Obviously the whole point is to create an underclass that you can blame for creating itself because you had a plan.

Averages are an utterly insane way of handling a sector like leisure and hospitality which includes vast numbers of part time workers.

But I think the problem is that the vast numbers of part time workers actually want stable, fulltime employment.

Part-time and low wage are very strongly correlated here because of health insurance.

Having read nothing, my totally unscientific analysis of Roc nesting and feeding behavior is that (1) there is well-funded public education right through tertiary, (2) there are vast numbers of really shit jobs anyway, and (3) that this isn't catastrophic, and all things considered AFAIK the country is moving in an ok direction, because redistribution via public services (health, education, transport, sundry subsidies) allows an ok quality of life even for people with really shit jobs. Also a big chunk of the shitty work is self-employment in tiny businesses. I think that means something, but don't know what. To my eye anyway a lot of those businesses would be a lot less labor-intensive if consolidated and corporatized.

The weekly income is probably off because people are working two jobs with 29 hours a week, sure. But that's a part of the problem, not a silver lining.

Being nice to people for minimum wage was hard when I was younger. I don't think I could do it for $15/hour now.

What, are the graduates going to drive Ubers when they get out? What jobs are they envisioning for their extra accredited people?

Exactly. The magical thinking around college - "If everyone goes to college, everyone will get a well paying middle class job! Hurray!" - drives me crazy.

OP and 8: and the lack of coordinated response from, e.g., the hospitality industry and unite! to increase solid, accredited training programs to provide a skilled, unionized workforce for the hospitality industry.

This is the supply side fallacy applied to the job market. Cranking out more people with college degrees, even in STEM subjects will not magically create more quality jobs. The problem can only be effectively addressed on the demand side and the only way we know of to do that on a large scale is through the highly dreaded spending of tax dollars, taken from people who are hoarding dollars they don't need. And that ain't gonna happen, especially in Texas.

for strange work-related reasons i have developed strong opinions on the level of service in a range of absurdly high end hotels and restaurants in a certain part of los angeles, and by far the best service is consistently provided by the unionized staff at one particular property where i am near certain the majority of the staff are coming from a small number of communities in southern mexico. worst service is always at the places hiring only conventionally-attractive young white people trying to make it in the entertainment industry, all of whom sincerely do not give a shit whether you die of thirst-hunger while they dick around.

I was thinking about how one useful thing the next Dem president could do even getting absolutely nothing through Congress would be to craft a better measure than GDP for societal well-being.

There was a podcast where a researcher on the subject said the best single measure she could think of would be leisure time not related to work or survival. But I suppose if you're precariously employed, unstructured time with no work can still be pretty stressful.

That measure would allow workaholic CEOs and Wall Street types to crow about how they've got it harder than anyone else.

If they're planning in Texas what they're planning here, they're going to berate the universities for not graduating everyone and then change their missions to grant 'stackable certificates' instead of bachelor's degrees. Then they'll complain that they're not getting out of state investment, because it turns out that states with massive tech centers typically have strong university systems.

Oh good lord. I do remember hearing about the drive for certification programs.

Of course. This must all be driven by whatever corporation is set to show up and offer prepackaged certificates that need a veneer of university respectability.

That's what the university gift shop calls it's logo-bearing yoga pants.

7: hell, for 10x that it's still not always going to be worth it.

13: Measured by surveys across whole population and segments thereof. It would only be a personal badge if people tried to make it such.