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There Are LOADS Of Jobs Out There, But NONE Of Them Pay Living Wages!

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posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:09 PM
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The living wage in my county is $13 an hour, and on the news they said if you want to be able to live and actually have stuff and be able to live in a decent area you have to make over $20 an hour.
I have 2 Bachelor degrees, and I mainly work in retail for $10 an hour with no health insurance, along with about 3 or 4 other people with their degrees who make a dollar less than me. I also work a second job, still no health insurance, and have been looking into getting a third job. I pay almost $1000 a month for rent which is considered low income, the average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment here in this part of California is $1700 a month. Most apartments have 4 or 5 people living in them, and many houses are broken into duplexes and triplexes.
This way of living in unsustainable and makes me feel hopeless, trapped, and pissed off.
In Alameda county where my second job is [I drive almost an hour to my second job] it is one of the richest counties in the country and yet the food bank serves 1 out of every 6 families.

I have no idea what the answer or solution is other than begging my wife to let us move to another state!

I think this problem was a long time coming, starting with manufacturing moving overseas and the rapid inflation...at my age my parents had a house and a new car off of factory and painter wages, today my wife and I struggle to live in an apartment crawling with cockroaches



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:25 PM
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Remember before so many states became "right to work" people would join together in groups to negotiate living wages, benefits, health and safety, training, etc.. The power came with the groups power.

But the rightwing decided that there was no need for this because - living wages were not important.

Legislate against the unions and it is great, companies don't really have to worry about their employes.

Welcome to the 21st century. You got what you voted for. "Right to work" sounds so great til you understand what it really means.
edit on 20-5-2012 by spyder550 because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:28 PM
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reply to post by v1rtu0s0
 


Just wanted to pick up on a point you made in the initial post:

"The problem is that the middle class is shrinking and allot of jobless people have worked for their degrees or invested blood sweat and tears in their trades and they're not going to settle for McDonalds. Most people aren't just trying to survive, they are trying to live, and perhaps have a chance at 'thriving.' If the job can't even meet basic needs, what's the point? "

The point is, even low paid jobs will pay more than benefits...you have to earn something in order to survive so if you don't work, how do you survive at all? Is it atually easier to get by on benefits or on nothing at all than minimum wage? I don't think it would be, if it is it makes me even angrier.

So people think that it's easier to sit around and steal a little from the rest of us who choose to do what we need to in order to pay our way in life. Again, the overwhelming sense of entitlement...it's all ego, people think if they have a job they should be able to live lavish, luxurious lifestyles.. people need to lerarn to live within their means and make sacrifices in life...why is everyone so selfish - you think you could have survived a few centuries ago if you sat around doing nothing all day because you think a job is beneath you? If it pays more than benefits, even a couple of pence/cents more than benefits then you should do it, if only to save you taking from a system that robs those of us who do work.

I resent when people act like unskilled, hard labour is somehow beneath them, I did some truly horrible jobs and even then, doing jobs that made me miserable I still felt it a better option than takin from others who were also in most cases doing jobs that were just as awful or perhaps worse.

Just to add, I get where you're coming from, there are skilled people out there who are struggling to find a job in their chosen profession...but just because someone is an electrician/plumber/joiner or whatever doesn't mean they can't do something else in the meantime while they find the right job, one they actually want. It's about pride, it's about not having this arrogant attitude where you think it's acceptable for everyone else to do the jobs you refuse to and contribute to keep you while you sit around patiently wait around for your dream job.
edit on 20-5-2012 by samerulesapply because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:29 PM
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A life of online piracy for profit sounds good, a life of crime is more profitable and less taxed just as risky? like the Professional said all part of the plan. Don't give up hope people times are hard, the op isnt full of BS do what you have to, survive! I have been down this road before I was eaten by a corporation promises promises I said eff that Im doing what the op says is risky Im reinventing myself.

Brotherman



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:29 PM
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The problem with buisnesses these days is that 90% of them go thru temp. services. WHY, you ask. Well, it is cheaper to hire a temp because employers pay you less, they don't have to pay medical, can get rid of you at any time to hire a new temp so that they always pay the low wage and give any excuse to get rid of you after your probation period ,so they can recycle in another temp and do it all over again and again. Lower insurance costs and they can have a workforce to let go at any time when buisness is slow. Buisnesses have all kinds of excuses. to slow,does not train well, assignment complete,does not get along with others, and all kinds of other excuses because they don't want you any more. GOD FORBID, if you are dissabled or have medical issues. You say that and then the double standard sets in motion. You sign a paper stating if you have any medical issues and they say that they do not use this info. DUH, why do they ask it in the first place. You sign it, and an employer sees dissabled, not your condition. So the employer does not want to take the risk and does not hire you. If you lie and say you do not have any medical conditions on the paper and if something happens on the job, you are let go because you lied on the paper and could possibly be prosecuted. A double edge sword tactic. Ask yourself why that show went off the air so fast. The one where this couple worked at jobs that pay minimum or just above minimum wage. WHY, it is the truth. You CANNOT live off of this wage. WHY? All your necessity bills when added up will be to high and you will eventually get put out in the street. WAGES. A single person with bills: Check of $13. and hour at 40 hours per week = $520 minus social security,medical, state and federal taxes= about $400. a week= $1600. a month minus RENT $850., FOOD $225., GAS $50. a week $200. a month., CAR INSURANCE $50., ELECTRIC $60. Phone $55. This leaves you with $160. a month to spend on things like cloths, medical bills, car repairs, and taking care of a pet if you have one. GOD FORBID, if you have a child with you because day care is SO HIGH. That is for a single person AT $13. an hour, what a joke. ANY WAGE a buisness gives you below this is a joke. A single person is FORCED, to live by other means ,like having roomates and we all know how that goes. Living with family members, living in your car, or worse yet living on the street to get ahead when starting out with nothing. I haven't even listed all the bills on here. HOUSING is a JOKE. WAY TO EXSPENSIVE. How can people live like this? WHY? Because we are FORCED TO, Says the economy and prices and medical and housing and taxes and the all mighty DOLLAR. If you are getting hired below $13. dollars an hour you are getting the shaft. Some have the gall to say, well, whats wrong, i pay you $9. an hour, above minimum wage. WHAT A F# JOKE. and the kicker is, IF YOU DON'T PAY. You go to court, forced to pay and then you slowly start to loose everything you worked so hard for, to try to get ahead, managing PENNIES. Oh by the way, don't get sick or you will get a big hospital bill and if you cannot pay it you will be forced to and that is not only with medical. Be a good boy, don't get into ANY trouble or you pay double and pay fines,fees,more taxes,levies,garnishments,penaulties,and all the INTEREST they can possibly sock you with. OH, and this is FAIR, because they say so. So go back to school in hopes and dreams you will get a job in this ecomomy that is in a swirling downfall. Are you INTEREST ED. Gee, put a smile on that face, whats wrong with you, I think you have additude issues and are a lazy no gooder.
Get to work, YOU BUM.
With additudes and wages like that no wonder everyone is so psst off.
I see a light at the end of the tunnel. WAIT, it is the insinerator.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:30 PM
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reply to post by milominderbinder
 


I agree wholeheartedly with you. I myself was a soldier. I worked as a machine operator at a factory for two and a half years. I was only earning ten bucks an hour to run a cnc mill and drill. I had to work 50 plus hours a week in order to make ends meet for my family. I chose to move from kansas to St. Louis in order to attend school and get a degree in precision machining technologies. I graduated just after the start of the great recession. Factories shut down, downsized their workforce, and wanted to cut costs any way they could. Instead of hiring new grads, they wanted guys with ten years plus experience. The only work I could find was as a temp worker. They would hire us on, have us catch up on the backlog, then lay us off. The last one I worked laid off twenty of us for poor performance after only two and a half months. I was making 100% production, and had recieved employee of the month just five days prior. I went back to study industrial technologies at SIUC, and now Business Administration at SIUE. I am in a no mans land where I have been out of my field for so long, my skills are not current. So my Associates degree is all but useless. I am in a magic zone where I have either too much, or not enough education for most work I apply for. Having a permenent lower back injury(service connected disabled) does not help matters. We have applyed for over 100 postings in the last week alone. Here is the problem. The U.S. economy is not creating enough new jobs to provide any real growth in employment numbers. If you count for short term and long term discouraged workers, as well as those collecting unemployment, we are looking at an unemployment rate at over twenty percent. That is nealy 100 million working age workers not participating in the workforce. Our current reported unemployment rate of of approx. eight percent is based of the realatively newly created U-3 index. It only counts those collecting unemployment. The U-6 index is better, as it counts those collecting unemployment as well as short term discouraged. that puts us at around 16%. Any job I apply for, there are hundreds to thousands of other applicants. Fast food will not hire someone with my certifations, I have been told I was overqualified. Others will not hire me because I still am trying to get my bachelors, and without it, I am not entry level qualified. It is not laziness on the part of most people. It is the simple fact we are in depression, and still are hemoraging tradeable type jobs by the hundreds of thousands each year. We have lost seven million jobs from nafta alone. For those of you who dont believe this, google up and read the council on foreign relations paper on the effects of free trade, or another good search term is CFR paper confirms free trade is bad. There are many factors affecting those of us seeking work, and laziness is not a primary one. Free trade, outsourcing, illegal immigration, work visas being issued to non ameicans for tech jobs (more of these visas are issued each year than jobs created in tech feilds), financial problems, and our government making us the most over-taxed and over regulated jobs market on earth. These are only a few of the prime factors. Before some of these cats claiming there are plenty of jobs speaks, perhaps they should do a little research on the employment challenges facing the american worker.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:37 PM
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one change i have seen from as late as last year is that both the local Bi-Lo and Food Lion grocery stores have Americans working the registers, bagging the food...
for the past 6 years or more all those East Europeans and Russians came by the thousands to be waitresses, cashiers etc at the local tourist based businesses/markets, arrive by Easter then leave in October...

~perhaps my emails to my State Senator(s) staff were heard, along with thousands of other locals here in myrtle beach SC~


the tourist focused beach has always had crappy wages for the workers even the tradesmen were always 3 years behind the prevailing wage of other similar populated areas...
edit on 20-5-2012 by St Udio because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:44 PM
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anyone remember a few years back, there was an uproar by the jobless in the bay area because some fancy department store in san francisco hired people from ANOTHER COUNTRY to take these jobs. they couldn't bother to hire from the usa

how demoralizing must that have been? they gave some bull crap excuse of course.
edit on 20-5-2012 by research100 because: added 3 words



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:46 PM
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reply to post by cloaked4u
 


That whole temp worker thing is a really ugly trend.

Only had to do it once. Got lucky with the present job, direct hire.

I would not change jobs, even for higher pay if it meant starting as a temp again, sucks.

When the headhunters call that is the first thing I ask about, direct hire or temp.

And the 2nd thing I ask about is company ownership. Because the Euro's have come over here and laid me off twice.

Not working for the Krauts again, no way.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:50 PM
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And they say, Oh don't worry, we can help you. There are all kinds of programs out there. Just check out your local church, I'm sure they will be able to pay your bills and feed your children till you find a job and get on your feet.
Maybe unemployment can help. You get a whopping 100 dollars a week to pay for everything. You all will be fine, trust me.
Buisnesses are making new jobs because unemployment will get dropped and people will be forced to get a job and things will magically get better.
The economy is doing great and things are picking up even tho almost all manufacturing jobs went overseas.
The low wage buisnesses pay will gradually help make new jobs and buisnesses exspand.
The same ole, same ole JIVE every time, so they can find more ways to take more money out of you and me pockets.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:53 PM
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what the hell are you talking about? every job pays a living wage! how much f**kin' money do you really need to live anyway?

i'm soooooooo boooored of these circular bulls**t arguments. if you can't figure out how to make your dreams come true then it's nobody's fault but your own!

you americans are sooooo shallow... sooooo self-induglent.... you just sit there, playing with s**t and eating everybody else's food.

"YOU disgust ME!" -God

go on, call me a terrorist! you pathetic swine!
edit on 20/5/12 by mzungu because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:56 PM
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wrong.

They pay living wages...they DO NOT pay wages that mean you can do what you want when you want it. People have become too entitled to thinking they're supposed to have a fancy car, iPhone 4S, xbox, ps3, new iMac, etc.

If your skills do not allow you a job that pays to meet your wants, then you should stick to your needs. Stop feeling entitled, trophy generation, in the real world you have to earn what you keep.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:57 PM
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I forgot to add to my earlier post.....

The ancillary benefit to TPTB of destroying the middle class by exporting jobs and keeping us all
entirely focused on "just getting by" with what few low paying jobs are available....

They get an entire generation of disillusioned, desperate workers who will jump at the chance
to serve in the armed forces for the benefits and pay.

So if some country or dictator won't do as they're told then TPTB have an eager, hungry
military force at their disposal that they can utilize to force their will.

I know several people who served in the military in the last few years, and all of them, to a man,
have stated that the did it for the money and benefits. And not (as it should be) to serve
their country and the American people.

And then when those guys return home they find that the freedoms they thought they were fighting for
are being stolen right out from under their noses....

...that must be why Ron Paul has such huge and overwhelming military support. Those guys KNOW
what is going on because they are living it.




edit on 20-5-2012 by rival because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:58 PM
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Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
It used to be that you were able to work a nice 40 hr/week job and have time for yourself and raising a good family, but now you have to work 2 - 3 jobs while no time for family and it all disintegrates; It is all part of the plan.


And back in the day, people didn't blow their money on gadgets, gizmos, and do-hickeys. Today, thats what people do. They blow $15,000 a year on Chinese made crap, then complain like children that they can't afford their own house.

It's pathetic.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:58 PM
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Originally posted by mzungu
what the hell are you talking about? every job pays a living wage! how much f**kin' money do you really need to live anyway?

i'm soooooooo boooored of these circular bulls**t arguments. if you can't figure out how to make your dreams come true then it's nobody's fault but your own!

you americans are sooooo shallow... sooooo self-induglent.... you just sit there, playing with s**t and eating everybody else's food.

"you disgust ME!" -God
edit on 20/5/12 by mzungu because: (no reason given)


I pay you a living wage of .50 cents an hour JO. This good wage where you live, JO. Put a smile on your face JO, it all right. I have a nice home for you JO, out under the bridge. It is square and insulated with cardboard, good for you , ok JO.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:58 PM
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reply to post by SLAYER69
 


I hear you and I really want to do my part and buy american
made products.Where can you buy american made products?



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 03:59 PM
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Originally posted by kawika
That whole temp worker thing is a really ugly trend.

Only had to do it once. Got lucky with the present job, direct hire.


Oh hell yeah. Went the same route 10 years ago(gotta do what you have to). I did a couple of days as a reachfork operator. Worked in a glass tempering shop for a few months then caught on as a temp in the provincial gov't. Got hired. Contrary to what people think gov. workers don't make that much. The benefits is where it comes in. Worth at least $12,000/yr if you have a family. That translates to $6/hr more.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 04:00 PM
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Originally posted by PrimePorkchop
wrong.

They pay living wages...they DO NOT pay wages that mean you can do what you want when you want it. People have become too entitled to thinking they're supposed to have a fancy car, iPhone 4S, xbox, ps3, new iMac, etc.

If your skills do not allow you a job that pays to meet your wants, then you should stick to your needs. Stop feeling entitled, trophy generation, in the real world you have to earn what you keep.



I give you the same deal JO. 50 cents an hour. This good pay where you live at. I have nice home too. A newer model that is under the bridge and is insulated with cardboard. YOU like jo, i know.



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 04:01 PM
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Originally posted by mamabeth
I hear you and I really want to do my part and buy american
made products.Where can you buy american made products?


Funny you should mention that. I DO take a notice of people that buy domestic and those that buy foreign. That said I'm a union steward.

Edit for clarity: I'm talking about cars. Big part of the economy.
edit on 20-5-2012 by intrepid because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 20 2012 @ 04:04 PM
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reply to post by mamabeth
 





I hear you and I really want to do my part and buy american
made products.Where can you buy american made products?


How did you get that cat to levitate a cork?

Have been collecting a few links. Some things, like bikes, nearly impossible.

But most things, if you look at the labels and don't give up, you can find, including shoes.

www.thru-hole.com...

You can leave comments there, but be careful what you say, because at my site, I am the moderator

edit on 20-5-2012 by kawika because: add text



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