do your own mechanical, electrical and plumbing as those people generally want a small fortune for doing relatively simple tasks. The ones that you end up calling are already jounied out and have their own business license and if not the parent company is getting most of the bill rate so I just opted out and i know alot of people doing the same thing. Thus most of these people have to survive off commercial projects which are boom and bust.
Many places in the USA are sorta a ponzi scheme....or at least a pyramid scheme. The only clear path to making money is having a LOT OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T working for you (in one way or another).
The $12 or $15 job at the local big hospital really doesn't have much advancement path...unless the person wants to become a surgeon. Maybe one out of a thousand will go back to school and eventually be an administrator and make some $$$.
But I can attest from direct experience that you can follow ALL the rules (here in FL) and work your tail off and you will barely make it. We live in an area of mostly blue collar families and there are 3 cars in the drive of 1400 sq ft ranch houses that all leave for work early in the morning. In other words, it takes a lot of working to support even a middle class situation here in "wealthy" Gulf Coast Florida.
I have always done 95% of my own work....got my start in house framing and carpentry, so it came naturally. But you can actually get work done reasonably around here since there are a lot of skilled or semi-skilled workers who are obviously accustomed to lower wages.
For comparisons sake, I'd say trade prices are 50% of what they are up north in coastal RI....and availability here is MUCH greater. Everyone is competing to scratch out a living.
Does anyone know how to generate graphs on the dept of labor web site to show what percentage of americans in the work force are making $18/hr or less at 40 hours a week
Is there a way to sort over 18 under 18 and then sort by part time full time while keeping the hourly dollar amount in the sort?
I was reading an article that stated over half of americans in the work force are making at or under $18/hr which I would constitute as a McJob.
People like to tout all this jobs growth but then people get offended (someone at work got upset when I said we should be teaching kids to avoid McJobs at all costs once they pass 20 years old even if they have to live at home or in a van and work on building skills and get an education).
Should americans take a stand against the McJob economy and families pull together and tell crap companies to take a hike we are not working here. Or if you dont have family just opt to live out of your car and be homeless instead of working like a slave in a McJob.
If it is in fact true that over half of working americans are making less than 18 hr then we truely are one of the dumbest populations on earth if we keep voting GOP.
BUT I dont know if it is true ....
Why listen to you especially with your garbage quote blaming republicans. Blame the progressives for running your life if you want to complain.
It's the parents job to teach their kids but too many have decided welfare is the way to go so they abandon their kids. Get rid of the welfare state.
As noted by other commentators, folks on the Left are too apt to discount the degree to which personal initiative plays in an issue like this, while folks on the Right are too quick to dismiss the effect that structural barriers have on grown adults struggling to earn living wages.
Both sides are too reticent to acknowledge an even more uncomfortable truth: we have an underclass of people with below-average intelligence in an economy where more and more jobs, including low-paying jobs, require more and more reasoning ability and technical knowledge. What if many of them cannot learn the skills necessary to get those jobs? Tough luck for them? I'm guessing most of you are unwilling to go down some sort of social Darwinist route. What are we going to do with these people as our economy continues along in this fashion?
Why do we have the same "underclass" in MA (and, believe me, it's there) and yet the GDP and all the related statistics are vastly higher?
My answer, based on actual experience in various places, involved:
1. Better social safety nets.
2. Historically better shots at a better education.
3. The complete opposite of social Darwinism...rather a community minded approach.
This is nothing new. In his books about travels throughout the South and Texas, Frederick Law Olmstead pondered why each person in MA. was responsible for 6X the economic output of people in other states. I think, at this point, many of the questions have been answered.
A society needs to mold itself to provide value and space for everyone. Period. Heck, even John Adams knew that 100's of years ago...he said "no amount is too much" to spend on educating the poor.
Even when 60% of them can't find Iraq on a map or understand how much 5 Trillion dollars (and counting) wasted there really is?
Sorry, that's a strikeout. For all of history we have had smarter people than parents teaching our children...unless you are talking about how to milk a cow, etc.
That I will leave to the parents.....well, not really. Farming these days requires a lot of tech and training.
Even when 60% of them can't find Iraq on a map or understand how much 5 Trillion dollars (and counting) wasted there really is?
Thank the progressives for installing the Dept of Education. Our standing compared to the rest of the world in education has fallen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri
Sorry, that's a strikeout. For all of history we have had smarter people than parents teaching our children...unless you are talking about how to milk a cow, etc.
lol Since when is knowing where a country is on a map related to work skills? I bet that's very important to know when one is on an assembly line.
Quit playing your childish gotcha games. It's about raising your kids. You forget that while looking to government to raise you from cradle to grave?
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri
That I will leave to the parents.....well, not really. Farming these days requires a lot of tech and training.
Thanks to progressives like you who steal others money through the inheritance tax which causes some farms to go under.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
