5 ms·

And if your dad was an entry level or journeyman cabinet maker today, he'd be making $25/hr no benefits.

• acdha 3y ago
  It’s really hard to undo people’s impression of what things are “supposed” to cost after decades of outsourcing manufacturing to low-wage countries. People who aren’t looking for artisan work really aren’t interested in paying inflation-adjusted prices from 30+ years ago, which is an interesting pairing to the not uncommon complaints that things don’t last as long.
  • linuxftw 3y ago
    Well, the labor force has finally decided they're not going to do hard work for starvation wages. The guys running the companies have increased prices, but haven't sent that money down to the labor force. I have a friend that's a plumber, he easily makes his company $450k/yr in billable services, he's making less than $30/hr.
    • acdha 3y ago
      Yeah, between active wage theft and the growing profit-taking I’m not surprised that the union movement is stronger than it’s been in my lifetime. I don’t know your friend but I know a bunch of people like him.
    • MichaelZuo 3y ago
      Sounds like an excellent opportunity for your friend to start his own plumbing company with some other disgruntled plumbers, and offer lower rates too to happy homeowners.
    • mrguyorama 3y ago
      The most important part is that these were not starvation wages in the 80s! People used to pay american employees enough to survive, thrive, and even support local businesses that didn't have to crush their margins to 2% to compete with walmart. The reason everything sucks is because americans have only cared about "sticker price" in comparison shopping for decades, and I posit that's mostly because the american income has spent the past several decades being cut in half simply because employers didn't pay people.