
The Slow Disappearance of the American Working Man - jedwhite
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-slow-disappearance-of-the-american-working-man-08242011.html
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gamble
I think women are more motivated to educate themselves because the few well-
paying jobs that don't require a degree are largely unattractive to them. I
live in an area with a large oil industry and it's not uncommon for kids right
out of high school to go up to the oilfield and be making $80k within a few
years. These are intensely physical jobs in remote areas that are almost
exclusively done by men. The construction industry and most skilled trades are
similar.

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nandemo
I'm amazed that the author managed to write 2 pages about this subject without
mentioning welfare even once.

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bermanoid
Are you saying that if welfare benefits were reduced we'd have a lower
unemployment rate? That a significant number of the currently unemployed have
decided to remain unemployed because welfare is good enough?

That's certainly an effect to consider, but I really wonder whether it's
actually significant in the US - welfare in the US is not particularly
generous compared to a lot of developed countries, and I don't know that so
many people really would find it a good enough alternative to working that I
can believe they're really turning down reasonable jobs in favor of being on
the dole. If this was, say, Ireland, where the government will literally put
you up in a house and give you spending money if you don't have a job, I'd say
it was reasonable to blame that for a lot of the unemployment problems, but
here, I just don't see it - the unemployment rates have been pretty closely
aligned with the economy as a whole, which makes me think it's the
availability of work that's the issue, not the willingness to take it on.

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D_Alex
I am amazed at the vitriol in the comments following the article. A sign of
serious issues a-brew.

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jamesaguilar
I dunno, xenophobic hate-mongers have been present on the internet for a long
time. This seems pretty typical to me. Probably some white supremacist website
linked to this article.

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jkuria
Access to higher education? How about the much discussed education bubble with
the proliferation of for profit colleges?

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joshAg
I don't really see those for profit colleges as true higher education. Most of
the degrees are for a semi-highly skilled technician that usually doesn't
require some sort of bar or licensure exam rather than a white collar job(eg
paralegal instead of lawyer, physician assistant instead of nurse or doctor,
or computer technician instead or low-end programmer instead of computer
scientist). Yes the for-profit colleges are above trade schools, but for the
above reason, I don't think they qualify as true higher education.

