There is no such thing as "unskilled labor"

Except it's literally just an economics term referring to positions that can be reasonably learned through on the job training with little or no prior experience.

Stuff like this just muddies and distracts the conversation from the true issue, which is that those jobs deserve a living wage.

"How much am I getting paid?"
"It's unskilled labour, so not much."
"Then I'll do something else that pays more."
"But then this won't get done!"
"You can do it yourself."
"I'm too important for this!"
"So the work is not important?"
"It's very important, it needs to be done or we'll be in shit up to our necks!"
"So pay me as much as this is important."
"I won't, it's just unskilled labour. WHY DOES NOBODY WANT TO WORK ANYMORE?"

• a tale as old as time itself.

Doesn't matter if it's "skilled" or not, you're still paying someone to do something for you. And if it was trivial, you wouldn't be paying them.

At a restaurant I'm paying the chef and waiters for making me food, no matter what the quality, or if I could make better or not -- because I didn't want to cook, and they did it for me.

That alone is worth paying someone and thanking them.

If you honestly think you can man the cash register at McDonald's competently with the same level and scope of training required to say design an RF frontend for cell signals or maybe remove someone's Appendix, then you're insane or lying to yourself.

"Unskilled" or now "low skilled" is a defined term. It doesn't mean a goldfish can do it, and it doesn't mean it isn't important. It means that any reasonable human with a modicum of training can do the job well enough to produce valued output.

At my service jobs, I'd usually get an hour or two of training per area, and be watched for a few days or a week. Then let loose and that's it. The guys I know that design those RF frontends not only have 4-8 years of physics and math intensive academia, but then work under senior designers for 10+ years learning and designing before leading their own project.

If you swap the Goodburger employee with the RF Designer, the designer will learn to sling burgers. The burger dude will accomplish nothing of value and probably be a net negative.

Nobody is saying anything of importance or requirement or paying wages. Taking a defined term and weaponizing it for a side cause makes anyone that knows what it actually means, roll their eyes and ignore the message you're trying to convey. And in this case, it's mostly unskilled workers trying to sound important to highly skilled workers. This means your intended audience is tuning the message out.

It's an actual term of definition though, it refers to work that doesn't require prior training outside of the professional sphere.

Technically not all of those panels belong on the comic because a couple are trades which have their own training and licensing processes that aren't on job learning.

A better naming scheme would be "pre-trained" and "job-trained" labor, but that doesn't mean the concept itself is some sort of lie.

Eh there's a difference between a job that can be accomplished with on the job training and the right soft skills, vs a job that requires a degree or apprenticeship or something similar

Ultimately it depends on liability and how replaceable you are if your employment terminates. Not that that mindset is a good thing, it's still exploitation, but that's the thought behind it.

Masonry and farming can be complex tasks requiring substantial training too.

Unskilled means you don't need prior skills before being hired. That's all.

It doesn't mean someone doesn't become proficient, or even great at the job while they have it.

To deny the existence of unskilled labor is pure delusion and it alienates people who haven't drank the koolaid. Instead argue that unskilled labor must still be compensated with at least enough money to be financially secure, same as all full time employment, regardless of what it is.

If you work full time, you shouldn't need to worry about money. That's it. Don't say more.

I've always found it ridiculous how farmers are considered unskilled. Like just anyone can balance on a moving trailer while throwing hay bailes around. It's just soo easy to take a tractor apart and back together again because a gasket blew. It's so easy to have a biggillion different skills varying from field to field. Literally everyone I know can run a mile while carrying a sailt lick. Farmers are just dumb and untalented. Am I right. /S

From essential workers to unskilled labor in one year!

While I generally agree, there are definitely jobs that are easier to learn and generally are doable by anyone.

Unskilled just means pretty much anyone can do it. McDonald's, Walmart cashier, warehouse worker, etc.

You don't need any sort of certification or training. Yes, you need to be "skilled" in that you may need to be physically fit or friendly in social settings, there are definitely plenty of people who are not suited to warehouse work or being a cashier, but if you are suited you can generally start right away with minimal training.

Unskilled usually means no experience required.

I think we should just say the latter.

Strawman. Unskilled /= low pay. High supply of workers/candidates vs. demand is what makes the pay low.

There are plenty unskilled jobs that are relatively well paid because, for whatever reason, not enough people want to do them. Painter/Decorator for example, how hard is it to paint a wall.

Airline mechanic here. We are considered unskilled labor. Enjoy your next flight.

Why is the fellow in the last panel having relations with that sandwich?

"Retarded" used to be the new sensitive word for what they called a "Moron". He's not a moron he's just "Retarded (slowed)". Now retard is one of the the quickest, cutting insults you can dish out. The word shifted when it got applied to people with metal disabilities.

I guess what I'm saying is, even if we don't called unskilled labor "unskilled labor", lets say we call it "duck jobs" eventually the neutral term "duck jobs" will shift when we apply it to shitty jobs that don't pay well and anyone can do. I used to work a few duck jobs out of school, like loading trucks, but eventually I got back to college and got an internship that lead to a goose job. Now I hope to never do a duck job again.

Skill issue

This is such a dumb take.

Even USSR had a difference between skilled and unskilled workers

They assigned us positions with wages. Discussing wages with each other was highly discouraged. Turns out, our wages dictated our inherent worth as people. So we decided that that was a fine way to live. And we woke up during the wee hours of the morning to move boxes and pens and registers and turn cranks. Some of us are able to feed our children and everything is fine.

"Unskilled" is only unskilled because no proper training is provided. But you immediately notice if a cashier or cleaner is skilled or not. A cashier will know all the codes, all weird payment methods etc. And a cleaner needs to know the right tools for work, what chemicals to use and so on.

But if you block training and professional development in those jobs than yeah... they're unskilled and you have asshole justification for paying poverty wages.

Oh look. They put farmers and tradesmen in with fucking Starbucks counter staff

I have never heard of a job that required no training in order to do it. That's learning a skill. And if you've already trained yourself in how to do it, you've still learned a skill. I can't think of a job that you can do without any training whatsoever.

A serious answer: it's more about supply and demand. Unskilled is work that nearly anyone can do. Lots of supply, so wages are lower than jobs where a smaller number of people can do it. I don't think there's any conspiracy there.

You haven't seen some of my coworkers then

Any labor is skilled labor. The only difference is training time.

If any labor were truly unskilled; you could come in day one and perform as well as those who'd been at it for 10 years. I can't think of one thing where that is the case. Does anyone still test if food has been poisoned by eating it first? Little skill, but man if so that person definitely deserves a good wage.

Another approach is to divide unpleasant work evenly under everyone who can do it like in the novel The Dispossessed. This will be less efficient since each one needs to acquire the skill and won't reach perfection because they don't stay long enough but to hell with efficiency.

So yes, it is skilled labor and if you call it "unskilled", you have no excuse not to do it from time to time.

Apparently you haven't met any of my coworkers.

/s

All labor is unskilled labor, but compressed in some manner. Labor is just actions, if those specific actions must be trained, then that training is compressed labor.

even if working those jobs is easy upfront, that doesn't mean it's easy to do it 40 hrs a week. and they certainly require skills some people don't have. construction is hard on the body / bad hours (but i feel like it'd be meditative and build strength), restaurants are stressful as hell (but build your ability to work under real tangible pressure), delivery puts you at risk of dying on the road (and makes you a more experienced driver), etc.

One of these days I won't mix up the comment on comment vs comment on post buttons -_-

.....for a different comment:

I wasn't acting surprised. I thought we were having a discussion about moving to a new place for higher wages and how it wasn't sustainable using teaching as an example.

I'm not sure the direction you've gone.

Telling me "I knew what I was getting into" is a null excuse. Yea, I knew the pay. I want to teach. I deal with the shit pay because it's all I can get. Because "I knew the pay was insufficient", I'm unwise to have become a teacher.

That is a very misdirected excuse that districts completely from the fact the jobs dont pay enough in the first place.

What about supervising? All I can tell what they do differently to everyone else is sit at a desk and forget to order stock.

General labor and specialized labor

Is there such a thing as "skilled labor" as an inverse, or is that also a capitalist myth?

Technically i am an "unskilled worker" because i did not finish university. Didn't stop me from being the guy who develops the network chips in the company.

None of the icons in this meme are classed as "unskilled labour".

A farmer? a bricklayer? are you fucking joking?

Do you have any idea how much a bricky gets paid. Probably more than you.

Another classic case of arrogant internet socialists with zero real world experience letting the mask slip.

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