Posted on 12/02/2009 10:40:56 AM PST by central_va
For Richard Crane, the "new normal" in the labor market began when he was laid off from a New Jersey battery plant in the summer of 2006.
Mr. Crane had been earning more than $100,000 a year operating heavy machinery at Delco, a former unit of General Motors. He worked there for 23 years, since graduating from high school. But when he lost his job he was thrust into a netherworld of part-time gigs: working the registers at Taco Bell, organizing orders at McDonald's, whatever he could find.
"I thought it would be temporary," says Mr. Crane, 49 years old. Three years later, he is selling outdoor furniture by day and pumping gas by night, while worrying about his skills atrophying and spending scant time with his teenage son. He makes about a third of his former pay.
Mr. Crane is part of a growing group of underemployed -- people in part-time jobs who want full-time work or people in jobs that don't employ their skills. Since the recession began two years ago, the number of people involuntarily working part-time jobs has more than doubled to 9.3 million, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest number on record.
The proliferation of underemployed could represent a profound reordering of the employment structure. Many people who had comfortable full-time jobs with benefits and advancement opportunities now are cobbling together smaller jobs often at lower pay, in a shift that economists say could become permanent for many individuals stuck in the cycle. Underemployment, along with unemployment, is widely seen as a force slowing the economic recovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
There has always been a certain jealousy of blue collars by white collars. But these days, white collars can easily control where work will go, so they are getting the last laugh. I’m still waiting for executive outsourcing to begin myself. hehe
Machining is now done hands off by CAD/CAM. Machinists are obsolete except in small shop work
Detailed ability to deal with a computer is now the required skill.
Heavy machine operator, not running a stamper or lathe. Even though those jobs “might” be learned in 2-hours with 2 hours of experience you won’t operate the machinery very well. Large crane and moving equipment is not like operating your F150 so experienced operators may well earn around 100K. His real problem is age. He might well be willing to work full time for less but his age has a tendency to shut him out. Add 10 years to his age and you can forget it, ageism definitely kicks in at that point.
I bet you would hit a gas-line or electrical line within your first two hours of operating....Jerk
He crapped on??? A willing employer said I will pay you X and the willing employee said I will work for X. Free market capital system in play. Is the market adjusting....YES. Is this family adjusting...YES. Are there people sitting in judgment, yes. And it is your right to go after this fair game...YES. Is it reprehensible in my opinion, yes. Lots of Americans are hurting and they don’t deserve it.
The crapping occurred in his previous job where as a union member he destroyed his own job.
His present actions are not viewed in an unfavorable light. His poor pay is the result of lazily not educating himself years ago.
The Jerk.
Shoulda’ got one rich husband...
I've encountered a new way of saying you're overqualified.
"Your resume's too strong!"
So I ask, "tell me where I need to dumb it down?"
...crickets...chirping...uncomfortably
The unions distorted the fair market system and need to be gone. Fact remains a willing employer offered X and he accepted. I am sure if you were presented with the same offer, you would have so no thank you I will take half. You da man!
I don’t know about “willing” - he was in a UAW shop.
I’m not picking on him. I’m picking on the unions that ultimately put both the employees out of work and employers out of business. And I like to take aim at the MSM that looks for poster-child sob-stories like this one to support the poor unions against bad evil employers.
None of us know this guy so it isn’t personal. He’s merely symbolic of the bigger problem - we have structural issues in our economy if blue-collar HS grads can make north of 100K. You KNOW that it can’t last, and it won’t have a happy ending.
Trust has nothing to do with it, it’s all about experience. OTOH, if we all went to collage twice, as you did, you wouldn’t be that special, now would you?
Wouldn’t work. Not gay.
“The unions distorted the fair market system and need to be gone. Fact remains a willing employer offered X and he accepted. I am sure if you were presented with the same offer, you would have so no thank you I will take half. You da man! “
I would contend today that the influences of global trade has distorted things even more than unions given the vast majority of people are not union members. It is much quicker for our standard of living to decline than for the rest of the world to come up and that is what we are seeing.
At least I have seen a college. I have a dual major CS,EE math minor. Go ahead Gomer, make fun.
I disagree with your contention - what appeared as our “standard” of living was an illusion, pumped up by public and private debt.
Now that the private debt has blown up we are attempting to retain our “standard” by transfering debt from the private balance sheet to the public balance sheet.
As a nation, we are delusional. HS grads doing blue collar work making $100K/year? It might sound great, but it is a disaster wating to happen because it is not sustainable.
You can view this as a poster child issue, but I see it differently. This guy is doing what he has to to survive. Just like lots of other Americans. Yes there are freeloaders out there.
Regarding blue vs while collar and pay levels. Supply and demand without organized union pressure would fix the structural issues. The fix may not always be you have a degree so you will make more. Supply and demand, as well as value, will always influence pay levels. As it should.
“As a nation, we are delusional. HS grads doing blue collar work making $100K/year? It might sound great, but it is a disaster wating to happen because it is not sustainable.”
In competition with 3rd world labor pools, I agree.
I agree that the global issues are impacting our economy. If America is going to compete in the global market, we have to build better mouse traps or our standard of living is going to continue to decline. Even if we do build better mouse traps, we are still going to see a decline in our standard of living. In my opinion, our standard of living was a bubble that is now bursting. We, as a country and as individuals, did not live within our means. Unsustainable standard of living....POP! (the we doesn’t mean YOU).
Trust has nothing to do with it, it’s all about experience. OTOH, if we all went to collage twice, as you did, you wouldn’t be that special, now would you?
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