>There is (almost) no such thing as unskilled labor. That is arguing against a strawman created by an argument that isn't fully specified. Even walking takes

>There is (almost) no such thing as unskilled labor. That is arguing against a strawman created by an argument that isn't fully specified. Even walking takes skill. What is meant when people talk about the skill involved in work is how hard is it to train someone to do the job, generally someone with the knowledge and physical skills an adult is expected to have but without any special training beyond that. Some jobs can be picked up in under a week of training. Other jobs require years of training. Some require physical skills that are quite common among the population even if the average adult doesn't have them (say something like a fitness level 1/3 of adults have). Discussions of skilled vs. unskilled labor rarely if ever get into where exactly the line is drawn at, but there is a common understanding that jobs can generally be classified as either something an average adult could be taught how to do on the job or not. Why this matters is that it determines competition for jobs. The more people able to do the job, the less one has to offer to find someone willing to accept. If you can train the average adult to do the job on the job, then you are competing with working adults at large. If you can't, at least reasonably, train someone on the job, then you are competing with far fewer individuals.