There Are LOADS Of Jobs Out There, But NONE Of Them Pay Living Wages!

reply to post by Goldcurrent


Minimum wage jobs are for kids? Wouldn't it be lovely if that were true. The majority of the employees working in the factories around here are over 30 and most of those places start out at around a dollar above minimum wage but you have to go through one of those temp places to get the job, so you usually only get minimum wage. My mother worked at one of those places for over 7 years and was only being pad $ 0.60 above minimum wage when she was laid off. For the majority of her last 3 years there the employees were working an average of 50+ hours a week and the company was somehow getting around overtime pay, there was no time and half or anything like that, you only got paid whatever your normal pay was for every single hour you worked, which in my mother's case would sometimes come out to over 70 hours a week at $7.10 an hour. That's some grade A pay right there!

I know, I know, many people like to scream that one word: relocate. The problem with this is that if none of the jobs in your local area pay a wage that will allow you to own a vehicle it is rather difficult to relocate. When you have to choose between rent or a car, it isn't so simple. Relocating requires money, money can't be saved when your aren't being paid enough to even get by, especially if you have children to provide for as well.

Most of the people that I know who have children get foodstamps, not because they aren't working, they actually are, but because those jobs aren't paying them enough to feed their children. So they are unable to relocate to those supposed better paying jobs. Some of them even have business degrees...

I just hope that by the time my wife and I finish school one of two things has happened.

A) Some kind of miracle happens and our country cleans its act up and things start to look up for us regular people or
B) REVOLUTION!

Wait, are those the same thing?

It sure is going to suck to owe all of that student loan debt as a person with a degree in engineering but still being unable to find a job or at the very least one that is willing to pay a fair living wage.

My Grandfather used to always say "If a mans willin' to bust his @$$ 40 hours a week there aint' no excuse why he can't have a good home, good car, and take his family on vacation once or twice a year."
News flash old people, things have changed, if you still believe this then you are either delusional or retired.

This is my first post ever here on this site, that being said I have lurked for a while and have been paying attention to this thread. I am sure this has been brought up before, but what ever happened to technology driving the "Workforce"? Automation seems the likely scenario. Jobs aren't desirable, money has no worth other than what you're told its worth. As advanced as we are now or have ever been in our shrouded origins why are people so mentally conditioned towards the idea if you aren't working you're trash, worthless, and lazy, most of all unintelligent. Without culture life is meaningless in a way. I feel with less work to do people can focus on the arts, music, and ideas. Without these an organism appears to be an abomination, a husk toiling away with no enjoyment in being "alive". Technology is replacing humans at an ever growing rate, robots and computers are taking the work out of work. How is this bad? We should be using our tools to make life as easy as possible not make it so so and have so many of our species suffer because they weren't born into money or don't have the means to pick themselves up and get it done. What I propose is easier said then done, but maybe in the next 50 years maximum how many more jobs will be almost completely replaced by our own creations. IT IS NOT A BAD THING. If we live longer, easier, more culturally productive lives then we are advancing together as one instead of money making so many rifts: poor, middle, rich and all the ego fueled entitlement that comes with the latter two that you're better than your fellow man by the material items you own. End the strife, strive for knowledge, push the boundaries of the Human species. I'm not asking for a Utopia, there will always be minor differences, crime even as sexual as personal relationships will always be around and with that comes all the motives for violence though I feel that can diminish in time possibly making all humans attractive genetically lessening the rift. There are many problems that could arise with my proposal. I admit, like communism/socialism it sounds good on paper yet in practice is a disaster (in most cases). Maybe we're all too far into the current state to be able to cope with a major paradigm shift. I ask for you to read my post and add to it or argue against my ideas with respect and intelligence giving reasons as to why we may never reach these goals.

reply to post by Revanant


In society, if you're not a drone like the rest of the drones, they mock you.

The American people have been brow-beaten into submission by a combination of government, the MSM (especially Fox) and popular culture.

reply to post by CynicalDrivel


I don't understand what you mean here.

Can you re-phrase it?

Entry level jobs /minimum wage jobs aren't supposed to provide a "living wage", whatever that is supposed to be. They are ENTRY LEVEL, as in for people with no skills, who have little demand in the marketplace, hence they are paid according to what the market dictates.

reply to post by Revanant


Welcome to ATS. Here, take a seat, have a cupcake. Yes that's it, cupcake. There's nothing in it! I promise...

Don't take this the wrong way but you might want to try segments instead of one long wall of text in future posts. It's kind of a pain to read when its like that and many people will simply skip over those kinds of posts.

I read what you had to say and I must say that I agree with you. Unfortunately, considering the world today, the likelihood of such a society is... Well, it's just not very likely. You do make a good point though. It seems that the more we advance, the less need we have for human labor. Realistically it wouldn't eliminate all jobs though and nobody is going to want to be the people who have to work if most of the other people don't have to. The workers would still think of themselves as a "better" class than those who do not work.

I think the biggest problem with your proposal though is that most of society doesn't want that. Most people do not want to be "equal," they want to be able to think of themselves as "better" than others. First we would have to change that.

Sorry that is all I have right now. It is getting early and I need some sleep. Good luck here on ATS and try not to let them get to you...

reply to post by FreeFromTheHerd


From my experiences, they are supposed to be a stepping stone to something better.

However, unless you have a ton of experience in a field OR know the right people, you are S.O.L.

Most employers around here are not willing to train people and even when they do find that rare person with experience, they shun that person based on their wage expectations. You can't win.

All you can do is find a job and make the best of it.

reply to post by The Sword


You:

Why are you doing the bidding of the same bastards that are raping you by paying you # and forcing you to scrape by?

Me:

It's generally because the poor ones who want you to live by their bidding can't afford to keep you at all.

Let's say that there's x special interest group going to congress to get themselves heard. Some of them don't have the ability to pay me squat, and want to make rules and whatnot, at the federal level. Those rules and whatnot can dictate some of my life, depending on what is in them.

For instance, as much as the oil industry is the monster destroying nature, and you have special interest groups that petition for laws that keep as much land out of their hands. The more oil that Halliburton and ilk is willing to dig up out of the ground, water, ect., the more jobs this state has. The more laws put in place to prevent them from "raping the land", the less jobs there are, AND those special interest groups are not paying for more jobs to replace the ones they attempt to take away.

So, Me:

So the choice is between the person who makes sure you can get maybe a 3rd of what you need done, or the one who can't do squat.

Halliburton is known for paying well, but there's some supporting jobs (machinery supply, shipyards, ect) where they don't pay their workforce what the JOB is worth. (Forget if their work is worth the job for a moment. Generally speaking, $10 an hour in the oil field is an insult (better be beginner's pay, and for a very short time).) BUT: fighting against the oil field ensures that there are no jobs. ther'es not enough "other industry" to provide the source of income to the service industry, so a lot of service jobs go, without oil jobs. We've seen a crash--you get 40 year old men flipping burgers while kids can't get a job.

So literally, to preserve nature is to lose jobs. And the special interest groups supporting nature are doing nothing to replace the jobs they want desperately rid of. It's not like we don't need some preservation against drilling, but the financial infrastructure is WAY behind where these laws take us.

So, we keep plugging away at the laws? Or should we start finding alternative job sources for these people that are being paid by oil? And I mean without a loss of money? It's just not being done--specifically, not being done by those underpaid special interest groups who are wiling to write laws for good, to hurt their fellow man.

And I'm supposed to choose between "better for all mankind" and "dependable for living for all mankind"? Please, I'm taking the job to feed my family.

Capiche?

reply to post by Goldcurrent


When the Vietnamese immigrated to Cajun country, they got together and bought a shrimping boat. They ran this day and night, as a group until they could afford another boat, and could afford to get more Vietnamese immigrants in, through sponsorship, whatnot. They're still running the shrimping industry like that down here. And our Cajun shrimpers complain about it to this day...in the bar, when they could be out there competing with the Vietnamese.

reply to post by The Sword


Or, you get creative and start your own business.

I currently own 2, one is more of a hobby, but last year it produced a PROFIT of $32,000. It cost me about a grand total of $60 to start, and that was only for materials.

My other business was exactly $1,675 to start, and that provides a very nice income, I work when I want, and if I want to take a month off, I can, and without having to beg for permission from some ahole boss.

WIth the integration of the internet into our daily lives, even poor people have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. What matters is how they use it and choose to apply themselves.

Originally posted by CynicalDrivel
So literally, to preserve nature is to lose jobs......

And I'm supposed to choose between "better for all mankind" and "dependable for living for all mankind"? Please, I'm taking the job to feed my family.

I'm glad you identified yourself. I hope you don't mind if I ask some questions. I'll understand if you don't answer, as I can't pay you for your time.

Are you concerned at all about the destruction of the planet?

Are you concerned about the future of any children you may have that may live on a wrecked planet?

Do you consider this life to be meaningless? If so, why? If so, is it because you believe an "afterlife" is when you truly live? If not, are you religious?

Are you satisfied with living simply, or do you have more demanding tastes and requirements for you and your family?

If you were paid enough, would you help develop and maintain clean renewable energy?

To what extent do you not care about others outside your family?

Would you accept help from others outside your family?

What do you consider entertainment?

I don't need to know what it is, but do you have a political party affiliation?

Thank you for your time.

reply to post by FreeFromTheHerd


they used to provide a living wage.....
no, they didn't provide a life anywhere near luxury, but you could live on them....
and I've seen many jobs being offered in the papers, with pay close to that minimum wage, that want 5 or sometimes more years of experience...

the first job I had was minimum wage, $3 something an hour, and I could live on it, heck, I think I had more spending power than I do now, and I'm making more than double what I was making then!!!

reply to post by dawnstar


Now you are older, presumably have more responsibilities, family obligations, etc etc. Young, single, and close to being responsibility free naturally means more spending power. You aren't thinking about the future then, about retirement, and you have more disposable income.

reply to post by FreeFromTheHerd


nope, the cost of living was much cheapers, so you could buy more with that minimum wage 3 something an hour job!!
the one bedroom apt was less than $200 a month, now, good luck finding something under $400!!
some of the stuff we buy in the stores has doubled in price in that couple of years. I used to do the shopping for the family, before I hurt my feet....I had a rule, I wouldn't buy any meat that cost more than $2.00 a lb...
had plenty of choices. now, there isn't much to buy if you were to kept that rule...
even entry level jobs should pay enough to keep a person alive, and they did back then, it wasn't the grandest life, but you could keep a roof over your heads, have food to eat...

ya know, there is a certain economic cycle that proceeds as a generation grows from early adulthood through parenthood and into retirement. the kids would graduate from school and either go into college or into the job market. moved out of their parents homes and started their independent lives. soon after, they would get married and start a family, they would go from renting apartments, buying neat cars, to building a family, buying a home, and on through to post children stage....
this has slowed down alot...they can't come up with a job that pays enough to leave mom and dad, they can't come up with that well paying job that they can build a family on, and they can't afford to have the kids, buy the house. in plain simple words, keeping the workers in jobs that pay squat is gonna come back on the business sector when those workers don't buy, don't rent, don't purchase homes, don't have kids, ect....

Exactly what I have been saying the whole time, we have enough jobs. It is just that our money doesn't take us far enough to get everybody by fairly anymore. You can thank the federal reserves for that and a world of fiat currency. This changes the way a civilization grows,.. it waxes itself. It is true the people have the power, but in order to bring most of our power back in this world is to change our spending habits, form bonds with local farmers and markets, pull all your money out of the banks and start using it within the communities. In order to bring spending power back into our money we have to strike with our money. The nightmare of electronic and fractional reserve banking to govern illegally credited, indebted money to the people is in no way to properly, and fairly manage the peoples money. It's more like a computer program written to enslave the people that work for the illegal tender produced by the private organization that enslaves America everyday. The Fed Cartel and the "Federal" Reserve banking system. 97 Percent of our money is in intangible computer files at these banks, festering in CEO's files inflating our currency very rapidly until one day it will stop. Politicians are debasing the currency, it will only go so far. When will it stop? When you might as well wipe your ass with it? Then who's to blame? The government. We all see propaganda right before our very eyes, but really do nothing about it. Well guess what? Our forefathers used leaves to wipe their ass with instead of their money. And the people would like to keep it that way. That is why our forefathers drew up a little document called the U.S. Constitution, To help and teach people how to govern their money leagally so that wouldn't have to happen. Now where did we go wrong? Politics. They are turning this world into a business instead of a home. The corrupted ways drive people into debt with each other, other cultures and nations.This drives us right into what our forefathers warned us of. A civil war. Dr. John King predicted twenty-two years ago the collapse of our monetary system should have happened twelve years ago due to the rising interest on the national debt. This will force the United States into bankruptcy and severely deflate the rest of the physical currency left in circulation, but not before a revolution to clean up the act. This will unfold a century long pyramid scheme implemented by the United States government for the rich elite and the New World Order. Unless these politicians can pull more money out of their ass then ours, we ain't getting anywhere with this show on the road!.

Originally posted by dawnstar
reply to post by FreeFromTheHerd

 

they used to provide a living wage.....
no, they didn't provide a life anywhere near luxury, but you could live on them....
and I've seen many jobs being offered in the papers, with pay close to that minimum wage, that want 5 or sometimes more years of experience...

the first job I had was minimum wage, $3 something an hour, and I could live on it, heck, I think I had more spending power than I do now, and I'm making more than double what I was making then!!!

End the Fed.

reply to post by 84Jake


ya know, I understand why you say that, but I just ain't sure if it would help much....
so you think that it would be better to take the fed out of the picture and give the reigns of money creation back to congress, which is more constitutional, I agree...
it would also eliminate the idea that we can increase the money supply by putting ourselves more and more in debt!
but the congress doesn't seem to want to end their spending spree either, and more than likely, they'd kill the printing presses trying to print the money so fast, so they can blow it on all their fancies!

we need to do more than just end the fed!

just from what I've read on these boards, I can tell ya, we need to do much more than end the fed!!

adults just entering the labor force, don't need the means to live?? really?? what you think that mom and dad are gonna keep them for five, or ten, or maybe forever till the get enough experience that the employers feel that they deserve to live?? really?? what if mom and dad have been in the workforce for 30 years and still haven't managed to find a job that supports all of them adequately??
we need a complete overhaul, beginning with our own way of thinking!!

even the old slaveholders had enough sense to know that they would have to foot the bill to at least keep those slaves healthy enough to put in a decents days work!! we've lost something major, our moral compass! a compass that has less to do with religion and has more to do with compassion and common sense!!
you want to have employees working, you have a vested interest in those employees, you should be concerned where their next meal is coming from, where they are sleeping at night, weather or not they have the money to get to work or not! not passing the buck off to the government, so they can tax all of us and force all of us to take on that interest for you so your bottom line can look better!

reply to post by dawnstar


You're correct, we need to do more than just End the FED... we need a complete REVOLUTION. I'll tell you, it's not gonna be pretty. Anyone who tells you we can still change things by Protesting, Writing Congress, or Voting has been under a rock or has their eyes closed.

reply to post by dawnstar


Of course we need to do more then ending the fed, The ways of this country is so corrupted now its hard to say if we have reached the point of no turning back. All the grand thieves are running this country, no doubt about that. This government attacks everything we have, our air, water, land, food, tv, and money. Its insanity.

The problem is our society has lost it's way a long time a go. Entropy is really hard to fight against. We have to somehow be enlightened enough to build a better society. It takes 1,000s of years to come to this realzation. We are at the point we either fix things or we let things fall apart naturally.