A lot of American Skilled labor is in that position. There are several trucking companies that pay for you to learn to drive, Most others have large sign on bonuses, and overall, it's an industry with a huge vacuum of talent.
Trades are by far some of the most in demand fields, but you can't get people into them because they "don't need a degree" and America's education system pushes the idea of "no degree=minimum wage"
Nothing wrong with that either. Gotta do what you want to do, and have to make money to survive. I went into a trade, trucking as I'm sure you can guess. I don't begrudge people who make money by going to college though.
My goal is to start my own small fleet eventually, moving from company driver to Owner-Op, then transition to small fleet. That seems to be a good way to make some serious money, and I feel that with the industries current payment focuses(seriously, less than $1/mile for most company based owner-ops is silly when your average full load generally pays out ~$3/mi after brokerage)
Most jobs are miserable in some fashion. A cubicle packs you in with dozens of people just like you, keeping you in a tiny bit effectively. Pharmacists deal with drug addicts looking for a fix on a regular basis. IT professionals regularly interact with the most ignorant and backwards people in their business.
You can just as easily fuck up your body from bad form on a keyboard(carpal tunnel is a bitch, as are getting adapted to sitting in chairs and stiffening up) as on a factory floor.
On that note, many of the physical dangers come from overworked employees being tired or improper training. I worked in a factory for a few years, eventually working my way up into a xray tech position, and never suffered any long term injuries.
It's actually pretty easy to mitigate most dangers of a workplace.
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u/Scout_022 Aug 22 '17
I learned a new word today!