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I don't bother applying for low wage jobs because of my SSDI... But some of you here are long term unemployed or employed in low wage jobs just to get by...
My H.S. friend Noel has a lot of restaurant experience and despite his felony he gets restaurant jobs quickly in this economy.
I don't think low wage jobs are as hard to find as some people claim. Part of the problem I suspect is people are selective about what jobs they will and will not do. I have worked at large production plants that hire damn near anyone for low skilled work like monitoring computer controlled/robotic equipment. No experience? No problem, because they are always looking to train the lowest common denominator. The jobs are boring, the hours are long, standing for long hours and lifting is generally required and the retention rate is often poor. Adding to this, half the population can't seem to do simple addition and subtraction, so it's an extra bonus for those who can count.
Not saying I would be thrilled to do such a job, but they are jobs, and the companies seem to hire anyone with a couple brain cells to rub together. Typically, these jobs pay better than McWalmart jobs and offer health insurance/dental, etc. The upward potential is also pretty decent for the mechanically inclined. I don't quite understand why 100's of people line up when McDonalds is hiring but these places might find a couple potential candidates for hire in a month.
I did that crap when I was younger. With the OT, I was doing quite a bit better than my burger flipping counterparts.
A lot of people would be deemed "overqualified" for low wage jobs, so they can hard to come by for some college graduates who are desperate for work. Also, while relatively few employers would knowingly hire a convicted felon, many small employers (such as restaurants) do not want to go the expense of a background check and I suspect that is how your friend gets hired.
Restaurants don't work like other businesses, in my experience. I've worked in them for years, and I've seen everything from employees smoking marijuana in the parking lot to management getting sexual favors in the walk-in coolers.
I'm used to working with felons. At my last restaurant, my manager was a single mother with a few meth-related felonies, and I've known several chefs who obtained culinary degrees in prison. It's the nature of the industry, not the expense of background checks, imo.
Last edited by strangecasualty; 01-25-2013 at 05:50 PM..
Reason: Accidentally posted before I was finished. :(
A lot of people would be deemed "overqualified" for low wage jobs, so they can hard to come by for some college graduates who are desperate for work. Also, while relatively few employers would knowingly hire a convicted felon, many small employers (such as restaurants) do not want to go the expense of a background check and I suspect that is how your friend gets hired.
I am a college graduate and worked a couple low wage jobs to survive this crappy economy. I have a BS degree and was hired through two temp agencies at around $9-$10 an hour doing factory work. You can get a low wage job if you have a degree, but I suspect most(not all) people use the whole "overqualified" thing as an excuse.
There are some parts of the country where even low wage jobs are hard to get. I was in Yuma, AZ where the unemployment rate was around 27% when the recession first started. There were hundreds of folks lining up for low wage jobs there and it was tough to get call backs even from El Pollo Loco. Even the illegals in Yuma were even going back to Mexico because they couldn't find jobs. Here in Indiana, I haven't had the problems I had in Yuma in getting low wage jobs.
I don't think they are hard to get but the need to go through background checks, credit checks, assessments, reference checks, etc all for 10/hour seems a bit much.
The ability for the unemployed person to eat and put a roof over his head.
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