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Started By
Message
1
Posted on 8/12/25 at 8:48 pm to lsu777
quote:
Pet peeve of mine when people include that when talking salary
I mean, for someone working bluecollar, benefits could be a huge especially in non-union states. It should be mentioned as part of a compensation conversation
. I guarantee companies that pay out these benefits are very aware of the total cost of that employee. They call it the "burdened rate". The total annual cost for an employee.
Posted on 8/12/25 at 9:14 pm to lsu777
Alright man
Keep making strawmen
This post was edited on 8/12/25 at 9:16 pm
Posted on 8/12/25 at 9:40 pm to DesScorp
quote:
Mike Rowe is smiling.
I'm sure he is.
quote:
Mike Rowe's speaking fees typically range from $200,000 to $300,000. The lower end of the range is usually for virtual engagements, while the higher end is for in-person events, particularly in the US. Fees can be higher depending on factors like the length of the engagement or if international travel is involved.
Lying motherfricker
Posted on 8/12/25 at 9:42 pm to TigersHuskers
Do union workers still vote Democrat at a high clip?
Posted on 8/12/25 at 9:46 pm to Gings5
Depends on the union and location.
Trade school is good.for your kid, but not mine.
What I mean by that is no one here is really telling their own kid to go to trade school or apprenticeship if the kid can make.it into college. Those are the facts.
Trade school is good.for your kid, but not mine.
What I mean by that is no one here is really telling their own kid to go to trade school or apprenticeship if the kid can make.it into college. Those are the facts.
This post was edited on 8/12/25 at 9:47 pm
Posted on 8/12/25 at 9:51 pm to fightin tigers
quote:
Depends on the union and location. Trade school is good.for your kid, but not mine. What I mean by that is no one here is really telling their own kid to go to trade school or apprenticeship if the kid can make.it into college. Those are the facts.
Eh, you aren’t wrong at all in general. But I wouldn’t agree necessarily. I do think there’s a ton of young men that really just are too young and immature to know what the frick they want to do with life. I think learning a trade is a hell of a lot better and useful than going to college clueless to just party and drop out.
I’d tell my own son to go learn a trade to be the owner of a trades business some day. I wouldn’t tell him to go learn a trade to weld, or plumb, or whatever all day for 40 years.
ETA: really no different than going into the military for a couple of years
This post was edited on 8/12/25 at 9:52 pm
Posted on 8/12/25 at 10:26 pm to DesScorp
I’m sure someone has said this, but you would have to factor in benefits to get a full picture. Still, very glad options are increasing for folks who want to work with their hands. Not everyone is meant to sit in a classroom.
Posted on 8/12/25 at 10:27 pm to DesScorp
Now do the 10 and 20 year view.
Posted on 8/12/25 at 11:09 pm to DesScorp
I asked both my kids this during their senior year of high school.
Do you want to do something in the medical field, be some sort of engineer, become a lawyer, or do something in the financial field. If so, great, let’s decide which college fits your interests the best. If answer is no, then pick a trade school or military branch.
Daughter is now an OTA and son is a plumber. Daughter spent roughly 2 years in college and son spent roughly 2 years in trade school.
Care to guess which one makes more $, and which one cost me the most $.
By the way, both are very happy with there decisions and I am equally as proud of each of them.
Do you want to do something in the medical field, be some sort of engineer, become a lawyer, or do something in the financial field. If so, great, let’s decide which college fits your interests the best. If answer is no, then pick a trade school or military branch.
Daughter is now an OTA and son is a plumber. Daughter spent roughly 2 years in college and son spent roughly 2 years in trade school.
Care to guess which one makes more $, and which one cost me the most $.
By the way, both are very happy with there decisions and I am equally as proud of each of them.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 12:07 am to pelicanpride
quote:
glad options are increasing for folks who want to work with their hands.
compensation has been increasing over the last few years for the trades. I suspect that's why we are seeing the strong push to get kids into the trades. With the new influx of bodies, industry can once again enjoy lots of labor competition to keep compensation down to a minimum.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 1:51 am to Kingshakabooboo
quote:
Daughter spent roughly 2 years in college and son spent roughly 2 years in trade school.
That’s one way to move the goalpost of the OP
Posted on 8/13/25 at 7:42 am to Sun God
quote:
Alright man
Keep making strawmen
im not making a strawman
1) if white collar included benefits, many times it would double what their hourly rate is. For example, I get 8% match on my 401k plus have a 7% pension. my old job would give me 12% if i put in 4%. not to mention the medical insurance is much better than pretty much every blue collar job including union jobs. and Im not saying this as some kind of brag....its common in the bigger law offices, the finance world etc. Mingo can speak to it more on the bigger accounting world. Im not saying when looking at a job you shouldnt factor all that in, you absolutely should but if you are going to come on here and brag about how much you make, might want to include the note that includes benefits and bonuses and OT.
2) including OT into what you make is dumb AF. time is worth something
3) yall love to act like the trades are amazing. The numbers have been posted, a very small % last in the trades for 20 years, much less the 40 it will take many to retire.
The fact is the trades are hard AF and very few go on to own a business. Its actually rare and the % of those that actually make it is also rare and almost always run by someone that would have been successful either way. Running a business successfully is not easy for many and there is a reason so few are successful.
And there is a reason I push the industry side because those guys tend to last much longer and have much better benefits overall on that side.
4) the numbers in the OP are complete bullshite. For example the range for salary a MASTER PLUMBER in LA is 25-48 an hour. Avg is 33 per hour which is less than 70k. factor in benefits that some get and you may be close to the 85k. sure with OT easily get over 100k but those hours are not free and we are talking for a master plumber that has 7-10 years of experience.
union master electrician in Louisiana is very similar. 33 an hour is average. for texas its 40 on average for ibew master electrician.
and im talking master not your average guy in the field. for example average for a union electrician in the IBEW in Florida is less than 25 an hour.
but hell lets look at NYC...the median for union electrician hourly wage is 62 an hour and total package around 114 an hour. That is good money but the work is hard AF and you are working in the freezing arse cold and scorching heat. again this is union and non union is only 36 in NYC. If you look at job listings actually in NYC for journeyman electrician its around 30-45 an hour. Certainly better than working starbucks but that aint shite compared to good white collar jobs.
not to mention the layoffs or lack of work. many times unless you work on the service side you are only working 9 months a year.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 8:50 am to Bayou_Tiger_225
quote:
That $69k for college grads is the result of an extremely wide range of degrees and careers. I’d have to imagine there are a lot of low earning degrees that are keeping that average lower.
This is on point and generalizations are worthless for both. Did they sample by geographies, degrees, types of apprenticeships, union vs non union, total benefits, bonuses etc
Posted on 8/13/25 at 8:52 am to theCrusher
quote:I think there is a point to including all the degrees in the determination though.
This is on point and generalizations are worthless for both. Did they sample by geographies, degrees, types of apprenticeships, union vs non union, total benefits, bonuses etc
Not everyone is in one of the high earning fields.
You shouldn’t simply remove the ones that make no money from the calculation.
We should remove those as degrees though.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 8:55 am to Scruffy
quote:
You shouldn’t simply remove the ones that make no money from the calculation.
That's fair, but we also need to be honest that most blue collar workers aren't going on to own their own business and getting rich. College is without a doubt better for overall earning and work/life balance. There are outliers on all sides, but on average it's the simple truth.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 9:03 am to LNCHBOX
quote:I completely agree, but the ultimate issue is the university debt system.
That's fair, but we also need to be honest that most blue collar workers aren't going on to own their own business and getting rich. College is without a doubt better for overall earning and work/life balance. There are outliers on all sides, but on average it's the simple truth.
Even more than the need to be honest about blue collar pay is that we need to be blatantly honest about the vast majority of degrees out there and that they won’t make any substantial income off of them.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 9:15 am to Scruffy
quote:
Even more than the need to be honest about blue collar pay is that we need to be blatantly honest about the vast majority of degrees out there and that they won’t make any substantial income off of them.
I think this is a real issue. There are a ton of degrees that are basically worthless. I have a friend who’s daughter just graduated with a horticultural degree from Auburn. Auburn costs between $35-$50K yearly. She spent 4 years in school to get a horticultural degree. That’s a cost of roughly somewhere between $140,000 to $200,000. She graduated this pay May and now works in a botanical garden making like $20.00 an hour.
For careers like that, I think an apprenticeship would be far better. In four years of doing an apprenticeship, she’d learn everything she needs to know and not have had to spend almost $200K to do so.
I’d say the same thing for things like marketing, business, IT, maybe even accounting. Most people going to work in the business world could learn more from an apprenticeship and do so without starting out in life saddled to what amounts to a decent sized mortgage debt.
Specialized fields like medical, engineering, law, and a few others absolutely need a college degree. That’s where higher education should be focused.
Posted on 8/13/25 at 9:23 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
Auburn costs between $35-$50K yearly.
She wasn't in state? 0 scholarships or aid?
Posted on 8/13/25 at 9:24 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
I think this is a real issue. There are a ton of degrees that are basically worthless. I have a friend who’s daughter just graduated with a horticultural degree from Auburn. Auburn costs between $35-$50K yearly. She spent 4 years in school to get a horticultural degree. That’s a cost of roughly somewhere between $140,000 to $200,000. She graduated this pay May and now works in a botanical garden making like $20.00 an hour.
For careers like that, I think an apprenticeship would be far better. In four years of doing an apprenticeship, she’d learn everything she needs to know and not have had to spend almost $200K to do so.
we can agree on this and seems like 80% of the cases i hear about on these are females picking dumbass degrees.
quote:
’d say the same thing for things like marketing, business, IT, maybe even accounting. Most people going to work in the business world could learn more from an apprenticeship and do so without starting out in life saddled to what amounts to a decent sized mortgage debt.
disagree. marketing maybe. but the others...na, especially accounting. Mingo can tell you, accounting has a bunch or specialties and a ton of provisions as far as what can and cant be done that you learn in school.
quote:
Specialized fields like medical, engineering, law, and a few others absolutely need a college degree. That’s where higher education should be focused.
agree 1000%
but couple things...is the point of college just to educated on the very specific job or is it to get a broad education with a focus in an area and learning to think critically on things?
and the problem isnt really the colleges, although if you subscribe college is to prepare strictly for the field of choice than they have a bunch of BS classes, the problem is employers requiring a 4 year degree for every entry level position.
and so many touting the trades have never worked in them so they do not understand how much it sucks to work outside doing manual labor most of the year. Like right now, its fricking miserable working outside 8 hours a day everyday. even if half of the day is spent standing around waiting and thinking through an issue, its fricking miserable.
many people would rather make a little less money and spend all day in the AC rather than working in the heat or working in the rain or working when its 35 degrees. that shite sucks and people tend just ignore that and ignore the toll on the body when touting the trades.
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