Growing up in the west certainly has its advantages, but comfort can breed complacency. Going back as far as the end of the Great Depression, in Australia it has not been too hard to earn a living. Maybe not ‘living it up’, but enough to get by on. Jobs (in the cities at least) were not hard to come by. If you didn’t have the hands to get yourself a trade, there were plenty of jobs in factories to keep you fed and housed.
Industry was the refuge of the unskilled. Like it or hate it, Henry Ford’s breaking down of complex manufacturing into numerous specific and repetitive tasks created a way for the unmotivated majority to contribute to the profit machine. In return they would be given a tiny bit of the profits to maintain themselves and possibly have a little fun.
Once the unions had won the right for fair wages and working hours, the average unqualified grunt could keep off the bread line without having to break their backs. Overtime and penalty rates even made it possible to indulge a little or be able to afford raising a small family.
If you managed to get yourself into an industry with a powerful union, you were laughing. Big dollars and less authority for management – happy days. Maybe you could upskill a little. Get yourself a licence: Forklift, heavy vehicle, crane, bobcat etc. Better shifts more overtime. Line yourself up right and you could soon be looking for an investment property to go with your home.
For most of the 20th Century people only continued schooling who were planning on getting a profession: Doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers etc. Alternatively, there were arts and humanities degrees and completing one of these often opened the door for some form of white-collar job, or the life of a struggling artist if that was your bag.
The unlearned masses usually cut out as soon as possible – 14 & 9 months I believe it was. A few would stick around for the school certificate and that was it. The more hands-on parents would insist that their kid get a trade of some sort. “Something to fall back on” was the common phrase. Most would have been pleased to see their offspring just get a job and not be a layabout.
While the dole (unemployment benefits) is available for hard times (and obviously abused by some), the majority of people prefer to work as a matter of pride. Funnily enough, many ‘dole bludgers’ take pride in their shirking the system, but that’s another post entirely.
So here we slam up against that capitalist paradox again. People want to work for a living as a matter of self-respect, yet they loathe those people who provide the jobs. Those evil industrialists do not give us enough of the profits, fucking greedy hogs! The same sentiment would hold for the owner of the store, restaurant or pub we work in. “Greedy fucken owner”.
The response is always the same: “go start your own business then”. Don’t we hate that? “Fucken smart ass rich cunt!” We do not want to put in the effort and take the financial risk, yet we feel contempt for the person who did because they keep more of the pie for themselves. Not every business owner was born rich, and no business owner is immune from a downturn leading to bankruptcy. I’m not talking corporations here but remember even they had to start somewhere.
Your average working stiff mucks around all through their school years and stumbles out into the workforce with little to no marketable skills. Yes, I totally agree that this is a dreadful system. It is cold and spirit crushing. Trouble is, hating it does not make it go away. We live in THIS economy and unless you are part of the silver spoon society you need to earn your means of paying the bills and buying food and clothing.
My generation (X) had scores of kids continuing onto year 12 and receiving a Higher School Certificate. Most of those kids were simply delaying the inevitable and would have got the same job they ended up with if they left 2 years earlier. Kids that got into trades were completing their 2nd year and earning decent money by then. Kids who were aiming for university were on a different trajectory all together.
The bulk of us had fun that final summer as if it was school holidays as usual. Come the new year we were confronted with a stark reality: life aint free buddy, are you going to eek by on the dole or are you going to get a job? You are most definitely going to hate that job, and the pay will not be very good – and tough shit! You’re not living here for fucken free; that’s for sure!
“You are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun”
Time (Pink Floyd)
Wow! What a bummer. If that’s not enough of a downer, consider this: most of those people who put in the effort and got the better paying jobs probably hate getting up for work too. “It’s work. You’re not meant to love it. That’s why they pay you” as the saying goes.
The difference being, they get paid a lot more than the average working slob, unless of course that slob has a strong union job and then the balance shifts again. The person with the degree and the debt to go with it might be somewhat uneasy knowing this high school loafer is earning more than them.
“No one is happy with their job, unless they are DAMN sure they are being paid more than they are worth”
Andrew Denton
MINDLESS MUSINGS 
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