Posted on 06/07/2006 9:51:31 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
That being said, I myself am sorry I didn't become an electrician decades ago. I'd have my own firm by now.
I wonder what figure you'd get by netting out death/retirement against population growth? I'd guess a lot less than a hundred fifty thou a month.
Don't tell me about modernization and competing either.
Farmuing jobs are on a decline too. Pretty soon we won't have anything to eat. /sarcasm
How ironic. I left my manufacturing (sales) job because I got tired of the Teamsters on the floor taking money out of my pocket (in lost commissions and bonuses). So there are two sides to every coin.
Note those are starting salaries. I started with an engineering degree, but am earning many times that now owning a company that has little to do with engineering. Most apprentice electricians are lucky to make $15 an hour.
Your graphic is fine, for college graduates.
80%. Countem' 80% of the work force DOES NOT have a college degree. I suppose the 'little people' don't count in your feudal view of our society.
I have an MBA myself, but I know that if the 'little people' are angry and starving, people like you and
I will find ourselves on the way to the guillotine.
Look beyond your own sweet a** for a change, or you may possibly lose it.
If you don't like the law of the jungle, move to France.
You aren't supposed to notice that.
Real wages are rising (long-term) for all but those who do not have a high-school diploma, and they can be helped more effectively/efficiently in a fashion other than being bought-off. As for your 80% figure, color me a sceptic.
"Hey PCR - 4.6% unemployment. Bite me."
If you believe this, the govenment is playing the part of W.C. Fields, and you are playing the part of the rube/sucker at the county fair.
Run THIS formula: unemployment=1-( (total number of citizens between 20-65 employed + total number of noncitizens/illegals between 20-65 employed + housewives + prisoners + those physically unable to work + those who will not work under any circumstances)/ ( citizens between 20-65 + noncitzens/illegals between 20-65)).
Using every source and number I've been able to find, the lowest I have been able to get the unemplyment rate is a little over 11%. Do better if you can.
This would go a LONG way in explaining why the dollar is not surging against the Euro.
REAL figures talk, Govt. BS walks.
Why would you include those not willing to work under any circumstances in your calculation of the unemployment rate? Your result would be meaningless.
"Must be one of those Rerum Novarum un-American Catholic Reactionaries.
If you don't like the law of the jungle, move to France."
Scandinavian Lutheran here, pretty far from doctrinaire Catholic.
I personally know a number of middle-class, and working class French people. They no more resemble your MSM-driven view of France, than Teddy Kennedy resembles the average American. The Muslims in France are close to getting a 2x4 up the side of their heads.
The 'Law of the Jungle' is for animals, not for the citizens of a free republic.
I have wealthy relatives in Brazil, where a very small percentage of the population is very, very rich, and most are so poor they make Jamaicans look prosperous. Believe me, YOU DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY LIKE THAT. No matter how much money you have, YOU DON'T WANY TO LIVE LIKE THAT.
"Why would you include those not willing to work under any circumstances in your calculation of the unemployment rate? Your result would be meaningless"
If you had a really lazy society, say 90% of those unwilling to work counted as 'unemployed', even if the 10% of your society that was willing to work was completely employed, your 'unemployment rate' would still be 90%.
The unemployment rate SHOULD only count those who raelly do want a job. Our govt. doesn't count you as 'unemployed' after six month, even if you are desperate for a job.
The era of "high paying, unskilled jobs" only lasted from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. This was a period when Europe and Asia had to reindustrialize, giving American workers (and companies) near monopolies on key industries. The folks in management had to buy off labor peace.
Besides, industrial employment has declined EVERYWHERE thanks to improvements in technology, even in CHINA.
Fourty years ago, my family lived in row houses, had one car and could barely afford to eat out once a month. They had "good paying factory jobs." Today, everyone in my family, even the minority without a college degree, has a nice home, at least two cars, and a higher standard of living than their parents/grandparents.
Brazil is a poor example, as it does NOT have a laissez faire capitalist system. It is more socialistic than the U.S. and even Canada. Actually, "corporatavist" would be a better word.
BTW: I have worked in France, and the blue collar French workers are some of the fattest, laziest people I have ever met.
Its true. In the USA working population, about 20% are degreed. Most of the rest have high school diplomas, and a very, very small percentage are high school dropouts.
In the work place, about 20% of the working population is supervisory. (See a correlation here?). These people have done quite well in the last ten years.
The problem is with the 80% who are not supervisory. Their wages acutally went down by about 4% in real terms from 1999-2003, (thanks Bill Clinton). While real wages for non-supervisory personnel rose in 2004 and 2005, they did not keep pace with inflation.
20% of the population is doing great,(me included) However, things essentially s*ck for 80% of the population. Do you see a problem with this? This is the type of thing that, unresolved, brings down governments and societies.
Locomotive Engineer Trainee or Truck Driver:
Starting Salary: $40-45k /yr
College Loans: $0
Job Requirements: Drug Free + Driver's License
Chance of Outsourcing/Insourcing: Very Low due to citizenship reqrments.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Amen, I think anyone who is exulting over that pay chart for college graduates is being very unrealistic. Anyone who can pass a drug test and a "work keys" test can start today in the warehouse at the factory where I am currently employed less than three miles from my door and start at $24,000.00 working only scheduled hours and that is a four day on four day off schedule (12 hour shifts). Most people work overtime and easily make $30,000.00 or better the first year and this job pays far less than it did five years ago! The pay has actually been cut back! The same person can go into another area of the plant and after two years of OJT can earn $40,000. working the same schedule and can earn $50,000.00 or more with overtime. We just lost a maintenance man who was earning over $45,000.00 without overtime. He found another job with higher pay!! This is in a factory where wages have been slashed far below the level of five years ago and in a relatively low-wage area. I see nothing at all impressive about the starting pay quoted for graduate engineers!
So, you WANT to live in a third-world country with third-world wages?
You WANT to live behind the walls of a gated community with 24/7 armed guards as my relatives in Brazil, or as my parents did for a few years in Manila?
You WANT to worry about you or your family being kidnapped for ransom as the rich are south of the Rio Grande?
Take every middle-class suburb in your area, and imagine it as the ghetto. Entire metro areas as Compton. You want to live in that kind of a country?
Screw that, YOU get a clue.
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