>The new mantra is "you're lucky to even have job" with this economy.
The limit is shown in the recent fast food strikes: when the existing jobs are so damn bad that people can't get by from working, people start fighting back again.
One thing I find extremely conspicuous about that brand and web-page is that no information seems to appear on the site stating the mean or median wages, working hours, and/or benefits packages available in the skilled-trade jobs Rowe and Profoundly Disconnected are marketing.
If employers can't be bothered to pay well, why work for them?
My anecdata from hiring a lot of trades (sticker shock!), and having lots of friends and family in trades, is that skilled trades pay extremely well, but you have to go up the ladder. apprentice (crap pay) --> journeyman (good pay) --> master (great pay) --> own your own shop (fantastic pay).
The only people I personally know with paid-off houses in California are tradespeople and startup lottery winners.
Sounds just exactly like the "can't find enough skilled engineers" whining in the tech sector. The other half of that thought, "at the price I'm willing to pay" is almost never mentioned.
This country has a deeply embedded, cultural and in my opinion entirely unhealthy bent toward deference to the wealthy and connected that borders on obsquious.
I doubt it. Like I said in another comment, the only people I personally know with paid-off houses in California are tradespeople and startup lottery winners.
> The other half of that thought, "at the price I'm willing to pay" is almost never mentioned.
Think on that for a second. Let's say CompanyX is willing to pay huge gobs of money for engineers. Now CompanyX employs all the good engineers and everyone else whines that they can't find any. So CompanyY comes along and offers a bit more. Some engineers bail and move over, but most are happy where they are/don't want the life change/etc. And on it goes. It's like the search for a mate: the older you get, the more likely it is you've found a situation you want to keep. In the engineering case, "skilled engineers" are for the most part older, may have other responsibilities (mortgage, kids, spouse), have had the opportunity to "sow their wild oats" by trying a few different companies/startups/whatever, and have found a situation they want to keep.
The limit is shown in the recent fast food strikes: when the existing jobs are so damn bad that people can't get by from working, people start fighting back again.