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Notes -
I'd add that the whole "ceremonial work" idea works in the opposite direction, too. I first noticed it, subtly, during the early days of the fight for the $15 minimum wage. There are plenty of arguments you can make about whether the minimum wage should go up, or by how much, but I noticed a dumb line of argument that suggested that it shouldn't be $15 simply because the people working at these places didn't deserve $15. It was usually along the lines of:
After COVID, when labor shortages caused these places to raise their wages close to $15 without any prompting from the government, the argument morphed into something more along the lines of:
More recently, I've seen this among those in the building trades:
These guys usually express a sense of entitlement themselves—they started carrying when they were 15 for 3 bucks an hour and were glad to get it, then spent the next several decades moving up, learning the trade, investing in a business, and now some kid off the street with no experience expects you to pay him much more than your 40 years of experience says he's worth. Every time I hear a small business owner say "no one wants to work anymore" I always think "well, not at what you're paying them, anyway".
A hundred years ago there were a lot of men with minimal skills who had nothing to offer but their labor. as the economy boomed after World War II and people had more educational opportunities, the labor pool was less of an end and more of where you started, hoping to work your way up to a skilled position. But in an economy where people aren't simply taking whatever work they can get, where apprenticeships for skilled trades are available immediately without years of playing kiss-ass to a union boss, and you can walk into any gas station and get $15/hour to push cash registers, basic day labor has become a specialty occupation you have to attract people to do.
The thing about a lot of unskilled jobs that is lost on some people is that they also suck. When I was in high school I worked at a grocery store, and while the conditions weren't bad, I had to wear a uniform to work, I had to work nights and weekends, I had to deal with bitchy customers, there was a lot of standing around staring into space, etc. Now I work as a lawyer and have lots of expensive education and training and a hard-to-obtain license and I make exponentially more now than I did as a cashier. But would I go back if I could make my current salary? Hell no. Yes, part of why I became a lawyer was so I could make more money but part of it also was so I didn't have to work in a grocery store. The same thing is true with labor. I did construction labor when I was in college and it sucks. Eventually they let me on to the painting crew and, though it paid more, I would have done it for less since I wouldn't have to sling buckets all day.
Have you considered how much of the upset about basic laborers making $20-$25/hr is driven by skilled laborers upset that they haven't received equivalent payraises?
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