26 votes

How the working-class life is killing Americans, in charts

5 comments

  1. [3]
    Grendel
    Link
    I can verify this article. I went from blue collar to four year degree and an office job and my quality of life is better in very dramatic ways. I remember when I started my first warehouse job....

    I can verify this article. I went from blue collar to four year degree and an office job and my quality of life is better in very dramatic ways.

    I remember when I started my first warehouse job. It was depression central. Everyone hated the job and their life. And it spread like a disease too. I barely made it through the summer and I knew I had to guess out of there for the same if my mental health.

    9 votes
    1. [2]
      vord
      Link Parent
      Eh even getting a cushy office job isn't a garuentee of happiness either. Many workplaces still find you just as disposable, and often your burning your mental stamina instead of physical. In a...

      Eh even getting a cushy office job isn't a garuentee of happiness either. Many workplaces still find you just as disposable, and often your burning your mental stamina instead of physical.

      In a weird way, I miss the manual labor. It had more tangible outputs, and when the day was done, I still had enough energy to engage in whatever I wanted.

      Now I mostly just want to come home, play with my kid, then veg out for a few hours before having to do it again.

      I wouldn't go back, cause poverty sucks otherwise, especially when your income depends on being in top physical shape and almost no company facilitates that properly anymore.

      9 votes
      1. joplin
        Link Parent
        This seems to be a trend across the board with companies. In technical jobs your income depends on learning the latest and greatest tools and techniques, but no job gives you the training you'd...

        your income depends on being in top physical shape and almost no company facilitates that properly anymore.

        This seems to be a trend across the board with companies. In technical jobs your income depends on learning the latest and greatest tools and techniques, but no job gives you the training you'd need to actually be good at it. If you're lucky, they give you the freedom to make choices about those things and you can choose to use newer stuff and learn while doing. But it's also slower that way and you make more mistakes, so it's tricky.

        4 votes
  2. [3]
    Comment removed by site admin
    Link
    1. vord
      Link Parent
      It's nice to see articles like this, but it's really not shocking if you've ever had to live off a low-wage job. Even much higher college-educated wages have been stagnating while rents have been...

      It's nice to see articles like this, but it's really not shocking if you've ever had to live off a low-wage job.

      Even much higher college-educated wages have been stagnating while rents have been rising. It hurts a hell of a lot more when you were barely making ends meet before.

      Let alone the new 'gig' economy, where the companies have been able to loophole out of consistent schedules, benefits, and overtime.

      11 votes
    2. Autoxidation
      Link Parent
      I found that graph and the presentation of the data very striking. It's a big reason why I posted the article. I knew it was occurring but it's hard to really properly grasp until you see an...

      I found that graph and the presentation of the data very striking. It's a big reason why I posted the article. I knew it was occurring but it's hard to really properly grasp until you see an effective data representation of the problem like that.

      6 votes