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the article references how little money nurses and teachers make. I did a good amount of medical training, and what you need to do to be an EMT is demanding, r

by unoti 10y ago

the article references how little money nurses and teachers make. I did a good amount of medical training, and what you need to do to be an EMT is demanding, requiring as much or more raw memorization and practice than most things I've ever done. And yet they make so little. Considering how difficult the training is, and how EMT's are necessary everywhere, I do not understand how the economics works out. Why don't they make more money? Clearly the answer is supply and demand, but it still puzzles me. There is an oversupply of people willing to bust their asses to learn difficult things so they can work in the midde of the night to do stressful things that might scar them emotionally? I've contemplated the answer to this question a lot. Here's my answer. Corporate drones risk emotional scarring too, but at least EMT's get to serve humanity and save lives. Maybe that's the reason for the high supply of willing candidates.

lotsofpulp 10y ago
Probably a combination of two things. One is that the payer is not incentivized to value the work of an EMT. People don't really need EMTs that often, and even when they do, do they directly pay them? I suspect it's a combination of taxes and insurance funds that go towards paying the EMT, and hence they're a step removed from the person actually benefiting from them, which doesn't help the bargaining power of an EMT. Second is they might not actually be important enough to justify paying them more. Markets work well when there is lots of supply and lots of demand, but if that's not true, then it's not easy to figure out where the supply curve meets the demand curve. At the end of the day, I would postulate the answer is a combination of the above two factors, and a well qualified EMT simply isn't that important to society, and/or people who would make well qualified EMTs are not going to want to do that type of work at any realistic price point. I wonder if EMTs in zip codes with wealthier people are better paid and staffed.
dlwdlw 10y ago
Memorization is difficult but it doesnt differentiate enough to escape into a smaller pool of competition. The more people you are competing with, the less you get for the same work. I think the barrier to entry for tech, which is highly paid and cushy relatively, is that it's built entirely on a different foundation of skills like mah and science. Many other jobs that have just as high or higher ceiling of skill or difficulty revolve around social skills (sales) memorization, or even willingness to defer to authority or group will. (Affiliation is important to them) In a way, tech jobs are highly paid in the abnormal way that garbage men are highly paid relativeley. Instead of being a dirty job, it a job that required certain levels of social ostracism and investment in unpopular subjects. children who grew up in environments where such learning wasnt ostracized have a huge adavantage in that they also have a foundation of social skills. Instead of competing with other kids on who was more gangster, they compete on who can 3d print the coolest thing. Tech in silicon valley at least, leans libertarian and individual. The lack of social impetus in their decisions allows radical thinking(good and bad), but also dissociates them from seeking things like the heros status that comes with an EMT job. It also makes them unaware of super high level social skills like running a company and politics in general which makes them unaware when they arebeinf socially manipulated. ("Making the world a better place") As an aside, a lot of manipulation is possible because of deep seeted insecurities. For locals, its the lack of social acceptance earlier in life. I suspect immigrants dont care too much about this and just want the money, so this vector is used to attract locals. (Turban wearing EMT wont get mich use out of the hero-status as hero-status is too deeply culturally embedded) The biggest counterargument I can think of against this theory is that in China, where top students have the same prestige as the quarterback/cheerleader in the US, tech jobs are still relatively highly paid. (Though they often work crazy hours compared to sikicon valley) Maybe it's a progression of math education. The US has terrible output, so math related job seekers have a low pool if competition. China has higher output, but b/c its still rote memorization based and knowledge seeking is still about seeking status, the output still is less than half. They work harder, but the limited pool allows them to command a higher salary. An education technique that promotes true interest in math may create an equal split, making job compensation equal to difficulty.

by unoti 10y ago

lotsofpulp 10y ago

Probably a combination of two things. One is that the payer is not incentivized to value the work of an EMT. People don't really need EMTs that often, and even when they do, do they directly pay them? I suspect it's a combination of taxes and insurance funds that go towards paying the EMT, and hence they're a step removed from the person actually benefiting from them, which doesn't help the bargaining power of an EMT. Second is they might not actually be important enough to justify paying them more. Markets work well when there is lots of supply and lots of demand, but if that's not true, then it's not easy to figure out where the supply curve meets the demand curve. At the end of the day, I would postulate the answer is a combination of the above two factors, and a well qualified EMT simply isn't that important to society, and/or people who would make well qualified EMTs are not going to want to do that type of work at any realistic price point. I wonder if EMTs in zip codes with wealthier people are better paid and staffed.

dlwdlw 10y ago

Memorization is difficult but it doesnt differentiate enough to escape into a smaller pool of competition. The more people you are competing with, the less you get for the same work. I think the barrier to entry for tech, which is highly paid and cushy relatively, is that it's built entirely on a different foundation of skills like mah and science. Many other jobs that have just as high or higher ceiling of skill or difficulty revolve around social skills (sales) memorization, or even willingness to defer to authority or group will. (Affiliation is important to them) In a way, tech jobs are highly paid in the abnormal way that garbage men are highly paid relativeley. Instead of being a dirty job, it a job that required certain levels of social ostracism and investment in unpopular subjects. children who grew up in environments where such learning wasnt ostracized have a huge adavantage in that they also have a foundation of social skills. Instead of competing with other kids on who was more gangster, they compete on who can 3d print the coolest thing. Tech in silicon valley at least, leans libertarian and individual. The lack of social impetus in their decisions allows radical thinking(good and bad), but also dissociates them from seeking things like the heros status that comes with an EMT job. It also makes them unaware of super high level social skills like running a company and politics in general which makes them unaware when they arebeinf socially manipulated. ("Making the world a better place") As an aside, a lot of manipulation is possible because of deep seeted insecurities. For locals, its the lack of social acceptance earlier in life. I suspect immigrants dont care too much about this and just want the money, so this vector is used to attract locals. (Turban wearing EMT wont get mich use out of the hero-status as hero-status is too deeply culturally embedded) The biggest counterargument I can think of against this theory is that in China, where top students have the same prestige as the quarterback/cheerleader in the US, tech jobs are still relatively highly paid. (Though they often work crazy hours compared to sikicon valley) Maybe it's a progression of math education. The US has terrible output, so math related job seekers have a low pool if competition. China has higher output, but b/c its still rote memorization based and knowledge seeking is still about seeking status, the output still is less than half. They work harder, but the limited pool allows them to command a higher salary. An education technique that promotes true interest in math may create an equal split, making job compensation equal to difficulty.