If the West is serious about friendshoring, many more will need to carry out manual work — albeit aided by robots. And yes, that means university graduates.
I am a truck driver. I make $75,000 per year. Required a license that cost me 2 years of my life or $10,000 (my choice) for school (12 weeks) and roughly $1000 in admin fees to my State to aquire.
My wife is a mental health therapist. She makes roughly $55,000. To do her current job required a Master’s degree($80,000 +6 years), and 2 separate licenses with an unknown (to me) cost but required a total of 5 years on the job to acquire. Before she got that second license, she made more money working at McDonalds. And she still has continued education requirements costing upwards of $800 per course.
She loves her job (usually) and I love that she loves it, but if you’re looking for money, THE TRADES PAY! And usually a heck of a lot earlier and better than jobs that require a college degree.
It really comes down to the degree. Someone could spend significantly less to get an IT related degree and start out making more than what your wife currently makes with, probably, a much better work life balance. That person could easily double that in a few years.
Honestly, we simply do not value health care and teachers as much as we should.
Agreed, but we’ve also spent the last 30 years telling every high school student that they HAVE to have a collage degree if they don’t want to be “flipping burgers”.
As a result, when the local plumber died in Greensboro, AL, there was no one local to take over the work. The next nearest plumber was 60 miles away and they were happy to charge accordingly.
Ditto electricians, ditto ditto carpenters, masons, mechanics and whatever you call the folks that work with natural gas (plumbers? Pipe fitters?)
All jobs are subject to supply and demand. I make what I make because not enough people want my job to drive my wages down. But right now, in Greensboro, AL, a plumber could charge damn near whatever they wanted.
My wife makes what she makes because the folks that need her services can’t really afford to pay what she is worth.
Just FYI, a “factoid” is by definition not a fact but something that somebody believes to be a fact because it was printed. That definition is clearly changing over time as the English-speaking population as a whole forgets this, but it’s not there yet.
Interesting relevant factoid.
I am a truck driver. I make $75,000 per year. Required a license that cost me 2 years of my life or $10,000 (my choice) for school (12 weeks) and roughly $1000 in admin fees to my State to aquire.
My wife is a mental health therapist. She makes roughly $55,000. To do her current job required a Master’s degree($80,000 +6 years), and 2 separate licenses with an unknown (to me) cost but required a total of 5 years on the job to acquire. Before she got that second license, she made more money working at McDonalds. And she still has continued education requirements costing upwards of $800 per course.
She loves her job (usually) and I love that she loves it, but if you’re looking for money, THE TRADES PAY! And usually a heck of a lot earlier and better than jobs that require a college degree.
Edit: Spolling is hard!
It really comes down to the degree. Someone could spend significantly less to get an IT related degree and start out making more than what your wife currently makes with, probably, a much better work life balance. That person could easily double that in a few years.
Honestly, we simply do not value health care and teachers as much as we should.
Agreed, but we’ve also spent the last 30 years telling every high school student that they HAVE to have a collage degree if they don’t want to be “flipping burgers”.
As a result, when the local plumber died in Greensboro, AL, there was no one local to take over the work. The next nearest plumber was 60 miles away and they were happy to charge accordingly.
Ditto electricians, ditto ditto carpenters, masons, mechanics and whatever you call the folks that work with natural gas (plumbers? Pipe fitters?)
All jobs are subject to supply and demand. I make what I make because not enough people want my job to drive my wages down. But right now, in Greensboro, AL, a plumber could charge damn near whatever they wanted.
My wife makes what she makes because the folks that need her services can’t really afford to pay what she is worth.
Just FYI, a “factoid” is by definition not a fact but something that somebody believes to be a fact because it was printed. That definition is clearly changing over time as the English-speaking population as a whole forgets this, but it’s not there yet.