
Future of Work: More education is not the solution for everyone - seapunk
https://threader.app/thread/1039635544244973569
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ddingus
Upvoted this one because it centers on a discussion we, as a people, need to
have.

I'm in the USA, please take the comments in that context.

For now, I want to model that discussion using just one point from the many
good ones in this piece:

"In the past, attractive jobs for "low-skilled" workers were concentrated in 2
worlds: factories and bureaucracies. Alas those are precisely the jobs that
have been destroyed by globalization and technology."

Attractive has very different meanings, depending on one's perspective. On a
basic level, given the difficulty over half the nation is experiencing
economically right now, attractive means work that is not hell to do, or at
least work one can do, and having that work yield enough income to fund the
basics of a modest, reasonable life.

Housing, health care, clothing, food, etc... A whole lot of people can be
happy, given their work gets them through the basics. Many people don't need
much, yet they labor a lot and have trouble meeting those needs.

Someone working a 40, getting the work done, not being a pain in the ass,
etc... should be able to live modestly and reasonably. Right now, just that is
attractive.

Would be nice to raise that bar some, but just meeting it for now seems
appropriate. When that doesn't happen for too many people, it costs all of us.

No matter what we do with software and higher technology at present the basic
labors need to get done, and those people doing those basic labors are in real
trouble economically too.

From my perspective as a concerned American, making that happen more than it
is right now, is damn attractive.

I think it would help some to improve on "worth perception" regarding basic
labor. Again, it has to get done, or we are doing it ourselves, and I don't
want to do that.

It's not being lazy at all. No. It's that I can do higher order things, and
when I can't do those higher order things, for lack of money, or time spent on
basic labors, I don't perform as well as I could. I suspect many readers here
are in a similar scenario.

The cost of that "do it myself" scenario is pretty high too. Seems to me, that
is one way to improve on the perception of what basic labor is worth.

It's not just factories and bureaucracies. Back in the 70's, for example, one
parent was a janitor, and that funded a basic, modest, dignified life, and a
happy family. Didn't have much, but didn't need much. The basics were there.

Odd jobs, people working things out, got many of the extras done.

A grandparent was an appliance repair person, self-employed. That funded a
better standard of living.

I could go on here, but the basic point is costs and risk exposure is much
greater today, while wages did not match up.

I really value the people who do basic labor for me. I want them to have happy
families not in real need.

How can we improve on that "worth perception?"

Seems to me, the basic idea of, "anyone can do it" boiling down to rock bottom
wages is broken.

Sure, almost anyone can do the basics. Do they want to, and can they be doing
some other thing worth more to all of us?

Even if that isn't true, those families are in real need today.

Maybe we can make it actually cheaper to live?

Or, maybe people getting assistance / help, is the norm, and if so, why shame
them so much about it?

I live in a smaller town right now. People know people, and that basic dignity
can be seen, or when it's not there, it can be seen, and it hurts. Nobody
wants it that way, yet it is that way.

Having lived big city, this is all worse. People don't know one another, and
value perception goes down, as does humanizing others, their scenario, issues.

Thoughts?

