A $100,000 factory job. What's uncool about that?

CNNMoney.com

By Parija Kavilanz

CNNMoney.com – July 26, 2012

Yahoo! Finance Portfolio

What's uncool about a $100,000 factory job? These days not much. In fact, factory jobs -- once considered back-breaking and low-paying -- have become high-tech and high-salaried.

Still young people don't get it, say factory owners, who can't find enough skilled workers.

"When I was an apprentice in the late '70s, kids were dying to get into manufacturing. There were plenty of factory jobs," said Joe Sedlak, a machinist who owns the Chesapeake Machine Company in Baltimore. "There are jobs for the taking today. But kids don't want them."

Stereotypes about factory jobs still persist. And the media isn't helping, factory owners complain.

"On TV, kids don't see many positive images of manufacturing," said Bill Mach, president of Mach Mold, a manufacturer of plastics molds in Benton Harbor, Mich. A show will have a scene with "an old dark building with a bird flying out of it, and something bad happens."

Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, agreed. "Pop culture has a big impact on young people," he said, adding that the only recent positive pop culture depiction of manufacturing that he can think of has been in Iron Man.

The industry needs an image boost, and young people need to get educated about high-skilled factory jobs, experts said.

An aspiring machinist -- a popular factory job -- can start training at 18 and then do a one- or two-year manufacturing apprenticeship. In five years, he or she could be making more than $50,000. In 10 years, that could double to $100,000.

Not a bad salary for a 28-year-old.

More at:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/100-000-f ... 00356.html

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What a load of bull-crap!! No "factory worker" makes 100k per year, not even union workers.

And a good machinist job is a very skilled trade, not exactly what I would call a "factory job". Why did they use this ONE
example which, in my experience, is utter nonsense?

Most factory workers are lucky if they are making 40k per year, particularly in this recession/depression era, when most manufacturing jobs are gone from the US now.

What a load of crap they are feeding the US people these days!!!!!!! -OB55

I'll take 40k. I have such piss poor luck at getting a job. Finding a woman...that's nothing short of winning five lotteries one hour after being bitten by sixteen sharks while being struck four times by lightning. I don't bother with CNN. Too biased for me, I'll take BBC news any day.

Ever since NAFTA and all its subsequent copycat outsourcing treaties, the corporate media has been trying to sell the meme that the solution for America's increasing unemployment problems is more education.... completely glossing over the fact that there aren't jobs available for the educated people we already have and we have legions of people with masters degrees working at Mickey D's. They're just trying to milk every dollar they can out of the college loan bubble before it busts.

The only education that will help American workers get a job in this shitty economy is to teach them how to work 7 days a week for a bowl of rice.

Finding a decent job in this day and age: winning the lottery
Finding a decent woman in this day and age: going on the interplanetary voyage to Mars, winning the Martian lottery, then detouring to the moons of Jupiter, and winning the lottery on all 16 moons

I know these jobs do actually exist, but it's difficult to find a company that will actually TRAIN its workers anymore. They expect you to know everything already.....hence, when these companies can't find anyone who meets all their lofty standards (even with millions of people unemployed or underemployed), they tell the media they have a "labor shortage." What a load of bs....

Think about it: a company (woman) complains it can't find qualified workers (a boyfriend/husband) when there's millions of unemployed people out there (incels). Hmm....where have we heard this nonsense before?

Probably all those Indian H-1B visa workers the .com companies hire instead of Americans.

There is no loyalty anymore, and it's a shame. I would be happy to put up the money for anyone that wanted an automotive or diesel tech degree, but I need a few years of their labor to recoup my investment. I routinely don't get it. As a consequence we are highly selective for anyone going through training, and often chose children of current employees. About 1/3 leave the company within a year of receiving their degree and take tens of thousands of dollars of training to a competitor.

The flip side of course are the companies that promise everything and then some just to shift work offshore and layoff everyone.

It's all a result of our no regulation, everyone for themselves culture.

Loyalty doesn't exist anymore, or at least, it isn't valued highly. Employers don't value diligent service, and women don't value diligent suitors. It's a cruel world.

Yes , it is because most people are cruel or twisted in one manner or another. I am not loyal to a company anymore either,
but I take pride in my work, so I do a diligent, professional job, until I move on to the next job which is common in my trade.

If you wish to be short-sighted and not spend the time and money necessary to train people, that is your right, but you don't get to complain that you have a "labor shortage" when the unemployment rate has been over 8 percent for over three years (and is really much higher than that when you include people who have been given up looking for work or who can only get part-time work, but want full-time).

Tell you what...... you start recruiting auto and diesel techs and then we'll see who's complaining about the educational system and worker shortage.

Couldn't you have them sign some sorta contract where you train somebody and they agree to work with you alone for an x amount of time? Kind of like how in the trucking industry some companies will pay for you to get a CDL but only if you agree to drive with them for a year or two afterwords. You are free to quit at any time of course, but then you are on the hook for what they paid for your training. Forgive my ignorance, but is there some legal reason this model won't work in your industry? Or are potential employees just not interested in this kind of arrangement?

Of course you can do, and I do do that. The problem is when someone doesnt finish, or does finish and leaves anyway. Enforcement of those contracts is a bitch. Yes, you go to court and secure a judgement for the amount of tuition and fees BUT, what 20 year old has 10 grand to pay me back? Negotiating payment plans and collecting is a nightmare, though it's what I often do, but unlike typical student loans this arrangement can be discharged in bankruptcy.

Simple fact of the matter is we lose about 30% of the people that start the program, and we typically collect 60% of the tuition and fees. Poor high school prep is a huge problem. Most of our folks need remedial math and / or reading and that adds time and cost, and the more remedial stuff a kid has to do the less likely he is to finish. Kids with strong enough grades to just start the program typically don't want to be mechanics.

Well a women usually dosesn't have to know her elbow from her ass in order to get the job. If she doesen't get it she can probably sue the company for descrimination or some shit like that.

Well that all makes a lot of sense. The last sentence especially, which in my mind points to a cultural issue where mechanics and other "blue collar" type workers are so looked down upon by society. It's ironic because we think that when you end up in that field it's cause you are "too dumb to land an office job", yet many office jobs are useless/redundant. This leads to massive layoffs when things get tough, whereas mechanics provide a valuable function that we always need in both good times and bad. It's unfortunate seeing that with merely a different viewpoint there would be potential for many valuable contributions towards our economy. Nobody wants to get their hands dirty in this day and age, no matter what the benefits might be.