5 ms·

Trades pay shit. I have friends that are electricians and they made more a decade ago than the current journeyman rate. Nevermind inflation, we're talking onl

Trades pay shit. I have friends that are electricians and they made more a decade ago than the current journeyman rate. Nevermind inflation, we're talking only nominal pay.

bluedino 4y ago
My plumber and electrician bill the same rate that I do.
- Mikeb85 4y ago
  Yes, the way to make money is to own a business. Doesn't change the fact that the pay rates haven't changed in 15 years for those who are getting into the career and will have to work for others to learn.
mywittyname 4y ago
My dad is a licensed electrician and sewage treatment plant operator. I made more money than he did by the age of 19 with a semester of community college under by belt. He owns a 1/4 share in a business and I'm far from working in a FAANG (meaning, he's near the top of his game and I'm close to middle of mine). In 2009-10, he had no work. I don't think people realize how hard recessions hit trades. You don't become "unemployed." You have to go to work then stand around half the day not getting paid until enough people stop showing up that there's enough work. All of my friends working in trades from when I was younger switched careers in the Great Recession (the military was a decent option, since they'd fast-track skilled people to E-5). This is the real reason why millennials are under-represented in the trades. The media prefers to just call us lazy.
akgoel 4y ago
I'm in Houston. A "manual" machinist (non-CNC) working in my factory in 1980 could make $25 per hour. In 2020, I was still paying the same machinist $25 an hour nominally, except now he operates a CNC machinist and is vastly more productive. However, his productivity gains have been competed away both domestically and by oversees manufacturing, and via boom and bust cycles in the oil patch that reset wages.

5 ms·

Trades pay shit. I have friends that are electricians and they made more a decade ago than the current journeyman rate. Nevermind inflation, we're talking onl

by Mikeb85 4y ago

Trades pay shit. I have friends that are electricians and they made more a decade ago than the current journeyman rate. Nevermind inflation, we're talking only nominal pay.

bluedino 4y ago
My plumber and electrician bill the same rate that I do.
- Mikeb85 4y ago
  Yes, the way to make money is to own a business. Doesn't change the fact that the pay rates haven't changed in 15 years for those who are getting into the career and will have to work for others to learn.
mywittyname 4y ago
My dad is a licensed electrician and sewage treatment plant operator. I made more money than he did by the age of 19 with a semester of community college under by belt. He owns a 1/4 share in a business and I'm far from working in a FAANG (meaning, he's near the top of his game and I'm close to middle of mine). In 2009-10, he had no work. I don't think people realize how hard recessions hit trades. You don't become "unemployed." You have to go to work then stand around half the day not getting paid until enough people stop showing up that there's enough work. All of my friends working in trades from when I was younger switched careers in the Great Recession (the military was a decent option, since they'd fast-track skilled people to E-5). This is the real reason why millennials are under-represented in the trades. The media prefers to just call us lazy.
akgoel 4y ago
I'm in Houston. A "manual" machinist (non-CNC) working in my factory in 1980 could make $25 per hour. In 2020, I was still paying the same machinist $25 an hour nominally, except now he operates a CNC machinist and is vastly more productive. However, his productivity gains have been competed away both domestically and by oversees manufacturing, and via boom and bust cycles in the oil patch that reset wages.