“A $15 per hour job in retail is not enough to live around here on “
It’s not supposed to provide a living wage; it’s just one more rung on the way up the ladder.
People have choices on how to manage their lives and their futures. Want a better life? Get a better job. Want to get a better job? Get some kind of higher education.
Learning and mastering a blue collar trade is also an option.
There are many blue collar skills that will always be in demand, and can turn into small businesses that do very well.
Perfectly true of course. The problem is that there are a lot of missing rungs on that ladder. They were "offshored".
I worked at a fast food joint for minimum wage - as a teenager. There aren't a lot of good reasons for a 35 year-old man to still be working the counter at that fast food restaurant.
Where did the progression of better jobs go? When I came of age, anyone with a pulse could get a job, and with a decent work ethic, a much better job very quickly. That does not seem to be the case today.
I do know some young people making very good incomes in skilled trades (electrician, welder, barber). Those occupations are not for everybody of course. But "more education" is not an answer.
Our education system misdirects people into white-collar jobs that keep getting downsized and eliminated. Our welfare systems reward bad behavior and punish good behavior. Is it any wonder that is what we get?