$50-$60k is not what it was

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Perhaps not much we can do. I'll give you a couple examples

Mar 19, 2019, 9:03 AM

1 - We did a county jail project not too long ago. A local company that makes windings for wind turbines has a massive labor shortage since no one wants to do manual labor anymore. They partnered with the jail for non-violent offenders. They train them to do the windings and when their sentence is up, they have a job waiting with a salary of $50,000-$60,000/year with healthcare and vacation. Their current retention rate is less than 10%. They said most quit because a normal 40-hour week is too hard. Others go back to jail.

They will always be poor because of work ethic and life choices.

2 - Most people look down on blue collar work. When I was a mechanic most customers didn't even want to talk to me because I was just a dumb mechanic. My engineering firm is currently designed a brand new 2-year technical college campus that is trying to get rid of the technical college stigma. At some point society started to frown upon blue collar jobs and steered their children into six figures of debt and worthless degrees. That needs to change. (On a side note, if you agree and use Amazon, please go to https://smile.amazon.com/ and make mikeroweWORKS Foundation your charity. It costs you nothing).

Again, good paying jobs out there, but poor life choices.

3 - The system is set up to keep poor people poor, both unintentionally and intentionally. My in-laws used to own a decently sized landscaping company. Nearly 1/2 of their employees turning down raises so they could keep their state benefits. A good number also turned down the company offered healthcare plan.

A good chunk of poor people are poor because they want to be. Atlanta's economy is booming and therefore construction is booming. Labor rates are through the roof, yet every GC needs workers they can't find. Most younger guys they hire quit shortly after they start because it's too hard. As a society, I think we are lazier than we've ever been.

TL;DR.

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On paper what you’re talking about seems reasonable. But it’s in a vacuum. Maybe the windgings company is a crap place to work. I had a $50k inside sales job in Charlotte ten years ago. I quit because the company was terrible. My boss was a racist who wanted me to refuse to do business with black business owners.

As for labor in the Atlanta market? I gaurantee very few GCs are willing to pay for living wages. The facts is rents in cities are going through the roof which affects every part of life. And as cities become crowded it becomes increasingly hard to do anything.

I do absolutely agree with on the idea that college is over valued in 2019. Every college ought to send every student a job prospectus which should include projected return in their degree. I bet we’d see less communications degrees and more computer science degrees.

So no. They aren’t being paid enough. Pay people more and they’ll stick around. Period.

He has a point.

Re: He has a point.

...along with about a few hundred others...***

More proof the market doesn’t magically fix itself or benefit everyone.

Does it not go back to educational opportunities

Perhaps not much we can do. I'll give you a couple examples

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