most of us started at or near minimum wage living with roommates etc. The question to me is what is preventing these people from achieving career growth?
Have you applied or know someone who applied for a minimum wage job recently?
The last time I did, the person interviewing me went on a rant/monologue about how she couldn't find anyone who would actually show up and not, like, play on their phone all day. Essentially all I had to do in the interview was agree on a start date.
Then a couple days later, she changes her mind, evidently because I was overqualified (aka wore a tie, probably too old). Which turned out to be ok, because someone else called me back about a ~$15/hr job.
This was a little before the pandemic in a non-economically booming area, not a major global city.
I can't remember when I've seen a full time minimum wage position offered. Stocking shelves at Target paid more than minimum. Answering the phone for an ISP, which was my first job, paid slightly more than minimum.
I may be forgetting something, but I think if any jobs I've had or applied to paid exactly minimum they were probably very short assignments through temp agencies. Where obviously their client is paying a lot more.
After entry level, it's up to the individual to level up and improve their employability and work their way up. At least that's the way it used to work, and boy did it work. Nowadays everyone wants the payday without having to put in the effort.
It is hard to get a well paying job without education. It is hard to afford education without a well paying job. The places with the most jobs, especially low-paying entry level jobs are quite often the most expensive places to live (cities). The cost of living is highly variable depending on where you are in the country, but only in the last few years have states/municipalities worked to try and close the gap in minimum wages so that people who work there can afford to live there.
In fact, for many people it’s a way to guarantee you’ll never be able to climb any financial ladders because you’ll be saddled with unpayable debt and a worthless degree.
Have you noticed how many major politicians have ties to predatory for-profit schools?
Absolutely not true. This is a dangerous myth that has gotten people stuck with worthless liberal arts degrees and $xxx,xxx in student debt. You can make a very decent wage with a trade skill (plumber, electrician, HVAC technician, etc.) Starting out, for most of these jobs, all you need to do at first is merely "show up."
I say this as someone that deeply values education, and I myself have one of those "worthless" liberal arts degrees. But the difference is that I went to school as a way to become a more well-rounded person, I already had a skill prior to going to school, and I also had a full academic scholarship that I was able to maintain due to good grades.
I 100% agree that we do a huge disservice to high school kids by pushing this myth of higher education, but that is the direction they are pushed and trade school is hardly in the conversation most of the time.