>Most factory jobs are not skilled in the sense that programming is, and the least-skilled tech job is still more complicated and difficult than the least-skill

>Most factory jobs are not skilled in the sense that programming is, and the least-skilled tech job is still more complicated and difficult than the least-skilled factory job - meaning, tech jobs are not the new factory jobs, because by definition fewer people are able to work them. Ah. well, my main point was just that I think most of the 'high paying factory jobs' were jobs that took some skill and experience. You didn't just walk in and say "I've got hands!" and get a good wage for easy work. I'd guess it'd be more like working at one of those tech support script farms today, I mean, if you show up without obvious skills or credentials. "Here, read this script, we will judge you on how fast you get the customer off the phone, rather than, you know, actually solving problems." My own career came up through the really low paying jobs in tech, and I spent some time in such a tech support farm; the difference in both the number of people who could do it and what we get paid is vast between level one scripted tech support and the sort of systems administration/production engineer work that I do now. Much like how one could work one's way up from a very basic factory job to something that was comfortable and remunerative.