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niki's avatar

Are there people who still want to work in manufacture jobs today?

Asked by niki (699 points ) January 21st, 2010

We all know how the world as a whole have undergone such a tremendous change in technology, lifestyle, and many other aspects. There are now more ‘creative’ businesses & jobs everywhere, more innovations & creativity encouraged, and basically, the job market seems to get much more diverse just in this recent decade, compared to the past decades.

But the question then is this:
are there still people, in this advanced era, who wants (even perhaps dream) to work in ‘cookie-cutter’ type jobs such as in factory, mills, assembly line, & basically many other “routine, mass-produced” kind of jobs, that most people i know today seemingly want to avoid these kind of jobs as much as possible?
perhaps, it has some correlation with certain personality-type, who wants (or even like) to work in a factory-setting, as a worker/laborer?

Or there are actually increasingly less & less people who want to work in those type of jobs nowadays?
If that’s the case, then how those manufacture companies handle this predicament? eg: how can cars get manufactured if there’s less & less people who want to work in its assembly-line?

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12 Answers

Judi's avatar

Yes there are. There are people who see a job as a way to do the things they want to do, They would love to give their 8 hours and have the rest of the day belong to them. They are more comfortable working with their hands than with words and numbers.
It’s just to bad that there aren’t many of these job left. Especially with benefits and that pay a living wage.

faye's avatar

I have a friend who trained as a chef and ran a restaurant. He finally left and built fences, now works a day job where his only responsiblity is the job. He is much happier.

loser's avatar

No, I’m sure they “dream” of jobs where they get paid tons of money for doing nothing. What you’re describing is “reality”.

Nullo's avatar

Lots of people; I know some dozen of them.
Manual labor is remarkably relaxing: there are no meetings, no big presentations, no crushing deadlines, no group project to worry about, nobody to talk into buying photocopiers, and in many cases you have tangible results (like shoes or houses or something) at the end of the day. Sadly, blue-collar work has been poorly characterized in the media and by a lot of the people in white-collar work environments, and shipped overseas.
There was a poem I once read, about a farmer, though I can only remember the last line: His hands are busy, but his mind is free.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

Not all manual labour is brainless robotic work. Some workers take great pride in earning an honest day’s pay for doing quality work building something that lasts, such as furniture or cookware. Not all industrial work has been outsourced to third world countries.

Cruiser's avatar

There are millions of immigrants who dream of a job here in my country and risk their lives to get here often illegally to have a chance at these mundane routine manufacturing jobs deemed too menial to do by many Americans. Part of the reason I believe we don’t have stricter regulations over the hiring of illegals as we need someone to do these jobs.

Nullo's avatar

We have a lot of people willing to do the work, though. Guy I used to work with drives a hundred miles a day… in order to work at a car wash. He’d like nothing more than a good manufacturing job close to home. And he’s not an immigrant.

Cruiser's avatar

@Nullo Times are tough for sure and I admire someone who wants to work that bad to do what he does to earn a paycheck. I also know a few people who would rather sit on their a$$ and collect unemployment. This is what makes America so great or so they say.

Snarp's avatar

Yes. Lots of American, not just immigrants, want and have those jobs. They just want to be compensated fairly for them. The notion that Americans “don’t want” some jobs is just something to make people feel less guilty about outsourcing, low wages, union busting, and exploiting immigrant labor. Not everyone can do the glamorous jobs that everyone dreams of, and when you grow up and have a family, you just want a job that you can be moderately proud of and that puts food on the table. And the guys and women I’ve known who did “routine mass production” type jobs building cars and aircraft engines are all very proud of the product they create.

Val123's avatar

Of course there are.

janbb's avatar

Clearly, there are many people who would love to have any kind of job right now.

susanc's avatar

We’ve been sold a bill of goods – which is that you gotta be white-collar to be respectable.
I’m happy to read here that people know better.

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