4 ms·
Imagine breaking your body doing blue-collar work only to be deprecated once what you do is inevitably automated, leaving you with no transferrable skills or e
by knolax 7y ago
Imagine breaking your body doing blue-collar work only to be deprecated once what you do is inevitably automated, leaving you with no transferrable skills or employment prospects in middle age.
- chokolad 7y ago> Imagine breaking your body doing blue-collar work only to be deprecated once what you do is inevitably automated, leaving you with no transferrable skills or employment prospects in middle age. Man, I wish plumbing was automated. It's not going to happen any time soon though and plumbers will quote exorbitant prices for their work for quite some time.
- DanBC 7y agoDo it yourself if it's so easy.
- AlexTWithBeard 7y agoI do it myself: neither plumbing nor home electricity is a rocket science. My town though thinks only a person who has completed a three years apprenticeship is allowed to install a new electric outlet.
- chokolad 7y ago> Do it yourself if it's so easy. That's what I ended up doing after having a few unfortunate interactions with local handymen of various specializations. After going through the motions I understood how badly I was ripped off previously
- Spooky23 7y agoEver hear of PEX? The labor hours required in new construction is dramatically lower than it was a few years ago. If you look at plumbing businesses they tend to be getting bigger with lots of entry guys doing monkey work and not so many journeymen. For more complex work, you get quoted wacky prices because there are few high skill plumbers, and the pain of dealing with homeowner issues is only worth it at a high margin.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- anonuser123456 7y agoI don't think you have a good understanding of what the trades are if you believe what you've just stated. Tradesman != Day laborers or low skill factory work.
- chrisco255 7y agoLots of "day laborers" work in construction. And they make decent money but they're not saddled with $200K in student loans. As for factory work, the factory jobs have been largely exported to China. But factory work itself is probably preferable to going into debt to get a four year vanity degree and then end up working at Starbucks.
- knolax 7y agoIf you think electrical work or plumbing are still going to be a high-skill job in fifty years then you don't have a good understanding of labor markets. Automation doesn't replace twenty low-skill workers with a robot, it replaces one high-skill worker with two low-skill workers collectively paid half as much.
- chrisco255 7y agoI was raised by blue collar folks. My grandfather was an electrician and a farmer and lived to be 95. He was still hopping up until he was 93. Another farmer relative died at 99, still owned and ran a retail company when he was 88. Hard work doesn't kill you. And in fact, it's good for your body (within reason. Obviously too much of a good thing can be bad for you...but people aren't getting enough physical activity today).
- simple_phrases 7y agoI know an electrician who injured his back at 45 and needed to switch careers while raising two kids. Manual labor is fine until it isn't.
- Gustomaximus 7y agoCome on, you can't really believe the 'my relative lived til...' holds any weight in supporting a position. Like if I can provide examples of 4 hard workers that died in their 40's does that make me more right? Not trying to be rude but lets hold ourself to better evidence standard on HN. All that said I 100% that we are dropping standards on physical activity and food quality.