Gaining a job that pays above minimum wage...how hard is it?

[Orly?]

All minimum wage should be eliminated.. It's stupid..

It's too much of the workers competing for jobs, not enough of companies competing for workers..

 

[Carjosse]

All minimum wage should be eliminated.. It's stupid..

It's too much of the workers competing for jobs, not enough of companies competing for workers..

And collapse an economy at the same time, or suddenly you created extreme poverty, or nothing at all will happen.

 

[Lovebug]

That's not how business works. You don't "start with a pay grade". Are you suggesting subsidized pay grades over and above what the market will bear?

So what is your solution? Some of our fellow Americans are in need.

 

[Chomsky]

You have to be a strategist now.
More people going to school hasn't really helped.
It just caused employers to require even more education, to reduce the number of applicants.

Getting an inside advantage, even if the work is not in your field, is what people should be doing, in my opinion.
My company shows greater interest to inside applicants, rather than outside.
Even if the position is from lowly machine operator to higher office worker.

If these jobs are so poorly paying with little benefits, it seems to me one option might be to learn a skilled trade and work for yourself starting a business.

My daughter got a BSN nursing degree, so her & her classmates did pretty well right-out-of-the-box landing decent gigs. My boy just started studying for a finance degree, so after the first two years he'll decide between the finance or accounting concentration, so he might do O.K., but it remains to seen.

The nursing and finance/accounting kids have both been starting at reasonably paying salaries in my neck-of-the-woods (very large U.S. city).

But for kids that aren't choosing in-demand degrees or in places with high demand, I'd probably consider following their education with a skilled trade or some other entrepreneurial endeavor. If they're going to work for peanuts and no bennies, may as well take a crack at building something for yourself. Guys in my city have become millionaires selling hot dogs and pizza!

 

[chromium]

90 days might work for some industries but not others, I can think of many situations where a company needs temps for longer than that.

But that's what i'm saying, it doesn't fit my definition of 'temporary' at all

They can keep them longer, but they have to start paying benefits after 90 days

 

[Carjosse]

If these jobs are so poorly paying with little benefits, it seems to me one option might be to learn a skilled trade and work for yourself starting a business.

My daughter got a BSN nursing degree, so her & her classmates did pretty well right-out-of-the-box landing decent gigs. My boy just started studying for a finance degree, so after the first two years he'll decide between the finance or accounting concentration, so he might do O.K., but it remains to seen.

The nursing and finance/accounting kids have both been starting at reasonably paying salaries in my neck-of-the-woods (very large U.S. city).

But for kids that aren't choosing in-demand degrees or in places with high demand, I'd probably consider following their education with a skilled trade or some other entrepreneurial endeavor. If they're going to work for peanuts and no bennies, may as well take a crack at building something for yourself. Guys in my city have become millionaires selling hot dogs and pizza!

That would require time and money, things a fair amount of people do not have. Your son made a good decision, as long as he does extremely well in school or make really good connections. Usually the good finance positions are only open to students who have a 3.8/4 GPA or higher. Accounting is kind of similar, I was in it but I saw all the exams and stuff I would have to take and said screw that, I also just found it boring. I also really hope your son likes really long hours. I switched into business technology management which I hope I like better.

 

[chromium]

All minimum wage should be eliminated.. It's stupid..

It's too much of the workers competing for jobs, not enough of companies competing for workers..

oh yes that will really lead to america "becoming great again"

all this will leave us is every city will be like flint

 

[chromium]

I'm completely out of touch with entry level jobs, but what you describe above strikes me as pretty pitiful, particularly the CS guy.

i mean it's not like i knew his gpa or how he interviews, but considering he did move to their IT after 8 months, i'm certain the work he was doing before that was way below his skill level. That's what's so common now - way more supply than demand

 

[Fearandloathing]

Just how hard is it to gain a skill which pays more than minimum wage AND gain a job in that skill set AND keep that job (IE:not losing a job due to being laid off... not counting firings)?

A lot of people throw out the phrase "gain a skill that will pay more than minimum wage!" like it's the easiest thing in the world to do but they never address the amount of available jobs in those given areas vs how many people there are in this country. 318 million people in this country and rising. At least half of which are of working age. Are job availability in those areas that require a higher skill set also rising on an even pace with the amount of people that are able to work in this country? This is something that I never see them address. Yet they love to holler and scream about people that only work minimum wage jobs. So, I'd like to see them address this.

So, what is the current job rate of above minimum wage jobs to available working population ratio? Can you guarantee that everyone will have jobs that pay above minimum wage? <--- This is assuming that EVERYONE was able to gain a skill set that pays above minimum wage. Of course we know that assumption to be wrong don't we? We know that there are people out there that are straight up incapable of achieving any type of skill set that pays above minimum wage. Yet they will be ignored, as always.

There are a few options, sales is one of them. Like anything else it is a developed skill set and can pay extremely well. In some areas landscaping pays well, I know I was paying on average $18 an hour with a staging wage of $12.

And there is always secondary trades, any equipment operator will pay well above minimum wage.

however I advise people who maybe don't have the grades to go to college to seek a trade, metal working, tool and die, carpentry etc.

As I aged my opportunities narrowed so I started my own business. There are times when you may do without, but in the end you have the control over how much you make.

 

[Kal'Stang]

There are a few options, sales is one of them. Like anything else it is a developed skill set and can pay extremely well. In some areas landscaping pays well, I know I was paying on average $18 an hour with a staging wage of $12.

And there is always secondary trades, any equipment operator will pay well above minimum wage.

however I advise people who maybe don't have the grades to go to college to seek a trade, metal working, tool and die, carpentry etc.

As I aged my opportunities narrowed so I started my own business. There are times when you may do without, but in the end you have the control over how much you make.

Wouldn't you say that those hollering for $15/hr wage are using that control over how much they make?

 

[Mr Person]

Personally?

Well, once I was studying in college I was able to get jobs slightly above minimum wage. But I went straight into graduate school so I cannot speak to what the college education alone did for me. With a graduate degree, I can earn a salary way above the minimum wage, though I did pick one of the lower-earning areas of my profession: the representation of persons accused of crime but who cannot afford an attorney.

The public does not want to pay more than pennies to honor the constitutional rights of poor citizens in "the land of the free, the home of the brave". (Shocking, I know. Or is it?).

 

[Carjosse]

There are a few options, sales is one of them. Like anything else it is a developed skill set and can pay extremely well.

It is also dependent on your personality. Certain personality types are better suited to it.

 

[Mr Person]

There are a few options, sales is one of them. Like anything else it is a developed skill set and can pay extremely well.

#DeathOfASalesman

 

[Deuce]

All minimum wage should be eliminated.. It's stupid..

It's too much of the workers competing for jobs, not enough of companies competing for workers..

If minimum wages were eliminated, do you think pay in this country would tend to go up, go down, or stay the same?

 

[beerftw]

Just how hard is it to gain a skill which pays more than minimum wage AND gain a job in that skill set AND keep that job (IE:not losing a job due to being laid off... not counting firings)?

A lot of people throw out the phrase "gain a skill that will pay more than minimum wage!" like it's the easiest thing in the world to do but they never address the amount of available jobs in those given areas vs how many people there are in this country. 318 million people in this country and rising. At least half of which are of working age. Are job availability in those areas that require a higher skill set also rising on an even pace with the amount of people that are able to work in this country? This is something that I never see them address. Yet they love to holler and scream about people that only work minimum wage jobs. So, I'd like to see them address this.

So, what is the current job rate of above minimum wage jobs to available working population ratio? Can you guarantee that everyone will have jobs that pay above minimum wage? <--- This is assuming that EVERYONE was able to gain a skill set that pays above minimum wage. Of course we know that assumption to be wrong don't we? We know that there are people out there that are straight up incapable of achieving any type of skill set that pays above minimum wage. Yet they will be ignored, as always.

There is no guarantee everyone could gain a skillset, if it were true companies would not be begging countries like india to export labor at high prices americans could fill. This is reality, the country needs skilled labor, but the country has a problem where no one wants to be skilled labor, they want it to be like the 1950's where people recruit you from highschool to work a high paying job with on the job training and no expertise. Problem is things have become much more complex than then, and no company wants to train people, they only want to hire people with 10+ years experiance, then throw a fit when the baby boomers retire and the next generation does not have that experience starting fresh.


I am actually in favor of govt paid college, not super high levels like top universities, but rather free trade schools for people. Capitalism requires competition, and will only continue to thrive f we stay competitive, which means training people in skilled fields to keep the economy moving, rather than hoping a goose in the sky craps golden eggs all over america.

 

[Fearandloathing]

Wouldn't you say that those hollering for $15/hr wage are using that control over how much they make?

"Higher minimum wage" has been a very familiar battle cry of Canada's left wing party for at least five decades. I have never seen anything clandestine in that other than the normal level of exploiting the poor by poverty pimps. What I do know is that whenever the NDP manages to get into power the only people to get wage increases are themselves and public sector unions.

[Let's be clear who are the party...and it isn't street people or that single mother of six on welfare. The party IS private and public sector unions and in this country as we witness the death of private sector unions that means government employees, teachers and hospital workers are calling all the shots.

So the short answer is I see minimum wage as an esoteric and easy argument for the left to continue with "the sky is falling" dialogue.

And there is the keynote of what everyone needs to know about the left. "The poor" are tool to them, and at any moment when any disparity is seen, scream the rafters. Having said that most of them have been to college and know perfectly well the minimum wage and poverty have very little in common.

What has been proven to me is that in a robust economy the only reason to even have a minimum wage is a reference point. In a robust economy good workers are hard to keep and harder to find. What lefties don't know is that the average businessman knows that and for his own well being will pay above the market which in that case is far above the minimum.

Where they fail is in not understanding what makes for a robust economy.

 

[JC Callender]

Another good example of people not needing a college degree IE: "Skill Set that is worth more than minimum wage".

So far I've seen two good examples of jobs that needs no college degree and yet pays more than minimum wage. One of them even being in the service industry which is where most jobs are now a days.

I have a small landscaping company and my starting pay is $12/hr.. My employees interact a lot with customers, so much of the cost over minimum wage is for not only good workers but good personalities as well. I give a dollar a year raise.

I would be willing to pay up to $20/hr for a good manager or designer with no college as well. I really would love to see a program where a person could become certified in most skills simply by taking a test instead of paying for all of that college, as some folks have much more of a passion to learn than a typical college student but don't have the money or time to go to college.

 

[Orly?]

Liberal fallacy..

 

[beerftw]

I have worked for the "going wage" at a few places, despite my being more willing and more able to do the harder jobs, but only until something better comes along.
The employer is to blame. The boss doesn't want to tell the slackers that they don't deserve more money than those who give
more than is expected, so the boss just quietly screws the better worker as long as the worker will allow it.
In the long run, usually, the more productive/willing/able worker is biding his time until an opportunity presents itself.
Then the boss has to deal with losing that employee. Been there, done that.....I left a few jobs and left a hole in the shop's ability to support the needed maintenance functions.
This $15 minimum is going to be very inflationary, that is my guess...

I am no stranger to the hard worker being screwed. Currently at my transmission shop, I am the only transmission mechanic, and we have 3 general auto mechanics. I am paid by the hour and the others paid by the job, and most of the year we hve more transmission work than general auto work.

Despite the fact most the time I have more work than the other three combined, I am often expected to pick up their slack, and recieve no help from them when I am overloaded and they are standing around. heck even when trashcans in ther work area get full I hear I don't get paid to do that we need an hourly b$tch to do it for us. The manager sides with them thinking somehow that they arent putting out work because someone does not clean up for them and be their assistant rather than the fact they work 15 minutes an hour tops.


I do get tired when in a mechanic field determined by flag hours that I can put out anywhere from 60- 140 flag hours a week when paid by the hour and I am called slow, yet no one can insult the master tech who barely flags 20 hours a week. Their solution to the problem has been to hire more general auto techs rather than enfore them tp do their job, or make me do their job while they cry they do not get enough flag hours, which is not because me but because they constantly do the absolute bare minimum. Even the slowest mechanics if they tried could pull 40 flag hours a week, these guys seem satisfied doing 15-20 hours a week then refusing to work.

 

[Crovax]

Another good example of people not needing a college degree IE: "Skill Set that is worth more than minimum wage".

So far I've seen two good examples of jobs that needs no college degree and yet pays more than minimum wage. One of them even being in the service industry which is where most jobs are now a days.

I think you are conflating two issues here, the usefulness of college and minimum wage jobs

 

[countryboy]

So what is your solution? Some of our fellow Americans are in need.

My solution is to make a more business friendly environment in this country. All business, not just mega-corps. Its a place to start anyways. Reducing the size of government, not growing it would also be helpful.

Not trying to needle you but, you didn't answer my question about subsidizing wages.

 

[Orly?]

I am no stranger to the hard worker being screwed. Currently at my transmission shop, I am the only transmission mechanic, and we have 3 general auto mechanics. I am paid by the hour and the others paid by the job, and most of the year we hve more transmission work than general auto work.

Despite the fact most the time I have more work than the other three combined, I am often expected to pick up their slack, and recieve no help from them when I am overloaded and they are standing around. heck even when trashcans in ther work area get full I hear I don't get paid to do that we need an hourly b$tch to do it for us. The manager sides with them thinking somehow that they arent putting out work because someone does not clean up for them and be their assistant rather than the fact they work 15 minutes an hour tops.


I do get tired when in a mechanic field determined by flag hours that I can put out anywhere from 60- 140 flag hours a week when paid by the hour and I am called slow, yet no one can insult the master tech who barely flags 20 hours a week. Their solution to the problem has been to hire more general auto techs rather than enfore them tp do their job, or make me do their job while they cry they do not get enough flag hours, which is not because me but because they constantly do the absolute bare minimum. Even the slowest mechanics if they tried could pull 40 flag hours a week, these guys seem satisfied doing 15-20 hours a week then refusing to work.

Go solo bro..

 

[beerftw]

Go solo bro..

I would if I had the funding, but starting a shop is big bucks, I have the loyal clientel to start a shop, but not the money.

 

[Goshin]

Just how hard is it to gain a skill which pays more than minimum wage AND gain a job in that skill set AND keep that job (IE:not losing a job due to being laid off... not counting firings)?

A lot of people throw out the phrase "gain a skill that will pay more than minimum wage!" like it's the easiest thing in the world to do but they never address the amount of available jobs in those given areas vs how many people there are in this country. 318 million people in this country and rising. At least half of which are of working age. Are job availability in those areas that require a higher skill set also rising on an even pace with the amount of people that are able to work in this country? This is something that I never see them address. Yet they love to holler and scream about people that only work minimum wage jobs. So, I'd like to see them address this.

So, what is the current job rate of above minimum wage jobs to available working population ratio? Can you guarantee that everyone will have jobs that pay above minimum wage? <--- This is assuming that EVERYONE was able to gain a skill set that pays above minimum wage. Of course we know that assumption to be wrong don't we? We know that there are people out there that are straight up incapable of achieving any type of skill set that pays above minimum wage. Yet they will be ignored, as always.

Lots of low-skill jobs pay more than minimum wage... but not MUCH more. Locally, jobs paying $8-9 /hr are typical for many lower-level positions, but my area is arguably a bit more economically active than much of the state.


As for jobs that pay SIGNIFICANTLY more than minimum wage... they can be had but they're not as easy to get. Many require prior experience or some college or prior training. Most require a drug test and clean background check and/or good driving record... surprisingly this eliminates a lot of people. Many of these jobs involve hours/days many would find inconvenient.


Overtime is where middling-skilled Joe Blow makes his money. Of course, working 60 hours a week is no picnic and involves lots of compromise and sacrifice in terms of family time, personal time, rest and recreation, and so forth... but many do it. Probably one reason so many men die of heart attacks in their 40s and 50s...

 

[reinoe]

Edit add: Some young folks don't know where to look, but temp agencies are a good start.

I've found temp agencies to be the worst way to find work, but it probably depends on what part of the country you live in.