Comment by sgnelson
11 hours ago
One thing I've noticed over the past 20 years. At least in the United States, we need less "ditch diggers." This means that those who are less intellectually capable find it harder to get employment in a suitable position. I think this is an issue that needs to be addressed. But you know, I live here and now, so that ain't happening.
> * At least in the United States, we need less "ditch diggers."*
There is no end to the amount of work that needs doing. Most of it "unskilled" labor.
Childcare, eldercare, planting trees, habitat restoration, ESL tutors, etc.
Sure, there is work that "needs doing". This doesn't mean there is anyone willing to pay to get that work done, especially at a livable wage that someone can base their life on (including some surplus such that they have slack to recover from making mistakes due to being less intellectual).
Even for something with an economically-demanded niche like planting trees, several guys with a shovel are beaten by two guys with a skid steer - putting us right back to the capital wins dynamic where the person who can afford to invest in the skid steer now bids down the now-surplus manual laborers who can't.
Eldercare could definitely use 2-3x the labor, but the whole goal of nursing homes is to turn the screws the other way. Then once you have staffing running extremely thin and unsupervised, the gatekeeping credentials become highly important.
Companies would rather hire an illegal immigrant than deal with someone who is not 100% mentally or physically fit.