What happened to the middle class, blue collar man?

[LBJ Revivalist]

Years ago, a guy could work a blue collar job, without a degree and the like, and actually make a decent amount of money and not be looked down upon either. As long as he managed his money right, he and his family might actually live rather comfortably. Today, if you're a man without a college degree and a professional or even in some cases, a white collar occupation, you're thought of as basically being "White trash", looked down upon as a loser, and blue collar guys don't get paid enough to truly support a family in the modern day.

When/why did this happen?

[minionofmidas]

It was never so outside certain privileged, highly unionized special fields. Auto workers being the obvious example.

[Orthodox]

One could argue that the term 'middle class' was largely a psychological construct. People who described themselves as 'middle class' could range from people just above the poverty level (I could go on a rant about this, but maybe another day) to people whose annual salaries are in the triple digits. In fact, there was a poll done a couple years ago where 80% of respondents described themselves as the middle class.

As per the question, your really talking about the blue-collar unionized workforce, and their decline was due to wages remaining stagnant while going into debt in some sort of hope of retaining a 'middle class lifestyle,' as well as assaults on unions and other institutions responsible for building the working class up throughout the years.

[phk]

When the returns on getting a bachelor's degree started increasing.

Also a combination of using technology (substituting capital for labor) to automate the repetitive parts of their job and the rest in China helped as well.

[opebo]

A bad policy was implemented called neoliberalism, little LBJ.  Now be sure to brush before beddy-bye or the bad policy will get you too.

[dead0man]

The days where an unskilled blue collar could make a middle class income are all but over.  There are millions of skilled blue collar workers making a middle class (or more) income.  We will always* need plumbers and mechanics (and electricians and drivers and carpenters and on and on).


*well not always, but those jobs aint going away anytime soon

[opebo]

The days where an unskilled blue collar could make a middle class income are all but over.  There are millions of skilled blue collar workers making a middle class (or more) income.  We will always* need plumbers and mechanics (and electricians and drivers and carpenters and on and on).

Seriously?  I think they make not much nowadays with mass unemployment and the loss of unionization.  It was really primarily full-employment macroeconomic policies and unionization which caused them to be paid more than a subsistence, dead0man.

[dead0man]

I'm blue collar(ish), I'm not in a union, I make a middle class income, I exist.  There are millions of others like me.  There will always be a need for smart people willing to wear blue jeans to work.

[opebo]

I'm blue collar(ish), I'm not in a union, I make a middle class income, I exist.  There are millions of others like me.  There will always be a need for smart people willing to wear blue jeans to work.

But supply and demand, deadman - there are millions of such people unemployed.  Your wages should go down (and generally, for most of your ilk, they are).

[LBJ Revivalist]

I'll put it this way, my grandpa (born in 1920) worked in many jobs--a Cab driver, a Grocer, a chauffer, etc--until he settled into a job with the USPS around the mid/late '50s. He supplemented his income from the Post Office by working side jobs as a Security Guard. Then in 1966 or 1967 he was fired from the USPS and become just a Security Guard.

Now, even just as a Security Guard, he was able to pay $35 a week (1967 money not 2011 money) child support weekly, as well as maintain his own apartment and go on vacations and the like. Even while being a BIG TIME bad Gambler.

Or my other grandpa. Worked as a foreman with the Park's Dept from the early 60s until 1991 and managed to give his children a middle class life. Hell, they lived pretty damn well, they even had Pong as early as the mid/late 70s.

[opebo]

Precisely, Libjay, their wages were at least double what modern earners would receive in those jobs.

[King]

He got trapped in a low grade Neil Young song and never recovered.

[memphis]

Never happenned under the strange Atlas/European/GOP definition of middle class as those in the 85th percintile. People who know how to do things like plumbers/electricians still do pretty welll. Unskilled labor sucks now, obviously.

[Torie]

Prole drift, a term the inimitable Paul Fussel coined. The thing is, so many of those higher skilled blue collar, and lower middle class jobs, got "commodityized" as it were. Damn those computers and scanners and all. Now a zombie can be a supermarket clerk.

Find those jobs with a high barrier to entry baby, be it skill, talent, or all too often these days, government regulation, where you are one of the lucky ones to slip through the door, with the right connections and all.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ah, yeah, Fussell. I remember reading The Great War and Modern Memory for the first time and being very impressed (and also repeatedly amused). Read it again not so long ago and while it's got it's flaws, that hardly matters. Really innovative.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

NAFTA passed, and the US couldn't compete with Mexico on wages, so those jobs went there. Then it turned out that Mexico couldn't compete with India on wages, so those jobs are now in India.

[Torie]

Ah, yeah, Fussell. I remember reading The Great War and Modern Memory for the first time and being very impressed (and also repeatedly amused). Read it again not so long ago and while it's got it's flaws, that hardly matters. Really innovative.

The humor value in his Class book makes it a grand read, even if everything he says is otherwise BS. Trust me.

You want to know what he uses as an inditia of a place with a low brow, benighted, and otherwise embarrassment to Western Civilization culture? You know, Naso's kind of hood? 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You want to know what he uses as an inditia of a place with a low brow, benighted, and otherwise embarrassment to Western Civilization culture?

Of course. I'd guess something like satellite dishes, but it's probably something more random.

[Sbane]

NAFTA passed, and the US couldn't compete with Mexico on wages, so those jobs went there. Then it turned out that Mexico couldn't compete with India on wages, so those jobs are now in India.

India is a heavily industrialized country, or is getting a lot of jobs in heavy industry? Are you that retarded?

India's quaint labor laws won't allow it.

[Torie]

You want to know what he uses as an inditia of a place with a low brow, benighted, and otherwise embarrassment to Western Civilization culture?

Of course. I'd guess something like satellite dishes, but it's probably something more random.

The per capita incidence of bowling alleys. Dishes came later. Paducah, KY, and Dubuque, Iowa, I think were near the top.

[patrick1]

Inbound and outbound supplies of cheaper labor is the primary factor. This runs parallel to the revolution in transport and supply chain.  I think a more subtle one is a general aversion/stigma to doing physical labor.

[lowtech redneck]

The rest of the world caught up with us, creating competition where none effectively existed after WWII, and modern technology created a globalized economy.  The standard of living for most of us has actually improved as a result, but unskilled workers can no longer be heavily subsidized without severely threatening both our global competiveness and the employment rate.  As others have noted, the skilled blue-collar worker is still in good shape.

[memphis]

The rest of the world caught up with us, creating competition where none effectively existed after WWII, and modern technology created a globalized economy.  The standard of living for most of us has actually improved as a result, but unskilled workers can no longer be heavily subsidized without severely threatening both our global competiveness and the employment rate.  As others have noted, the skilled blue-collar worker is still in good shape.

Globalization didn't just happen. We've gone through several cycles of trade vs. protectionism sentiment. It's very much a political choice with pros and cons like anything else. That both parties now endorse (more or less) global free trade does not mean otherwise.

[lowtech redneck]

It's very much a political choice with pros and cons like anything else.

And there is an effective consensus among economist that autarkic trade policies involve much more con than pro.  And in an era with modern communications and transport technology, trying to row against the wind is a losing propsition.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Are you trying to parody me or something?