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Why America has so few carpenters
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Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#12If software engineering and carpentry paid the same, I'd be a carpenter.
Having done some light home renovation, I would prefer installing printers over carpentry.
And I hate printers.
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I might get RSI at work but it's very unlikely that I'll cut my fingers off in a mousing accident.
Carpenters get RSI all the time too - or neuralgia e.g swinging a hammer 1,000 times a day for 30 years will take a toll on your elbow.
You realize hammers are a last resort tool these days when you can't get a nail gun somewhere.
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#14Like every other profession with a supposed shortage the pay and work conditions suck. And guess what shortage… It’s like there is a shortage of people willing to pick fruit at 10$ an hour and live in terrible conditions while exposed to harsh chemicals. No shit you need to pay people a whole lot more money
Managers complaining about "not enough x" mean "I'm not willing to pay the market rate for x". Like, its a free market, up your price... or do you think basic economics don't apply to labor too? I'm surprised this article doesn't examine why companies aren't upping their pay.
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#15If software engineering and carpentry paid the same, I'd be a carpenter.
Yea but then you'd have to be interviewed like a software engineer
http://www.jasonbock.net/jb/News/Item/7c334037d1a9437d9fa650...
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#16My parents met when they were both working construction. My mom was a surveyor and a laborer at various times; she helped get my dad into the union (Philly) and he was a carpenter. My mom stopped it to raise me and my sibling; my dad did it until it entirely broke his body. (I would not be writing this as a college-educated adult if he hadn't had a union pension that kicked in on disability.)
I know precisely one person my age who's working construction and he knows he's got to get out before it does the same to him. If most of the people you know work office jobs you may not be familiar with just how routine and severe those "injuries" are that they mention. All the cultural factors are real too -- hoo BOY my mom has stories -- but you gotta look at this stuff through how physically destructive it is to the workers.
(I'm sure there's a health care angle too, of course -- so much of my parents' compensation went to those "Cadillac" health care plans that politicians don't understand the point of. It'd be interesting to compare Canada)
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Carpenters get RSI all the time too - or neuralgia e.g swinging a hammer 1,000 times a day for 30 years will take a toll on your elbow.
You realize hammers are a last resort tool these days when you can't get a nail gun somewhere.
Still, for a computer programming to maim you, you really need to be creative.
Carpentry is by comparison easy to get maimed.
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#18If software engineering and carpentry paid the same, I'd be a carpenter.
My great-grandfather and uncle (retired) were carpenters. While carpentry is a great hobby they definitely preferred/liked my professional direction -- at some point lungs, legs, hands, and wood do not like each other.
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#19I'm a little surprised it cites carpenters make more than real estate agents. I'd assume a full time agent (not your neighbor who just happened to have a license) could make more than 50k a year.
If I recall, average home price now sells at 300k. A realtor keeping 2% after fees...buy/sell 10 houses and that's 60k.
Re: Why America has so few carpenters
#20I'm a little surprised it cites carpenters make more than real estate agents. I'd assume a full time agent (not your neighbor who just happened to have a license) could make more than 50k a year. If I recall, average home price now sells at 300k. A realtor keeping 2% after fees...buy/sell 10 houses and that's 60k.
Selling real estate doesn't grind down your joints like construction