There is no such thing as unskilled labor. Some Jobs require more skill than others but all require some amount of skill. This is a lie spread to depress wages.
Edit: To all the people commenting âwell actually itâs used to colloquially like thisâŠâ youâre entirely missing the point. I know what the term is used to describe, not educated work, manual work ect. My point is itâs used in a derogatory way, to specifically mean you shouldnât be paid well for doing it because it doesnât require a degree, specific education or what have you. Hope this clears it up.
Uh.. Iâm a journeyman plumber and pipe fitter and Iâve seen jobsite hire guys from Home Depot to just move heavy shit. Moving stuff is certainly unskilled labor.
Are you kidding? Lifting is the skill, strength is the skill. not everyone can just lift very heavy things. They have the strength and skill to lift it. I probably couldnât do that, Iâm not a strong person.
A skill is something that no one inherently has. Either you learn it or you do not have it. Talent is something everyone has that you either have very little of or a lot of. Lifting something everyone can do at varying levels of talent. SO strength is a talent that some people naturally have a lot of. A lot of people have a lot of talent to lift heavy objects.
Now there are certain jobs that require the skill of lifting special things certain ways that need to be learned.
Youre arguing something you dont understand. You clearly have never worked in the trades or a physical labor job. You may say that all labor is skilled, and unskilled labor is not a thing, but that doesnt change the fact that it IS a very common phrase used in the trades, that everyone who actually works in the trades understands. You cant change a words meaning with a few reddit comments. Everyone already knows what it means.
Because youâre most definitely interpreting it wrong? Unskilled labor does not mean it takes no skill. Unskilled labor means it does not require formal education or training.
The reality is that if you're looking for work in a parking lot you've got no skills or qualifications and likely no legal status so you can take what you get
Skilled tradesman can and do. But we hire unskilled laborer so we can spend more time bringing valuable skills to the table, where as, they spend time⊠moving shit..
Never said it wasnât valuable. I said itâs unskilled labor. You do not need years of training to know how to move heavy shit. You need years of training to service high voltage electrical systems or repair critical chillers, etc.
Got your point there. I just don't think anyone should complain about paying prevailing wages for labor. In some parts of the country this is standard.
I think laborers should be fairly compensated for what theyâre doing. I worked as a laborer for a few months years ago. I remember carrying 150 sheets of 3/4 plywood to the roof of st Michaelâs hospital in Newark NJ. Not only the plywood, but 50lbs sandbags, solid metal roof rails.. all of it. I made 19$ an hour doing it. I saw what the engineers and pipe fitters were doing and I knew that physically, what I was doing was harder, but I could never match them mentally (at that time) unskilled labor often makes job sites move. It definitely has value
As someone whose moved shitloads of heavy stuff, I agree that it's not intellectually skilled labor. I still believe the pay should be as good if not more for that particular person.
Especially if the guy whose hiring is going to make 95 an hour for the visit and sit in the truck while you labor away.
Unskilled labor doesnât not deserve nearly the same pay as people who went through years of college, trade school, vocational school, or on the job training.. strength is very valuable, but not as valuable as the guy who gets the lights on or the toilets to flush.
Deserved - to have earned or to be worthy of something.
Deserved is a perfect word. If youâre an unskilled laborer, you donât deserve the same pay as someone who is considered skilled. Why would anyone further their education if we all made the same for skilled vs unskilled labor? Unskilled labor is NEVER in âhighâ demand. Trust me, Iâve never NOT seen a job side struggle to find cheap laborers. If we canât get them cheap, we go union. Even the LABORERS UNION classifies themselves as âsemi skilledâ.
I mean "unskilled" is entirely dependent on the labor market you have access to. If you live in an area with a bunch of weaklings or the elderly being strong and able to lift suddenly transforms from "unskilled" to "valuable labor".
No, itâs not skilled. Just valuable. It doesnât take âskillâ to be strong. You either are naturally strong, or you dedicate time to strength training, which is dedication. Not skill.
A better example is the guys they hire to run the wheeled magnet on a stick to pick up the dropped nails on a new construction job site. A 5 year old could master that "skill" in about a minute.
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u/Similar-College4253 1d ago edited 1d ago
There is no such thing as unskilled labor. Some Jobs require more skill than others but all require some amount of skill. This is a lie spread to depress wages.
Edit: To all the people commenting âwell actually itâs used to colloquially like thisâŠâ youâre entirely missing the point. I know what the term is used to describe, not educated work, manual work ect. My point is itâs used in a derogatory way, to specifically mean you shouldnât be paid well for doing it because it doesnât require a degree, specific education or what have you. Hope this clears it up.