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Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last?

economist.com

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

#471

Post by ramses0 »

jotm wrote: post #378
ramses0 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never do anything by yourself which requires a permit (HVAC, Plumbing/Gas, Electrical), unless w.r.t. electrical it's low voltage boxes covered by standard switchplates with the breaker box off. Never do anything structural/load-bearing. Avoid touching window-headers/columns, door-headers/columns, that random beam in the middle of your living room, that random pillar that you wish you know what was for, and that real…

Pretty sick of this, really. I know it's meant to stop idiots from doing work that could endanger them and others, but I've serviced my own boilers, installed my own sockets for years and even laid out the electrical for a whole house. Now some dickwad comes and tells me "man, that is illegal". k

Language, please. Also consider the context: "I just bought a home, I don't know what I'm doing!"

That is _not_ the person I want working on a gas line (which is "plubming") on a house I'm going to buy in the future.

I'm sure you're a special little snowflake that's good at everything, but if you don't feel comfortable getting a permit for permit / license-required work, then... um... maybe you shouldn't be doing it? That's the context for the advice I gave to the parent poster.

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

#472

Post by csa »

Retric wrote: post #426
csa wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh. You have to write down any drug use on your application, and they will most likely ask you about that in the poly. The poly is what busts a lot of people. It's actually ok to have used drugs in the past, you just have to be honest about it and write a letter saying something about not doing so moving forward (an acquaintance of mine had to do this... not sure what the specifics were). Once people are have a clea…

As I understand it practice the rules can be fairly flexible. I have also heard they mostly stopped drug testing people as they where having difficulty finding enough competent, honest, non-drug users in technical fields. Or possibly more importantly they did not want discrete drug use to be a means of blackmailing someone. PS: I can only recommend someone either answers all questions accurately and only those specif…

Your PS is spot on.

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

#473

Post by literallycancer »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #276
monocasa wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who smoked a joint a couple days ago can absolutely work with concrete cutters or 1k volt lines.

Can someone who smoked a joint 30 minutes ago? Can someone who smoked a joint a couple days ago be trusted not to smoke one 30 minutes before starting work with the concrete cutters? Trusted enough to bet your company on? (Because you know that if the worker smokes a joint just before working with the concrete cutters, and someone gets injured or killed, the owner loses the company in the lawsuit.)

What's insurance?

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

#474

Post by ramses0 »

Y7ZCQtNo39 wrote: post #461
avasylev wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is awesome for DIY, I moved to older house two years ago and with youtube helps I've added crown moldings, repainted all rooms, replaced baseboard, built patio, deck - lots of fun, I think without youtube I wouldn't done any of it, zero experience before. Funny, my dad did a lot of renovations, and a lot of times I'd get more details/better tips on youtube than asking him :) But youtube is great for common DI…

Would you say, for example, your painting is good as a professionals (e.g., paint lines are straight with respect to adjacent walls / ceiling, etc)? As someone who anticipates being a homeowner in a few years, I wonder if it's possible the first time you learn how to do something (without having the best technique for the skill) to get the best outcome. I wouldn't want my home improvement projects to look half-assed…

My painting (imho) is better than most professionals. I am not time or quality constrained, as I'm not running a business.

I can buy good paint, brushes, and tape. I can take my time, I can let paint dry over multiple days, do touchups, keep properly mixed cans (mixing two cans of the same color into one).

There are two aspects to being a "professional" tradesman.

1) Do it _better_ than others

2) Do it profitably

#1 is something you as an individual can overcome with practice, #2 is generally a hard constraint which sometimes compromises the goals of #1.

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

#475

Post by prawn »

ErikAugust wrote: post #253
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 have a friend who is a general manager that deals in part-time, odd hour unskilled labor who spoke of a similar story. What do you think, time to build and monetize a solution to solve this problem? I think I have some ideas to help with this type of worker onboarding and retention, personally.

At the very least, it'd be worth contacting the noshows and finding out the reasons, encouraging them to be honest. Work out what it might be -

  - got another job but forgot to tell you
  - changed my mind
  - just too tired or busy
  - didn't think I had a real chance, so I didn't bother
  - too nervous about the interview

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

#476

Post by forapurpose »

lloyd-christmas wrote: post #442
Thlom wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No wonder you spend enormous amounts of money on health care in the states. In Norway most doctors makes just above $100,000. I guess this is more or less comparable to the rest of Europe.

Doctor pay has almost nothing to do with the absurd medical costs. With 1.1m doctors in the US, and median pay at 180k, that's $200B. US healthcare spending is 3.2 trillion. Beyond that, I think they deserve that much when factoring in the cost of education, liability of the job, and decrease in years of employment. Here's some math: - median age of retirement: 63. - median UPS salary over lifetime: $70k. - UPS drive…

Some other data which tells a different story; I wonder how it all reconciles:

In the United States, the richest 1 percent have seen their share of national income roughly double since 1980, to 20 percent in 2014 from 11 percent. ...

No other nation in the 35-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is as unequal among those with comparable tax data, and none have experienced such a sharp rise in inequality.

...

Almost all of the growth in top American earners has come from just three economic sectors: professional services, finance and insurance, and health care, groups that tend to benefit from regulatory barriers that shelter them from competition.

The groups that have contributed the most people to the 1 percent since 1980 are: physicians ...

The United States also stands out in terms of how much money its elite professionals earn relative to the median worker. Workers at the 90th percentile of the income distribution for professionals make 3.5 times the earnings of the typical (median) worker in all occupations in the United States. Only Mexico and Israel, which have very high inequality, compensate professionals so disproportionately.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/upshot/income-inequality-...

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

#477

Post by forapurpose »

avasylev wrote: post #341
ransom1538 wrote: post #108

>> "Anecdotaly, about 20% of new hires under 30 don’t understand the concept of showing up on time (or at all)" Don't kid yourself. Those new hires are at other jobs making more money. I am booked for a roofer in feb 2018 (fingers crossed - friend of a friend). Blue skills are in extremely high demand. And those guys are working extremely hard making really high incomes (400k+). These guys are highly paid and are not…

I don't think roofers are good example, not sure where you live, but last summer I got roofers scheduled in a week (Boston area). By locally known construction company, I got estimate and contract by American owner/sales man - he probably does well, but the actual work was done by Brazilian crew, which I'm guessing was mostly illegal immigrants likely paid less than minimum wage. From my observations with neighbors a…

> the actual work was done by Brazilian crew, which I'm guessing was mostly illegal immigrants likely paid less than minimum wage

There are millions of immigrants in the U.S. who are legal; why would you think these people are not? I guess my point is, it's not a good assumption and has bad consequences: People having their legality questioned based on no evidence.

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

#478

Post by Y7ZCQtNo39 »

phil21 wrote: post #467
Y7ZCQtNo39 wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say, for example, your painting is good as a professionals (e.g., paint lines are straight with respect to adjacent walls / ceiling, etc)? As someone who anticipates being a homeowner in a few years, I wonder if it's possible the first time you learn how to do something (without having the best technique for the skill) to get the best outcome. I wouldn't want my home improvement projects to look half-assed…

I think you'll find that it varies by the job and your own personal level of "halfassed". I can do most home maintenance stuff - electrical, most plumbing, fixtures, appliance repair, etc. I pay someone to do drywall work or painting - because I'm pretty picky and I can always see where my work falls short. I think you'll find for finishing work practice makes perfect and is where professionals shine. You can certain…

Yeah, I'd imagine as a homeowner, I'd want projects (at least those where the outcome matters visually), to have that professionalism.

I kind of would want to be a bit further up the learning curve, but if you only have 1 or 2 bedrooms, you don't have much by way to learn, so it seems like having a professional is probably worth the premium vs. your own labor (if you're like me and highly value the aesthetic end result).

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

#479

Post by pw »

opportune wrote: post #136
ransom1538 wrote: post #108

>> "Anecdotaly, about 20% of new hires under 30 don’t understand the concept of showing up on time (or at all)" Don't kid yourself. Those new hires are at other jobs making more money. I am booked for a roofer in feb 2018 (fingers crossed - friend of a friend). Blue skills are in extremely high demand. And those guys are working extremely hard making really high incomes (400k+). These guys are highly paid and are not…

I always read these ridiculously high salaries and laugh. Your average HVAC worker is not making $400k. I do know people in construction/HVAC/plumbers/electricians and it's the bosses making that money, not the grunt workers. The people on the front lines still make good money, for some easily approaching $100k/year, so there's not really a need for embellishment. That isn't to say that it's unattainable, but it's ak…

I think there’s a lot more software developers at the big tech companies making $400k or more in total comp than you think.
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