Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 606 posts

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#301

Post by bluedino »

johngalt wrote: post #279
bluedino wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "feeling a little sleepy this morning, gonna be in later." Most clients don't want to deal with that kind of behavior. "It's been 3 hours, why is the site still down?" "The developer isn't in yet to fix it." Being reliable and showing up to work on time is a job skill as much as good communication, being a hard worker, etc I realize that you should be flexible with workers' hours but people also need to realize co…

There certainly was an element of punctuality that has been lost, but it goes both ways. Clients don't want to deal with this either: "Sorry it's 5:01pm. The dev will be back tomorrow morning. Enjoy being down for the next 16hrs." I'm all-in for the kids these days sheesh comments, but if you think 'back in the day' workers had the constant availability expectation that we have in the modern era with cell phones, tha…

>> "Sorry it's 5:01pm. The dev will be back tomorrow morning. Enjoy being down for the next 16hrs."

For better or for worse, it's not expected to receive service after hours.

But first thing in morning...

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#302

Post by rflrob »

solatic wrote: post #265
lostlogin wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the drug testing bs. How is that relevant? If the worker is present, is sober, and not hungover what business is it of the employers what the employee does on their own time? The drugs that are readily detectable are mostly the ones that don’t matter too, while the ones that are more concerning (to me anyway) are either not tested for or are not detectable fairly fast. And alcohol is ok to abuse. Why? It would…

> How is that relevant? You have two job applicants. The only thing you know about them is their resume (nicely embellished) and how they performed at their interview (nicely rehearsed). One applicant passes a drug test, one does not. Can you really say that drug test outcomes don't change the risk assessment of each candidate? We can have a conversation about whether employers ought to have access to that informatio…

If the complaint is that you can't find enough workers because too many are failing drug tests[1], then your hypothetical of having "two job applicants" (for an implicit one spot to be filled) is already moot.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/business/economy/drug-tes...

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#303

Post by GFischer »

jaymzcampbell wrote: post #294
GFischer wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, having someone over video sounds like it would have value :) (even though eventually you get a house visit), I'd love that service. I have some exterior window blinds that need fixing, I'd love for someone to see it over a video call and get a quote before them coming. That startup sounded great, I'm sad it failed :(

It definitely did have a lot of value and customers, once they used it, loved it. From perhaps an emergency "this has stopped working" first call out you would have people then asking about exactly the sort of thing you mention with window blinds and become a repeat customer. One thing we were looking to do was to offer it to companies as an employee perk - so the company would buy a certain amount of hours that coul…

If you ever revive it, I worked for an insurance company that loves giving those kind of services as add-ons to their homeowners insurance (they're usually little-used and serve as great promotional copy).

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#304

Post by a2tech »

lostlogin wrote: post #250
danielvf wrote: post #9

I worked with small / medium manufacturers in the prosperous part of the Southeast. Hiring is brutal currently. Last week one company setup interviews with 20 possible new workers. One showed up for his interview, and one wandered in the next day. 18 nonshows. Another local company is seeing 50% of new hires failing their first drug test. Anecdotaly, about 20% of new hires under 30 don’t understand the concept of sho…

I hate the drug testing bs. How is that relevant? If the worker is present, is sober, and not hungover what business is it of the employers what the employee does on their own time? The drugs that are readily detectable are mostly the ones that don’t matter too, while the ones that are more concerning (to me anyway) are either not tested for or are not detectable fairly fast. And alcohol is ok to abuse. Why? It would…

Basically shit rolls down hill-most of the factories I work with care because of 2 reasons:

1) Contract language that says your workforce has to be drug free (government sourced contracts doubly so)

2) Insurance. If you have a fork lift driver run into a rack of transmissions (or drive your work truck into a building) your insurance is going to demand a urine test. If the urine test comes back unclean they will deny your claim.

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#305

Post by chefkoch »

turc1656 wrote: post #182
DavidWoof wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always kind of fascinated by posts like this on this site. Could I ask what field you're in that pays 35k/yr, apparently in the US, is in the field of your degree, and yet is somewhat related to Hacker News? Or are you not in tech at all and this site is an outside interest? Or maybe you're just in a rural area? I don't mean this to sound challenging out all, I'm just kind of curious.

I'm not surprised. There are a lot of jobs outside of the main metro areas that don't pay that much. They could be, for example, a DB admin for a non-tech company where their priority is not IT because IT is viewed as a cost center. Or perhaps a third party B2B company that is the low cost solution for a larger, more recognized company. You might be surprised what some people make in those cases.

DB Admin is perhabs not the best example as this is one of the highest paid admin specialisation.

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#306

Post by darpa_escapee »

vkou wrote: post #157
darpa_escapee wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. However, I'd rather get pinged via a quantifiable metric like BAC than someone's opinion regarding my perceived impairment.

If BAC tests pinged you as drunk three weeks after having a drink, you really wouldn't.

That could be fought while there is little leeway in terms of fighting "my training and 15 years of experience allowed me to determine that the subject was impaired".

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#307

Post by ceejayoz »

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #71
onion2k wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine there's an opportunity for a startup that let's someone who wants to do a simple job themselves Facetime with a plumber to talk them through the work. No idea if there's any profit in it though.

DIY always breaks down when you need to purchase an expensive tool that you only use once.

Tool libraries are a pretty neat solution to this. Some local book libraries are getting into it as a way to expand services.

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#308

Post by ghaff »

adventured wrote: post #251
southphillyman wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where can one go to learn these "blue collar" skills? As a recent home owner I'm learning first hand how valuable these skills are by way of my wallet. Seems like most people I meet who do these kinds of jobs were "born into it", and learned by helping a family member who was already in the industry. Are there IIT type schools which teach these kinds of things on a part time basis?

My suggestion is two fold. First, personal experimentation on an inexpensive basis. You can buy a lot of basic, cheap materials and tools, and practice specific types of work. You can teach yourself very easily with weekly practice, how to do any type of household work, from drywall to plumbing. Most of it is not difficult, it requires practice and mental effort over time. You get better and better at it. The point i…

Yeah, it's like most things. "Experience is the name we give to our mistakes."

I tend to focus on the types of tasks that I'll have occasion to do many times, such as painting and/or things that may just not look as good as if I hired someone to do them but won't cause any real problems if they're not quite right. I agree that it's mostly just putting the time and effort in--and, of course, there are only so many different things most of us can put our own effort into.

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#309

Post by crankylinuxuser »

turc1656 wrote: post #168
TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The younger crowd seems to be largely detached from the idea of responsibility that was drilled into previous generations. My father graduated college making $42k/yr. Inflation adjusted, that was about $60k/yr in today's dollars. I just graduated, have experience in the field, and am getting a salary of $35k/yr in today's dollars. Meanwhile, upper management is getting millions. In that kind of work environment, wh…

I'm not sure how someone can just graduate and yet have meaningful experience in the field. Seems like only a very, very select few people can every really say that. Also, it's not clear if you and your father have degrees in the same field. If you do, part of it could easily be a supply/demand issue. I've heard similar stories from lawyers who enter the field and find it very difficult to get anything above 50k for…

"Work Ethic".

I work because this society threatens us with destitution if we do not. I have plenty of ideas, things to do. I have to put them aside for much of each week because I want to survive.

Re: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

#310

Post by jaymzcampbell »

GFischer wrote: post #303
jaymzcampbell wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely did have a lot of value and customers, once they used it, loved it. From perhaps an emergency "this has stopped working" first call out you would have people then asking about exactly the sort of thing you mention with window blinds and become a repeat customer. One thing we were looking to do was to offer it to companies as an employee perk - so the company would buy a certain amount of hours that coul…

If you ever revive it, I worked for an insurance company that loves giving those kind of services as add-ons to their homeowners insurance (they're usually little-used and serve as great promotional copy).

Alas Homeserve, the massive insurance company who were the primary investors, took over all the IP and I think they just killed it. They bought CheckATrade [1] around the time we shutdown, so maybe it will see the light of day as part of that someday.

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/784ae4b6-e9f2-11e6-967b-c88452263...

Post reply on HN