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Most of the examples you provided (specifically dish washing, fruit picking, house cleaning) are not traditionally considered "blue collar" or "the trades." Rat

Most of the examples you provided (specifically dish washing, fruit picking, house cleaning) are not traditionally considered "blue collar" or "the trades." Rather they are considered unskilled labor. So your comment doesn't really respond to the GP's comments about the trades. I suspect that relatively few would argue that unskilled labor is a great way to support a family. I also suspect that conflating unskilled labor with the trades and then using that to claim that the GP's comment was essentially racist is the likely source of the downvotes you've gotten. Note I excluded school teaching from my earlier comments. TBH I'm not sure what category that falls under, but I'm relatively certain it's not unskilled labor.

ajross 8y ago
> I suspect that relatively few would argue that unskilled labor is a great way to support a family. So... how do workers in these jobs-that-apparently-don't-qualify-as-trades support their families? We have the economy we have. Someone has to do these jobs. You can't wave a magic wand and insist that everything would be fine as long as everyone is a plumber. Someone has to pick the fruit and teach the kids. People who do that can't support families. That's a problem, right? The solution isn't plumbing, is all I'm saying.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  The solution is both (but not limited to) trades and efforts to raise the minimum wage for unskilled labor. There is no silver bullet to fixing the US economy.
- Trundle 8y ago
  That children are going without x where x is some roughly agreed on minimum standard of living is a problem. Jobs existing that can't support a family is not a problem. The solution to the first might be to change the second, but it doesn't have to be.
walshemj 8y ago
And high end technicians are typically considered associate professional's and not blue collar.

ajross 8y ago

> I suspect that relatively few would argue that unskilled labor is a great way to support a family. So... how do workers in these jobs-that-apparently-don't-qualify-as-trades support their families? We have the economy we have. Someone has to do these jobs. You can't wave a magic wand and insist that everything would be fine as long as everyone is a plumber. Someone has to pick the fruit and teach the kids. People who do that can't support families. That's a problem, right? The solution isn't plumbing, is all I'm saying.

toomuchtodo 8y ago
The solution is both (but not limited to) trades and efforts to raise the minimum wage for unskilled labor. There is no silver bullet to fixing the US economy.
Trundle 8y ago
That children are going without x where x is some roughly agreed on minimum standard of living is a problem. Jobs existing that can't support a family is not a problem. The solution to the first might be to change the second, but it doesn't have to be.

walshemj 8y ago

And high end technicians are typically considered associate professional's and not blue collar.