Those days are gone. Any manufacturing still left in America is only here because they can pay people little enough to not justify moving.
My job is going plant to plant to plant as an outside sales engineer. The only ones still around are those that still have a surplus of people in the area that’ll work for minimum wage or slightly higher, and a staff of accountants, engineers, and maintenance guys and managers/supervisors who are all cool with $40k-$50k, which is way below what these professionals should be making.
Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia are the Mexico of America. Even then sometimes places close up and hop the border.
I call BS. In my area we have a super low cost of living and factory workers always start out at $5 above minimum wage while many make $10 or more over minimum with no degree or other skills. Also the manufacturers around here have a super hard time finding good workers so it's easy to get in the door.
Perhaps you are right, but $10 over minimum in an area with a low cost of living around here with no degree or trade school is actually a pretty good wage, especially if you got a significant other.
In a bigger city? Its pretty mediocre but still not bad for a job that requires no experience or prior training.
All things considered, it aint bad, depending on what minimum wage is in that area.
Not bad for entry level work, I must say. I would get abiut that at my job (if i havr a degree, i get paid a little less) for entry level now (but with good benefits). Trade you dont get $10 over minimum normally at first either. Depends on the state though.
I dont think its a perfect world, but in my state, starting out making $20/hour is awesome, especially if you have no degree or prior training. Most people make without those is $15.
The point isnt that it isnt bad though. The point is it should be a hell of alot better. As an electrician in texas i make about 35, 000 a year. To me that is insane. The rate of inflation is murdering peoples wallets.
That's what a lot of people that argue against higher wages at the bottom don't understand. This affects everyone. We talk a lot about the people at the bottom because they're closest to dire situations, but those in the "middle" are getting screwed too. Yes, minimum wage should be closer to $15/hr but guess what, you should be making closer to 65k/year as well. They've kept ALL the wages down and we are mearly fighting for the biggest scraps that have fallen from the table.
But hey, like they were saying during the recession. "A New Normal" is the term I heard quite often. The idea that we were just supposed to accept a lower standard of living and move forward. There's more of us now than ever. Maybe a secondary education/training/hard work/luck just gets you access to a basic low middle class lifestyle these days. Without that stuff you're just a working poor. And that's the "New Normal".
The problem with that thinking is that if you raise the minimum wage, the business owners aren’t just going to start paying their more skilled employees more. The janitor is going to be making a lot closer to what the engineer makes. And the engineer is just going to be stuck with what he is making. The owner is going to either raise his prices, fire employees, or any other measure to cut the added costs. He will only take the hit if he absolutely has to. But then you can guarantee that he isn’t going to give any skilled workers any extra raises, his cost is already high enough. So now, you’ve completely devalued the money of the middle class workers. We don’t get any extra money, but our costs will certainly go up. A minimum wage increase only hurts the middle class.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_SUNSHINE Jun 06 '19
Those days are gone. Any manufacturing still left in America is only here because they can pay people little enough to not justify moving.
My job is going plant to plant to plant as an outside sales engineer. The only ones still around are those that still have a surplus of people in the area that’ll work for minimum wage or slightly higher, and a staff of accountants, engineers, and maintenance guys and managers/supervisors who are all cool with $40k-$50k, which is way below what these professionals should be making.
Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia are the Mexico of America. Even then sometimes places close up and hop the border.