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Agriculture, food processing and handling and everything associated, particularly meatpacking, and that's valid across countries. There's a reason that even if
by mschuster91 1y ago
Agriculture, food processing and handling and everything associated, particularly meatpacking, and that's valid across countries. There's a reason that even if you pay (relatively) obscene wages, there will be no domestic employees willing to pick up these jobs - the work conditions are usually horrible because there are few industries as cut-throat and cost-sensitive as anything related to food.
The root cause is global competition, especially from countries with very low wages - Ukraine, a country in Europe, for example, was a top food supplier for Africa -, and widespread income disparity in many Western countries - 67% of Americans self-report to live from paycheck to paycheck [1], for example. First it's "luxuries" that get the cut - travel, eating out, entertainment - and once everything has been cut, people go for savings in food because that's the last large expenses block that they can meaningfully control.
[1] https://www.investopedia.com/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-youre-not-alone-67-percent-of-people-are-in-2025-11812027 https://www.investopedia.com/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-you...
[2] https://www.boeckler.de/de/boeckler-impuls-vermoegen-nur-jeder-dritte-hat-reserven-6400.htm https://www.boeckler.de/de/boeckler-impuls-vermoegen-nur-jed...
- regularfry 1y agoDon't forget cheap bulk transport. Without that, cheap remote food from global competitors becomes expensive fast.
- ethbr1 1y agoWhich is to say ocean trade (and to a lesser extent rail).
- natebc 1y agoThe Maritime industry can run into this too. Tug companies, barge companies. The level of consolidation vs the size of the labour pool is what does it.
- sandworm101 1y agoCompetition and subsidies. Nearly every country has a system to help farmers "compete", which drives down prices even more imho.
- shkkmo 1y ago} There's a reason that even if you pay (relatively) obscene wages, there will be no domestic employees willing to pick up these jobs - the work conditions are usually horrible because there are few industries as cut-throat and cost-sensitive as anything related to food. This sentence is rather self contradictory...
- MisterTea 1y agoYeah I am not sure that is true either. People will work at these facilities but we all know the conditions there are horrible because they can get away with it - you can't threaten an American with deportation for whistle blowing. As long as companies get away with abusing immigrants then the labor market will always keep them in demand.
- JAlexoid 1y agoAs long as consumers expect certain foods to be cheap(beef, for example) - you'll get this issue. Kale in US is about as expensive as the cheapest cut of beef. Despite one taking 2-3 years of labor and the other is 60 days.
- nxor 1y agoI know plenty of Americans who choose to live paycheck to paycheck. That said, I agree that the food industry is cut throat.
- garciasn 1y agoOf course you do: estimates via survey show that roughly 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. This is an 2x increase from 30y ago.
- jghn 1y agoThe problem is that these are usually measuring self described rates. And people aren't using the same definition when self describing. Have come across plenty of people who claim to be living paycheck-to-paycheck because they have nothing left over after maxing out 401k & IRA, socking away $1K in a savings account, paying for their posh apartment, and more. But of course that's not what it's supposed to mean.
- mastax 1y ago> About 41% of American workers earning between $300,001 and $500,000—and 40% of those making over $500,000—say they’re living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs. https://am.gs.com/en-us/advisors/insights/report-survey/retirement-survey https://am.gs.com/en-us/advisors/insights/report-survey/reti... The only reasonable conclusion is "are you living paycheck to paycheck" is a useless survey question.
- prewett 1y agoAnother reasonable conclusion is that many people are foolishly over-leveraged. If you buy the biggest/nicest/best house and the priciest you can possibly manage, you will be living paycheck to paycheck almost by definition, since your house/car/etc payments will be eating up all your paycheck. I don't know how often this actually happens, but it certainly not an unreasonable conclusion.
- president_zippy 1y agoI'm surprised FIRE hasn't killed the luxury car and McMansion market yet. Hmm... What do I wanna do more? Keep up with the Joneses, or flip the bird to my boss? Hmm...
- ethbr1 1y agoHN/FIRE is in no way representative of the general population. One of the central evils of consumer advertising is that it implants the idea in everyone's heads that buying more material things = happiness. And the ideal consumer is one which only stops buying when they've reached their income...
- president_zippy 1y agoI don't think that kind of advertising is directly advertising happiness. Luxury car ads advertise status more than anything. They're more subtle about it than Equinox gym marketing with its weird, sexualized elf people, but the product they're really selling you is being better than your peers.