supply and demand. flipping burgers has no gatekeepers, natural or artificial, and lots of people are overall willing to do it, so workers are easy to replace and wages can be pushed down a lot. there are low skill jobs that are actually well-paid, but they usually involve way less savory stuff that fewer people like to do.
of course, if a strong social safety net, or heavens forbid, universal basic income happened, way fewer people would be willing to flip burgers, while the demand for burgers would likely go up slightly, so people flipping burgers would get paid better, because a lot fewer people would want to flip burgers. hence the comparisons to the good half of europe where people flipping burgers get paid better.
but the point is, when a job is easier to do, it’s because it’s gatekept in a way that some harder jobs aren’t. sometimes that’s due to skill, other times it’s entirely artificial. but a gatekept job can’t be a universal “hey, do that job instead” thing, specifically because it’s gatekept.
ubi would be great because it would make it disproportionately more difficult to hire for hard jobs than for easy ones, but when the alternative is starving to death, a lot of people accept the hard job instead.
i don’t doubt that, but in this specific context “low-skilled” is synonymous to “easy to replace” and “easy to get into”. you can’t get a job as a doctor in a week if you decide to with no prior training, even if someone would hire you instantly, but you can absolutely go from having no clue about flipping burgers to doing it as a job in a week. (granted, if you can find a job instantly, which is not realistic, but that’s its own can of worms.) similarly, if your employer doesn’t like the price you’re asking, they can replace you in a week because if they’re willing, nearly anyone would be able to do the job to a sufficient level.
“low-skilled labor” is absolutely used by some as a pejorative for both individuals and professions, and yes, that sucks. i also don’t doubt you can get extremely good at “low-skill” jobs. but even subtracting that elitism and classism, it has a meaning.
also, if UBI is not the answer, how would you resolve this instead?
supply and demand. flipping burgers has no gatekeepers, natural or artificial, and lots of people are overall willing to do it, so workers are easy to replace and wages can be pushed down a lot. there are low skill jobs that are actually well-paid, but they usually involve way less savory stuff that fewer people like to do.
of course, if a strong social safety net, or heavens forbid, universal basic income happened, way fewer people would be willing to flip burgers, while the demand for burgers would likely go up slightly, so people flipping burgers would get paid better, because a lot fewer people would want to flip burgers. hence the comparisons to the good half of europe where people flipping burgers get paid better.
but the point is, when a job is easier to do, it’s because it’s gatekept in a way that some harder jobs aren’t. sometimes that’s due to skill, other times it’s entirely artificial. but a gatekept job can’t be a universal “hey, do that job instead” thing, specifically because it’s gatekept.
ubi would be great because it would make it disproportionately more difficult to hire for hard jobs than for easy ones, but when the alternative is starving to death, a lot of people accept the hard job instead.
The term low-skilled labor is classist propaganda
But you are correct that this is how it’s perceived through the warped lens of capitalism
UBI is not the answer. It’s just liberals’ way of propping up an inherently exploitative system
i don’t doubt that, but in this specific context “low-skilled” is synonymous to “easy to replace” and “easy to get into”. you can’t get a job as a doctor in a week if you decide to with no prior training, even if someone would hire you instantly, but you can absolutely go from having no clue about flipping burgers to doing it as a job in a week. (granted, if you can find a job instantly, which is not realistic, but that’s its own can of worms.) similarly, if your employer doesn’t like the price you’re asking, they can replace you in a week because if they’re willing, nearly anyone would be able to do the job to a sufficient level.
“low-skilled labor” is absolutely used by some as a pejorative for both individuals and professions, and yes, that sucks. i also don’t doubt you can get extremely good at “low-skill” jobs. but even subtracting that elitism and classism, it has a meaning.
also, if UBI is not the answer, how would you resolve this instead?