Unskilled does not mean un needed.

[u/Justthisdudeyaknow]

[u/ArmchairJedi → u/[deleted]]

"Unskilled labor" is word used in academia. It doesn't mean a laborer doesn't have any skills, it means they don't have specialized training.

Its not 'a myth'. It's not an insult. Its simply a label for a specific group a laborers.

[u/ArmchairJedi → u/[deleted]]

The only people using to mean something other than it does, is people such as yourself who OPENLY know what the language means, but intentionally manipulate it anyways.

The same would just as easily eventually happen with new labels such as "entry level" or "low barrier" labor to. So what's the point?

[u/ArmchairJedi → u/[deleted]]

You outright said you 'understand' what I pointed out....that unskilled labor is a term used in academia and doesn't mean a laborer lacks skill... yet had used it in its (quoting you) "colloquial connotations that departs from the intention of the definition".

That's being intentionally manipulative.... or lying, because you didn't know what it actually meant and are embarrassed for being called out.

[u/donaldhobson → u/[deleted]]

"low barrier labor,"

Makes me think of bricklayers going around making short walls.

This is one of those euphemism treadmill things, blind turning into visually impaired and all that.

[u/b3nsn0w → u/[deleted]]

disagreed, "unskilled labor" is a useful qualifier even if you're not using it to deny people a comfortable livelihood. it provides an entry for people into the labor market who might not have been fortunate enough to have a childhood conducive to getting a whole ass degree before their first paycheck. if you're joe random in buttfuck nowhere, you can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work as a doctor the next day, but every place has unskilled labor options.

once you have a basic respect for people, the word "unskilled" stops being a pejorative and starts just being a matter of fact. sure, you can't go plan that bridge we need at the edge of town, but you can help in the grocery store. we need that. but we also need skilled workers, and a society that does not incentivize people to acquire skills or recognize them for it is a society that won't be able to make progress.

just maybe that incentive shouldn't be that you get basic fucking respect as a human being by the system. like that's pretty slim to begin with and making it conditional hurts everyone, even those who presently satisfy the condition, but especially those who do not.

[u/PatternrettaP → u/b3nsn0w]

Unskilled labor by technical definition just means that it does not require any additional training or certifications beyond a high school education. It's not necessarily entry level work, or even easy, but it doesn't require supplimentary training or education.

[u/ElectronRotoscope → u/[deleted]]

I dont think "entry level" is an appropriate substitute unfortunately. Entry level, at least in my mind, means your first job in that section of the workforce. You can have entry level positions that still require years of specialized training

[u/ElectronRotoscope → u/[deleted]]

specialized vs unspecialized maybe? It's worth thinking about, and language is important, but I gotta say I do also subscribe to the idea that a lot of the issue isn't the terminology, it's the cultural values that have been assigned to them. There's a reasonable viewpoint of "oh man, they work an 'unskilled' job? They must be busting their back twice as hard as someone with a really specific skill then, hats off to that person" and/or "all labour is valuable, independent of specialization or results" and/or "a person's value is independent of how hard they work or how much value they generate. People are always valuable"

[u/b3nsn0w → u/[deleted]]

okay, fair point, that does make sense. "entry level" does sound way better than "low-skilled" as well, without locking out the recognition of highly skilled options.

[u/trentshipp → u/[deleted]]

People take that label entirely too personally, if your job can be taught in an afternoon with a training video, it's unskilled. Doesn't mean it's not hard, just means it's not complicated. Anyone could be pulled off the street, be handed a sledgehammer, get pointed at a rock, and told to make it into smaller rocks. It just means there's a large pool of people available who can do it. As long as that is true, there's going to be someone willing to do it for less than you.

[u/Raincandy-Angel → u/trentshipp]

Yeah, I worked at a CNC bases factory during the summer. My job was stick the part in the machine, pull it out when the machine was done, stick the next part in the machine, deburr parts. Not a difficult job and training took literally an hour and most of that was teaching me how to do all the quality checks. It was about as unskilled as it gets

[u/trentshipp → u/[deleted]]

If you want to call breathing and having thumbs skills then by all means, just don't be surprised when the people trying to pay you don't agree.