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"Unskilled labour" is a capitalist myth used to justify poverty wages.
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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Does the label even matter?
When lots of people would do the job, and many even for less than you, why not hire someone else for less?
When you're the only one who qualifies, the situation reverses. Why bless that company with your work, when you can go to someone else who pays more?
Maybe it's all just supply and demand within the limits of regulation.
Yes, talking about is, not ought.
Similarly, we see astonishingly low wages for ridiculously high skilled work, for example scientists.
Maybe it's really all about unvalued labour. Or surplus labour, as you say. While having rare skills is no guarantee for being valued, lacking those surely doesn't help in getting more value either. So I think there is a correlation between unskilled and low pay, even if it's not a direct cause.
It's supply and demand. Scientists publish their discoveries to the commons, so there isn't much demand for people to hire them. Many would-be scientists go into fields like finance and engineering specifically just for the pay (fields that are in demand, but have low supply). Science is a public good, so a market failure occurs.
"Unskilled labor" is labor that many can do or learn on the job, so there is a high supply. It doesn't matter how hard or essential the work is, it's going to be low pay due to the low barrier of entry. Which is unjust, and Why Socialism (Einstein) is needed.
Thank you for supplying all this valuable context, honestly.
That’s not surplus labor. Surplus labor is employed people who don’t have things to do. Or unemployed people who are able and want to work, if you’re taking about the market broadly.
And scientists are low paid at the start - and higher paid later, just like doctors and architects and plenty of people who have tremendous lifetime earning potential.
Scientists in academia are hit or miss wage wise, but have a high quality of life. Plenty of private sector scientists make $$$.
There’s tons of demand for unskilled labor. There’s also tons of supply because literally almost everyone can do it.
When the ability to learn said skill is gatekept by the wealthy it ceases to be supply and demand
So make a meme about education should be free. There will always be unskilled labor. I can show someone how to use a lawn mower in 20 minutes, or screw caps on a tube in an assembly line.
I don’t need to pay someone extra to go to school for 4 years to do those jobs.
This is a pretty shortsighted comment.
Never, in the history of the world, has it been easier and cheaper (free in many cases) to learn a new skill. Have you heard of this thing called the internet where there are thousands of free courses teaching anything and everything?
Planting? That’s your example of a desirable skill? Free courses will get you nowhere financially or otherwise. You need verifiable certificates and licenses.
Planting was a typo. Fixed that.
For many careers you do not need certs or licenses. Almost every role in big tech can be self taught. Programming, SQA, systems engineering, business analyst, project management, and on and on can all be self taught. I say this as I work with a number of folks that do not have college degrees.
I agree that would be unfair or however you want to judge it, but I don't see how your conclusion follows.
It does not matter if the acquisition of qualification is gatekept, subsidized, free or restricted. Either way, you have a pool of people who are qualified for a job, and that pool has a size. Smaller pool roughly correlates with higher pay.
It's supply and demand, regardless of why the pool has it's size.
I also think it has never been that easy to learn things. Wikipedia, YouTube, social media ... sharing skills, following your interests, learning whatever you'd like to learn ... imagine you had to ask your dad for permission or be accepted into a guild for it.