War on Work: Jesse Ventura and Mike Rowe Tackle the American Jobs Crisis

On this week’s Off the Grid, I sit down with former host of Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe to discuss America’s current unemployment rate, what he thinks of current political candidates and his new show Somebody’s Gotta Do It, which explores unique jobs across the country.

I been out of work for too long. I want to work but at 50 I cannot do most jobs. Any advice Mike or Jessie?
I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of being poor.

This is by far the best OTG show ever! And Mike Rowe thank for participating, great job.

Please Jessie respond to us at ATS, we feel it's important!

I no longer work for a living. I live and there is some work involved. I work to make what I want to see happen actually happen. Unexpected stuff can make that effort challenging at times but the trick is to stay focused and stay the course.
Good show Jess.

Wow! one of Ventura's best post's and it bombed?


Thanks ATS.

Reminds me of a meme I seen today. Here it is.



So very true. And yet much of the middle class blue collar folks seem to think the next republican hopeful will turn this country around.

WRONG ! Guess again, just more lining corporate americas pockets and using our military as dupes to get what they want using religion to achieve it. If you think Barack Obama is bad I can gurantee the next POTUS will make you miss him. Because the stupid outweigh the intelligent. Its all down hill from here folks. I cant blame Jesse Ventura for leaving the country , abandon ship and swim like hell.

Bookmarking to watch tomorrow.

a reply to: DarthFazer

Nothing could ever make me miss Obama. He is a blood curdling port-a-potty in the hot sun on wheels.
Hillary is a close second. Anyone right or left who votes against the people with taking away rights is in the same category.

If someone can get elected who will reverse this process and isn't part of the Washington DC sewage treatment plant that Obama is currently helping to smell worse day by day, that is going to be who I support. Not that that will make a difference, but I'm willing to wait and see.

Thanks Jesse for continuing in the effort to expose everything and educate those who are resistant to educating.

I'm from Detroit and starting around 2003 I watched entire industrial complexes disappear over night. I'm not talking about the burned out factories from the 1940's of the inner city. The suburbs had patches of industrial areas. They were middle class skilled labor jobs. They trained and promoted from within. Anyone out of high school within a few years with some hard work could make a living wage.

My grandmother and grandfather came from the south to work in these factories. My grandfather was at Omaha beach Normandy. After the war he went to work in these factories. He made a decent living for himself and he only had an 8th grade education. My grandmother was born on a kitchen table in a dirt floor shack on a tobacco farm. She worked in a munitions factory and made parts for the bombs that were dropped on Japan. After the war she went to work at Crystler and retired with a full pension.

My grandfather is red white and blue and he bled UAW both of my grandparents did. I watched everything they fought and worked for get systematically destroyed.

I've talked about ALL this before on ATS, I'll recap AGAIN:

The "Owners of Capital" want wage slaves DEAD before turning 60. Best case scenario for them, is for someone to work 60+ hour work weeks from ages 16-60, put all of their money into a 401K, cars & home mortgage, neglecting to go to the doctor for decades and then suddenly drop dead of a heart attack; all before they can drain their 401K's and start using earned social security & medicare benefits.

Due to the way our current economic system works, we CLEARLY have too many people being born and not enough desire on the behalf of the "owners of capital" to employ them for the sake of having a stable and safe civilization. In the United States, for example, its clear that the "owners of capital" have chosen NOT to employ people on a large scale, preferring "tent cities" and "jailing the homeless", INSTEAD of providing more "make-work employment" arrangements.

Up to the 1940 a person could get just about any job with an 8th grade education, but today you need a BA or Masters for entry level. Why?

Because the government & big business figured out a long time ago that populations would certainly increase over time, but due to technology advancements, the availability of jobs would not expand to meet that population growth. There is a DEFINITE reason they don’t want people dropping out of high school and then at the same time, encourage those same high school graduates to attend junior college, then a 4 year university and finally a Masters degree or PhD. Government strong-arms this concept because it DECREASES the amount of people looking for full-time employment at the SAME TIME, chasing after jobs in a market that CANNOT provide employment for everyone whom is looking, able to perform, qualified for and willing to work.

Look at it this way, when people could get a job with an 8th grade education, they went out and did it as soon as possible (opportunity cost). Then jobs got scarcer and the minimum requirement became a high school diploma, adding 4 more years of people NOT Looking for jobs within their cohort. Then jobs got even scarcer and the minimum became a 2 or 4 year college degree, adding an additional 2-4 years of people NOT looking for jobs within their cohort. Now jobs are really scarce and may require a Masters or PHD, adding an additional 2-7 years of people NOT looking for jobs within their cohort. Basically due to the way the economy has been structured TODAY, we are looking at young people within their cohort whom are NOT looking for full-time, career type, employment for 6-15 YEARS, beyond K-12, all while they finish more school!

This has been done ON PURPOSE, to keep the number people seeking employment lower. In 1920 after 8th grade everyone who was able, went out to look for work and typically found it. That’s simply NOT possible today under any circumstances. Easily accessed welfare will soon add another 1-3 years of people within a cohort, to those “not seeking employment”. Note this will NOT be to the specific detriment of society, but as a means to continue to mask the illusion that jobs and upward mobility are still available. So, if someone gets a graduate degree and collects 1-3 years of welfare on top of than, that’s ONE less person competing for scarce jobs. The extra years of welfare are then acting in the same way to the larger economy, as the previously increased minimum education levels for employment. The real goal is decreasing the number of able-bodied applicants out on the job market at the same time, but also not decreasing the supply of "potential workers" who's mere existence drive wages down for EVERYBODY. Keep in mind this cohort of people "not pursuing full-time employment" also includes those in Prison, Government pensioners/SSI and the disabled on government assistance. The reality is if everyone needed to go out and “get a job” or “start their own business” TODAY, as many “capitalists” and "entrepreneurs" suggest these days, we would ALL be making 0.25 cents a day. This is the strategy that will be used to "End of Global Poverty"

The “owners of capital” have already decided, FOR US REGULAR PEOPLE, that there are going to be LESS jobs available in the NEAR future, due to increased automation and modern corporate labor, cost-cutting, strategies. These measures eventually will affect and include ALL contract work, ALL self-employment opportunities and ALL small businesses, NOT JUST payroll laborers. Its easier to “pay less” or “nothing at all” to contracted or indentured “labor” when there is another willing laborer/slave, waiting in the wings, to do the work for less or nothing at all. In the past when there wasn’t enough money to go around to pay both wages & PROFITS, the “owners of capital” simply brought in more indentured servant immigrants (Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc) or used flat out slave labor (Blacks, Native Americans, domestic prisoners, POW’s, etc). The only difference between now and then is that “owners of capital” can’t LEGALLY have slaves or indentured servants. The mechanisms today that replaces slaves and indentured servants are the following: longer than needed formal education for basic employment, off-shoring of labor, forced retirement, prisoners and welfare

The largest “recorded” wage increase to happen in history, for non-land owing, wage-laborers, post the introduction of fiat currency, was after the black death pandemic, in the 14th century, especially in post-pandemic England

But, how is that possible?

Because “the owners of capital”, post the black-death-pandemic, still needed wage-laborers, but there was a HUGE shortage of able bodied people. So, in order for ANY work to get done, they had to pay the peasants and other undesirables, more money, SIGNIFICANTLY MORE. This principle is still at work today, when you take the time to recognize that sizable portions of the population are actively discouraged from participating in the full-time labor market. This is easily done, by throwing people in prison, forcing them to attend formal school longer and allowing more people to claim themselves as disabled or collect long/short term welfare

After the Black Death ran its course, in the 14th century, a Peasants Revolt was triggered by the "Statute of Labourers 1351". By 1381, the sustained wage growth for non-land owing, wage-laborers was rising so quickly that the English parliament, a few decades post the Black-Death, under King Edward III, introduced the "Statute of Labourers 1351". This statute was used by the "Owners of Capital", as an artificial means to drive down the wages of non-land owning peasants. Despite market conditions signalling the need for increased wages

The Statute of Laborers; 1351 ("Statutes of the Realm," vol. i. p. 307.)

Think about that for a minute, the MARKET signaled that wages should have been higher, due to actual labor shortages caused by the Black Death, but the “owners of capital” still didn't want to pay it, so they wrote a law saying why they didn't have to conform to demands of the market. That's where we are today, a form of Neo-feudalism, driven by Fascist ideology and practices. Remember the USA a former "slave owning nation", that fought "tooth & nail" to maintain the legal right to own slaves; even turning indentured servants, whom by contract, were set to be released in 7 years, into indefinite slaves through legal loopholes

I currently work in the steel industry in Northeast Ohio, which used to be the promised land as far as I can tell some 30 years ago. I have worked for two different companies in the past 5 years (US Steel & TimkenSteel/The Timken Company). These were entry level jobs that put me in the door starting off at $60K a year. I had no experience in heavy manufacturing like this, and basically got in with the whole "you have to know someone to be hired". I was very fortunate to have an in-law working for The Timken Company (which is now TimkenSteel). I worked there for 16 months, and was unceremoniously laid off. Apparently, this is the norm in the industry.

It wasn't very easy to go from making over $21 an hour to practically nothing, but my wife and I made it work. At the time we only had one child, who was 3. Our fantastic health insurance was discontinued after one month and we were left out in the cold. When I tried to reenter the job market, I was basically told I was overqualified for basic $10 an hour jobs, so no one would hire me. I was also told I was considered a "flight risk" (I'm a terrorist?), for when my layoff ended I would run right back to my job. Well of course! You mean my job that pays me fairly well, gives me a pension, and a very affordable/excellent health insurance? It never stopped me from trying, and I was actually fortunate enough to be hired by US Steel in pretty much the same entry level position. Better pay, and even better benefits. This was nearly a year and half after my initial layoff, after we lost our apartment and had to move in with other family members. Also after another child, but hey my daughter needed a sibling right?

So here I am, thinking that we somehow were able to weather the storm; the storm being behind on practically every bill we had ever had over the course of 18 months. I was back to working 6/7 days a week on rotating shifts, and loved every minute of it. We got all caught up on what we were behind on in 2 weeks. 8 weeks into my employment with US Steel, I was laid off. On Christmas Eve no less. So to sum things up: after being laid off from one mill I was able to find another job at a different mill; only to be laid off again. Back to square one. Fortunately I was able to put away enough money to tread water for however long this layoff would be.

I kept asking myself "Why does this keep happening?" With all the fracking going on, rigs drilling in various areas of the world, how is it I keep getting laid off? After doing a little bit of research, I found out the reason this is happening is because other countries are illegally dumping cheaper steel onto the US market, and most companies want to save some extra $$$. Well as long as its at the expense of my family, sure why not? I was laid off for 6 months from US Steel when TimkenSteel called me back to work. This is after a 2 year layoff. So once again, my number was called and I took advantage of my opportunity. I started back in September of last year, and was quickly able to make up ground from once again, bills that mounted faster than we could pay them. We were on SNAP at the time, only after my wife begged and pleaded for me to swallow my pride and apply, which I did. We had no electricity the first two weeks of my job because it had been shut off, but we made it work. We got off SNAP and slowly started to get ahead.

March 1st of this year, I was laid off, AGAIN. Which is why I sit at home right now, in month 5 of my new layoff watching my 2 year old son do his best Evel Knievel impersonation with his Hot Wheels tracks. Things are so bad at my job, the people that didn't get laid off are only working 3 weeks a month, 4 days a week. They are laid off 1 whole week out of the month. Basically we went from working 24-26 days out of the month, to 10-12 at the most. I was fortunate to get unemployment this time around, but that runs out in exactly two weeks. No callback date in site.

Basically I've been in this industry for about 5 years now; laid off for about 3 and half. The "mighty" steel industry in the US, and I keep getting laid off because of illegal dumping that is STILL going on. I read article after article about Congress looking into these illegal "practices", but never see anything getting done about it. Apparently its out of my hands, but what am I to tell my family? Here we are stuck in the same boat again, no one willing to hire me because I'm "overqualified". Forget about the adjustment required to go from making $24 an hour to a little over $10 if I'm lucky. Which, by the way, I would take.

Yet here I will wait, again, for my number to be called. In a very demanding, very DANGEROUS job that does not take excuses. You will be at work, but only if we need you. I'm not blaming anyone, and I'm not even mad anymore, I'm just disappointed. Here I am in the prime of my life just waiting for my chance to contribute, unlike other people in my generation. If i was called back to work tonight, I would run back smiling and do the best job I could possibly do.

Where is my job?

Where is my chance?

originally posted by: kyleisboss
other countries are illegally dumping cheaper steel onto the US market, and most companies want to save some extra $$$. Well as long as its at the expense of my family, sure why not?

This is the answer and make no mistake it is the ONLY ANSWER.

I still don't understand why Americans are bothering to try and "follow the rules" made by the "Owners of Capital". REGULAR POEPLE DON'T NEED TO LISTEN TO THEIR DEMANDS OR FOLLOW THEIR RULES ANYMORE!

Why? Because its a one way street in their favor.

There is ABSOLUTELY no "give and take" on their end. So, why are regular people bothering to do anything they ask anymore. Its pointless, as you have pointed out in your own personal story.

The U.S. can no longer fulfill the dreams 0f Wall Street, the Pentagon, and the Middle Class. At least one dream must die. Despite partisan differences, both political parties have agreed to sacrifice the people. An economic recovery will eventually create more jobs, predicts Faux, but most will no longer pay a middle class salary. On our present track, real incomes by 2024 will be dramatically lower than they are today.

By Jeff Faux

As the economist Jeff Faux puts it, we’re well on the way to becoming a full-fledged “servant economy.” We’ve had “servant economies” in the world before. At times, people even rushed toward servant status. In the early industrial age, jobs in mines and factories would be dirty and dangerous and pay next to nothing. Domestic work for rich families could seem, by comparison, a relatively safe haven.

By Sam Pizzigati

a reply to: boohoo

Have you considered leaving the manufacturing field all together?

Personally I see it as a dying field. Only in the sense of there being lots of decent jobs available. The more competitive manufacturing costs get, the more automation you will see. And that basically goes for any field really. Adapt or perish.

Even a field like computer coding, where an average wage is $80000+/yr and roughly 90000+ jobs were left unfillled last year (due to no one knowing how to code... Thanks public education), in likely a matter of a decade or two, those jobs will cease to exist as AI will be up and running and thus likely writing its own code. Just look at how BMW builds cars now. Go ahead and Google the BMW i8 or i3 assembly line. There might be a total of a dozen people working it. The rest is robots. And the majority of people on the line are actually just interacting with robots.

Quite honestly, I'm all for robots taking over menial tasks and dangerous jobs. However, the ONLY reason this scares people, and why it won't be FULLY implemented is because of our monetary economy. A perverse, socially stratifying, limiting and unsustainable system of modern slavery.

If you have a loan or mortgage, you are a serf. And all you have to thank is the illusion of...

Money.

The rich need the poor to be tetherd and controlled through money (debt). Therefore they need someone to bolt a rim onto a car on an assembly line, so they can go buy this car with a loan and slowly pay it off with their ridiculous (obscenely low) wages. I know, car plant workers make good money... Well, tell that to the temp workers. Yada yada yada...trickle down economics BS BS BS and what you get is islands of rich and oceans of poor.

This is what monetary economics does. No matter if capitalism, socialism, communism, whatevrism is driving the centralized banking ship...it will be beached, hard, no matter what.

Anyways, I think you get my point. None of the sh!t will change so long as the economy stays the way it is. It is fundamentally broken to the core. So either adapt, or perish. These are your ONLY choices short of a total global revolution to take down the banks and governments which support them.

There's no work to be done and hobestly this entire idea of having to work is insane when you look at technology.

Personally I'd like to dedicate more energy to martial arts.

originally posted by: kyleisboss
I currently work in the steel industry in Northeast Ohio, which used to be the promised land as far as I can tell some 30 years ago. I have worked for two different companies in the past 5 years (US Steel & TimkenSteel/The Timken Company). These were entry level jobs that put me in the door starting off at $60K a year. I had no experience in heavy manufacturing like this, and basically got in with the whole "you have to know someone to be hired". I was very fortunate to have an in-law working for The Timken Company (which is now TimkenSteel). I worked there for 16 months, and was unceremoniously laid off. Apparently, this is the norm in the industry.

It wasn't very easy to go from making over $21 an hour to practically nothing, but my wife and I made it work. At the time we only had one child, who was 3. Our fantastic health insurance was discontinued after one month and we were left out in the cold. When I tried to reenter the job market, I was basically told I was overqualified for basic $10 an hour jobs, so no one would hire me. I was also told I was considered a "flight risk" (I'm a terrorist?), for when my layoff ended I would run right back to my job. Well of course! You mean my job that pays me fairly well, gives me a pension, and a very affordable/excellent health insurance? It never stopped me from trying, and I was actually fortunate enough to be hired by US Steel in pretty much the same entry level position. Better pay, and even better benefits. This was nearly a year and half after my initial layoff, after we lost our apartment and had to move in with other family members. Also after another child, but hey my daughter needed a sibling right?

So here I am, thinking that we somehow were able to weather the storm; the storm being behind on practically every bill we had ever had over the course of 18 months. I was back to working 6/7 days a week on rotating shifts, and loved every minute of it. We got all caught up on what we were behind on in 2 weeks. 8 weeks into my employment with US Steel, I was laid off. On Christmas Eve no less. So to sum things up: after being laid off from one mill I was able to find another job at a different mill; only to be laid off again. Back to square one. Fortunately I was able to put away enough money to tread water for however long this layoff would be.

I kept asking myself "Why does this keep happening?" With all the fracking going on, rigs drilling in various areas of the world, how is it I keep getting laid off? After doing a little bit of research, I found out the reason this is happening is because other countries are illegally dumping cheaper steel onto the US market, and most companies want to save some extra $$$. Well as long as its at the expense of my family, sure why not? I was laid off for 6 months from US Steel when TimkenSteel called me back to work. This is after a 2 year layoff. So once again, my number was called and I took advantage of my opportunity. I started back in September of last year, and was quickly able to make up ground from once again, bills that mounted faster than we could pay them. We were on SNAP at the time, only after my wife begged and pleaded for me to swallow my pride and apply, which I did. We had no electricity the first two weeks of my job because it had been shut off, but we made it work. We got off SNAP and slowly started to get ahead.

March 1st of this year, I was laid off, AGAIN. Which is why I sit at home right now, in month 5 of my new layoff watching my 2 year old son do his best Evel Knievel impersonation with his Hot Wheels tracks. Things are so bad at my job, the people that didn't get laid off are only working 3 weeks a month, 4 days a week. They are laid off 1 whole week out of the month. Basically we went from working 24-26 days out of the month, to 10-12 at the most. I was fortunate to get unemployment this time around, but that runs out in exactly two weeks. No callback date in site.

Basically I've been in this industry for about 5 years now; laid off for about 3 and half. The "mighty" steel industry in the US, and I keep getting laid off because of illegal dumping that is STILL going on. I read article after article about Congress looking into these illegal "practices", but never see anything getting done about it. Apparently its out of my hands, but what am I to tell my family? Here we are stuck in the same boat again, no one willing to hire me because I'm "overqualified". Forget about the adjustment required to go from making $24 an hour to a little over $10 if I'm lucky. Which, by the way, I would take.

Yet here I will wait, again, for my number to be called. In a very demanding, very DANGEROUS job that does not take excuses. You will be at work, but only if we need you. I'm not blaming anyone, and I'm not even mad anymore, I'm just disappointed. Here I am in the prime of my life just waiting for my chance to contribute, unlike other people in my generation. If i was called back to work tonight, I would run back smiling and do the best job I could possibly do.

Where is my job?

Where is my chance?

There was a time when being an American worker meant something. We took pride in the our work and the companies we worked for. They invested in us and we provided them best workmanship we could. We can no longer compete with foreign slave labor.

Henry Ford once decided to pay his workers $5 a day. People thought he was nuts paying those kinds of wages. But he figured that if he paid them enough they'd buy his cars and you know what it worked.

No one believes in America anymore. Our government is bought and paid for by those at the top. CEO's are making more money now than any other time in history yet wages have been stagnant for 20 years.

Capitalism has turned cannibalistic anything to save money at the workers expense of employment and a fair wage.

I don't see anyone in our government doing anything about it like higher tariffs or penalties for doing business over seas instead of in America. These CEO's hide their money off shore in tax havens and exploit our system for everything they can.

As far as I'm concerned if they want to enjoy being American maybe they should contribute something back or go live in China.

Sorry about the rant your story touched a nerve with me. You're not alone there are many just like you.

a reply to: JesseVentura

As a "blue collar" worker who has been working since I was 15, I can make the following observations about working in America.

1. Like it or not, there IS a class system in place in this country, not everyone gets a fair shake. Most working class kids never have a chance of making it through college because their paycheck to paycheck parents cant afford the level of support they need to complete it. All if not most of the "respectable professional jobs" go to the affluent and their children. Its a good old boy network that working class people NEVER penetrate. Most companies do not promote from within because they dont want to promote working class people from blue collar to white collar positions, because of CLASS. You can work your a## off for decades but you will never be accepted by these people because you arent "one of them".

2. If you are a young person in your twenties, START SAVING FOR RETIREMENT" At 56, its very clear to me that companies want to start pushing you towards the door as soon as you hit your late forties. In addition, most younger managers dont like working with older people. Be ready to retire by 55, not 65.

3. Immigrants are NOT the problem. The ATTITUDE that EMPLOYERS have towards WORKERS is the problem. Its adversarial and hostile. THAT is what needs to change.

4. EVERY worker deserves some level of respect. From a counter worker at Mcdonalds to an airline pilot. working itself needs to be respected. This is a reason we have an underclass in this country that no longer sees work as a virtue, because the one percent of our society thinks if you didn't go to some ivy league school or arent a frat member you are worthless.

a reply to: wantsome


Thanks for the kind words, and I couldn't agree more with you. The frustrating part is I feel that most people turn a blind eye to what really goes on. If it doesn't involve them, it doesn't affect them.

www.cnbc.com...

This is a great article about what happened to my current employer. They were basically advised to split into two companies to "maximize stock price". The union, workers and most board members vehemently disagreed about how this would really weaken both companies. This "board of advisers" managed to con the CEO (at the time) into thinking it was a good idea. Turns out it wasn't. Both companies are worse off.

Even better, the "advisers" that pushed this maneuver sold all their shares as soon as the split happened, made their money, and bailed. So did the CEO. Weren't even around long enough for people to realize what a huge mistake this was. The end result? My rant above.

People with money made more $$$, people who didn't know any better spend their time on unemployment. Capitalism eh?

originally posted by: Sparkymedic
a reply to: boohoo
Have you considered leaving the manufacturing field all together?

Where exactly in my post did I talk about manufacturing?

I did not.

Where in my most did I say that I worked in manufacturing?

I did not, I only referenced the story that kyleisboss posted, which as many are finding out, a now common theme in America.

None of your other economic counter points invalidates anything that I have said above.

originally posted by: openminded2011
Most working class kids never have a chance of making it through college because their paycheck to paycheck parents cant afford the level of support they need to complete it. All if not most of the "respectable professional jobs" go to the affluent and their children.

Keeping up with the basics in terms of education and on-the-job work skills won’t be enough for jobs requiring future tech, labor market, skill-sets. The poor and even the middle class (not the upper middle class) will simply NOT be able to keep up with the skill demands for future employment which will include REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS, STATE LICENSING, etc, while earning wages AND keeping a roof over their heads. In the future these very high costs skills that will be needed to stay “relevant” in ALL labor markets, will only be affordable to the rich, or possibly to VERY far forward thinking middle class families, willing to sacrifice everything financially, while pooling resources to keep their offspring competitive in the larger job market.

I will begin with the usual assertion I hear in regards to the impact of these, soon to be real, “future-tech jobs", which contrary to beliefs of some, includes the trades and accompanying "proprietary tech" that will not be repairable, only "replaceable by a certified/licensed tech".

“Someone has to get paid to fix the robots!”

I often hear this above noted rebuttal to mass automation and current labor cutting measure in the modern workplace, BUT it misses a subtle point that ONLY the children of the wealthy will have the opportunity to become TRUE experts in such fields. Let me clarify, through the prior 20th century, a poor kid who studied hard could become a lawyer, accountant, even a doctor sometimes with the right combination of hard work, savings, scholarships, family support, etc or simply went into the trades and learned on the job with pay. HOWEVER, in engineering and technician curriculum’s today, times are changing to favor kids whom have access to expensive software and hardware to “experiment” with and “practice” on before entering college or a particular training program. So when they finally get to college or their apprenticeship, those whom have had lots of free time to “play” with robotics and programming outside of class WILL CERTAINLY outpace their less privileged peer who flips burgers part-time to pay rent and school expenses.

Before 1990, 40% of teenagers had part-time jobs while in school. This is a relevant statistic because today only 20% of teenagers in school have part-time jobs. Teens at one time did make up a sizable portion of the workforce and such changes in employment practices.

Although not my primary point, I do think there is plenty of evidence that teens today do not have the opportunity to get part-time jobs, BUT the wealthy ones are beginning to develop advanced skill-sets that COULD be MORE helpful in their future adult careers than say “working at a taco stand after school”. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are very good EARLY examples of people who made use of their free time and access to money, without laboring for pay, to develop specialized skills that could not be learned at a MINDLESS part-time job or even in formal schooling. In the end they leveraged that free time learning into long term careers.

Here is a modern example of a company with a big contract to fill and absolutely no "will" to increase wages to attract experience personnel, nor the desire to train inexperienced ones on the job, while paid. Instead they put out a story on the web bellyaching:

bridgemi.com...

In the link below this paragraph I have posted an example of what I believe to be a young person, from a well off family, who majored in robotics at USC. She doesn’t appear to have had an unrelated part-time job, in relation to her major, while in college. She also seem to have had lots time to “experiment and PLAY” with technology in her spare time, earning a masters degree back-to-back to the bachelors AND at the end of the day got a job offer at a University sponsored dinner party for robotics majors. NOBODY I went to college with, EVER, got a job offer at a university sponsored dinner party. In contrast, I’m sure many Ivy league and top 10 school graduates do get job offers at university sponsored dinner parties. My point being, these future “robot repair jobs” are going to require smart kids, with desire to advance, whom also went to good schools, had lots of spare time and money to play with the tech outside of school AND got their jobs offered at dinner parties, some of which will be non-paying internships at first. These job offers will not be gained through sending out blind jobs applications through linkedin or company job boards, as has been done up until now. Basically what this girl is doing for Disney will, in the near future, be more like what a plumber or electrician does today, EXCEPT you won’t get trained on the job, in a low-pay apprenticeship when at “entry level”. In fact to even be considered for these “future-tech jobs” in the first place you’ll need to have good academic pedigree, lots of unpaid hobby experience and 1+ years of unpaid internships. Can kids outside of the upper middle class do the same thing as this young woman? I think not!

Here is her story, readers can decide for themselves, my opinion is that this is what a career for a plumber is going to look like in 15+ years:

onedublin.org...

Those whom are going to be rendered jobless by automation/robotics/tech are going to be the least likely to be able to pick up these pieces in the coming era of traditional jobs destruction. Its going to IMPOSSIBLE for the poor to go back to school, get a masters degree in robotics, in full-time only engineering programs. Contrary to belief these programs strongly discourage their admitted students from taking part-time jobs, while favoring students who have both the money and free time, whom have NEVER work at an unrelated job to their majors, whom also buy expensive robotics hardware/software to experiment with outside of class.

Mark my words this future labor market in the pursuit of “maintaining robots or other tech” is going to be the sole domain of rich kids with advanced degrees from good schools because NO ONE is going to train anyone else perceived as lesser, in that kind of job, WITH PAY.

To continue my above point, I believe “rich kid” job mobility is going to be a bigger problem for regular folks beyond what the previous "rich kid" pedigree typically brought in the 20th century. This unfettered access to endless money and time to “explore” academics and hands-on work with no consequences is going to END job mobility of any kind for the lower and middle classes, even for those whom have met the typical required higher education and work experience standards. Its a superstar only job market now with no room for middle of road folks.

I'm beating feet to Honolulu this week.
Biggest construction boom in decades.
This is, I'm from Hawaii but been in Portland, Oregon for a while.
I watch as people demand $15 an hour to work at McDonald, etc. when even in Portland they can get a construction apprenticeship that starts at over $17 an hour.
Going rate for journeyman union drywall trades is $44.15 X 2000 in a year is $88k plus $8 an hour vacation pay equals $104, 300 a year.
I'm gone.
hawaiicarpenterjobs.com...

originally posted by: MrNeo
I'm beating feet to Honolulu this week.
Biggest construction boom in decades.
This is, I'm from Hawaii but been in Portland, Oregon for a while.
I watch as people demand $15 an hour to work at McDonald, etc. when even in Portland they can get a construction apprenticeship that starts at over $17 an hour.
Going rate for journeyman union drywall trades is $44.15 X 2000 in a year is $88k plus $8 an hour vacation pay equals $104, 300 a year.
I'm gone.
hawaiicarpenterjobs.com...

I'm in the same business, only home builders and small modellers will hire someone with only fast food and retail work experience.