4 ms·

I've heard that there is a huge need for machinists and that the pay is great, but all the newly graduated college kids want office jobs, so there aren't enough

• jes 8y ago
  A friend of mine works in the tool and die industry in the United States, as a machinist. He indicated that dies bought from China and elsewhere are often 1/3 to 1/4 the price of dies made in America. They don’t last as long and the tolerances are usually looser than American dies. They may contain flaws that require some rework before being put into service. Still, they are purchased in great volume, and he has trouble finding shops that can pay for someone with his expertise. He is overqualified relative to customer demand.
  • RandomInteger4 8y ago
    If he can't find work at the salary he's demanding then that means the market no longer supports said salary and he must adjust his expectations downward. We can't expect to have a monotonically increasing salary throughout our lives; see: 2008 Financial Crisis for instances of folks with masters degrees taking minimum wage service industry jobs.
• overthemoon 8y ago
  I'm skeptical. This narrative or others like it--x specialized labor pays well and needs tons of workers but this new soft generation thinks they're too good for it--has been bouncing around and I've personally never seen it corroborated with data.