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this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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I'm sure there's also a "highly skilled labour" category that encompasses jobs that require extensive education, training, and practice, but I'm not really sure where to draw the line.
If such a job exists, I've never seen it. A first day worker on ANY job won't be as efficient as someone with experience. Even a ditch digger has skills.
no shit they won't be as efficient. but they can do it without requiring weeks or months or years of training
edit: to clarify, I also don't think that there's a job where somebody can effectively perform it on day one (unless they have already learned the skills in a previous job in a similar role). but I do think that there are jobs where somebody can become a net contributor within a few days. like vacuuming. I used to have a job vacuuming apartment buildings and doing general cleaning maintenance. two days of training and I was good to go for all the buildings in the roster
In the first part of your edit, you explain why there's no such thing as unskilled labor.
I think the confusion here is that you are saying "unskilled" when you mean " skills that have been picked up without education", or "skills I assume can be picked up quickly"
Find me someone from an ancient civilization and see how well they vacuum without any training.
nah, I just think it's dumb to say "but everything is a skill" like it's some gotcha
sweeping is a skill you can learn very quickly. it's not complicated. you don't need special training to do it. the reason you can't be effective on day one is that you need to learn the processes of the job, not because you need to learn the skill. you can be effective at sweeping, but not effective in your role because somebody is expending time and effort to teach you the processes. not because you have to learn how to sweep.
On day one is a bit steep. Most unskilled kinds of jobs, like retail, include a week or two of training where you're only sort-of useful to your employer. Really really simple jobs (breaking rocks, digging trenches, turning wheels) have mostly been subsumed by machines.
From an employment market perspective, a better question is if you need to have training already to get hired, and if it's on-the-job kind of training (aka. semiskilled) or you spend significant time as a student.
I think in some unskilled labour, you can provide value on day one. You won't know all the processes, but you'd be able to perform some of the duties. Cleaning up, stocking shelves, etc.