General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: THE PAY IS TOO DAMN LOW [View all]wordpix
(18,652 posts)These were mostly women who had no college education or professional skills (a couple were in school), except perhaps a CNA course. Our family paid $20/hr. for day help and $15-20 for night help (mother was mostly sleeping at night). Everything was on the books so we also paid FICA taxes every quarter. It was extremely expensive.
OTOH, we had excellent, caring care givers who stayed on through the years, which was a huge benefit so we could continue our own work and not worry that our mother was in a bad situation. Moral of the story: you get what you pay for. If you want to pay people zip and they are good workers and honest people, they will leave soon after they start b/c they'll find something better and better paying.
You say you want more training and trade schools - good idea but that costs money, too. One of my seniors wanted to apply to cosmetic school and it was $10K/year tuition (which she didn't have) so she didn't go, continuing the cycle of her family's poverty.
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I would like to see vocational ed. return to high schools, where it's mostly been eradicated. Maybe you'd like to help in this effort?
Also your argument about a "$4 or $5 hike per hour" is bullshit. No one I know has proposed such a large hike, although it would be nice so people would have enough to live on, just barely.