Why are low-paid jobs viewed so negatively when they still allow people to survive?

[YourWaryPlumBalonz]

This is something I've never quite understood.
A lot of people spend years getting degrees, professional qualifications and chasing promotions to avoid jobs such as cleaning, care work, retail, warehouse work, etc. Yet many people in those roles still manage to pay their bills, put food on the table and live their lives. They may never be wealthy, but neither are most professionals.
I understand wanting more money, but some discussions make it sound as though earning £25k-£30k is a disaster and anything less than a professional career is failure. Realistically, most people aren't becoming footballers, CEOs or David Beckham.
Is it mainly about:
Money and financial security?
Social status?
Working conditions?
Having more choices and opportunities?
Fear of struggling if costs rise unexpectedly?
Interested in hearing from people who actively worked hard to avoid lower-paid work. Was it the money itself, or something else?
Not judging anyone's choices. I'm genuinely curious why some jobs are viewed as something to escape from rather than simply another way of earning a living.

It was people doing these jobs that kept the country going during lockdown, how can anyone look down on care workers or people working in supermarkets etc?

Hmm you do realise in many hospitalily / retail jobs the managers aren't actually earning much more than the staff. For example a store manger at fast food place can be earning 35k full time. They are doing all the office admin, sales figures ordering as well as being out on shop floor both managing and mucking in themselves if necessary

Wheras the person who just came in with not experience on minimum wage isn't actually earning that much less

I really, really hate people with that attitude. I do exactly that job and ‘wiping poo from someone’s bottom’ is such a tiny part of the job. Those people might not see anyone apart from us all week and their faces light up when we arrive. We help them get washed and dressed, prepare meals, pop out for bits of shopping often in our own time between calls, sit and have a chat, take their dog for a walk around the block, the list goes on. Yes, it may be long hours but it’s a zero hours contract, we can do as many or little hours as we like. Do people in high paid stressful jobs lie in bed at night and think of nice things people have said to them that day, or get thanked for being ‘so kind’ ? I certainly don’t think of the job as ‘not very pleasant’

Oh, and we aren’t just surviving , we have plenty of weekend breaks and at least one overseas holiday a year. Some of our carers are earning around 60k as they love the job and put lots of hours in

Yes, I do realise that. This is a huge issue in the sector as many people refuse promotions because it's not worth it to them. Ultimately they recognise that they are relatively well paid for what is expected of them versus what is expected of those in more senior positions paid slightly more. Those in the more senior positions do gain experience though which can help them find other work. I saw it loads of times where they would change into better paid sector and this was aided by the skills and experiences they got in the managerial roles. They played the long game. Many just can't be bothered doing this though.

Time/money/choice/interest/expectations/peers/opportunity

This household the reasons are
H - money
Me - choice
C1 - interest
C2 - money possibly power we need to see how that develops

No, it was to look down on him. @Timeforachange26 is bang on. The poster who was doing so is known for it on here. She never says what she she earns or does.
I said about my DP' salary in the context of not everyone in later life is earning loads, and that some important jobs are very much needed but do not pay much.

Yep, the bus company in my town has big ads on their buses asking for drivers. Starting wage is £33k.

This is mainly it for me , I would if needed rather do 36 hours a week even say as a hospital ward clerk or admin in a relatively interesting company than work for the same money as a cleaner or carer - I don’t look down on these jobs at all , just know I wouldn’t particularly enjoy them or find them mentally interesting . Even if the cleaning job paid me £40k a year I would still go for the other jobs. Only exception would be if I was entertainments manager at the care home or business manager etc or if it was my cleaning agency - I’ve been working for myself or running a business too long I guess and at 64 I’m not prepared to work for some bossy 26 year old with a clipboard and luckily I have a choice -

Actually I’ve often thought if I was semi retired I would like to work for Home instead - I think it’s actually quite satisfying - but would prefer more chat, lunch making, sort appointments, like a PA for the elderly or those needing a hand!

That is insulting to those in other types of jobs who also kept the country going. Doctors, nurses, radiographers, teachers etc all contributed hugely. I have 2 dc in the health sector and they worked their assets off during covid.

Nobody should be looking down on anybody for the job they're doing but there seems to be an element of reverse snobbery on here sometimes that better paid/more professional jobs are not contributing to society in the same way lower paid jobs are. We all contribute and we need people to do all the jobs.

Yes, it's crazy isn't it? Most of the time people will put specific kinds of public sector workers on a pedestal such as nurses or teachers and forget that you need a thriving private sector to pay their wages. We would have no essential services if people weren't working in jobs that contributed to the economy and brought in tax revenue. If you work for the public sector you're not doing anyone a special favour. You are getting paid (often relatively well) and often have incredible pensions. It's an interdependency that some don't want to acknowledge.

Purely lack of financial security for me, and to be able to support DC, afford childcare to continue working. It’s very sad that we live in these economic circumstances that a lot of families would struggle with these wages, especially considering a lot of essential workers are paid around this range.

I agree with this too - some people are quite keen on talking about non essential jobs/non jobs in the private sector - these jobs are necessary to pay the corp tax and other taxes required to put money into the system to pay public sector wages.

I'm very much starting to understand how this happens. I have been made redundant four times, the most recent in April. I have had an IT career of over 20yrs working in the corporate world and charity sector. I have been really struggling to find a role that fits around my AuDHD child who also needs to have spinal surgery for scoliosis which will require me being at home and not in an office.
At the moment the best I can go up with is working in a local IT role three days a week in term time only (paid all year) and working in a bar at the weekends. This lets me be a bit creative with my hours and means that I can be around for stress points.
I 100% did not expect this this time last year, but it has taught me a lesson to not trust one source of income again. 350 hundred corporate jobs went in my last company and not everyone has found work yet.

All care companies have support calls too. I have one lady who is a bit younger than me and we have 2 hr calls where we go to the park, cafe etc, another has 2 hrs 4 times a week and we do all sorts - we go to the local snooker club once a week (I’m getting quite good!) Thinking about it, I don’t actually wipe anybody they can take themselves to the toilet, it’s more about helping people live good lives in their own home, they just need a bit of extra support

I would actually enjoy this- when I have a bit more time think I will do this - my main issue is I don’t drive -

Low paid jobs poor money, job itself is boring. Job security is low.

Higher paid jobs tend to be more interesting and more secure.

In fact a lot of people in higher paid jobs love what they do and many might even do it for free. Not really the same if you are a shelf stacker.

You spend about 1/3 of your life in bed. So pays to have a good bed. And 1/3 of your life in work, so pays to have an interesting well paid job if at all possible.

Then you have the possibilities of what you can do with the money. Better lifestyle, housing, holidays, cars, hobbies.

It's hard to take the kids skiing or to disneyworld if you are both on a shelf stacker wage. And skiing is a lot of fun (disneyworld maybe less so).

There is more to life than survival.

But for some families, stacking shelves and working locally provides them with flexibility. They can work in the evenings or weekends around care responsibilities or without having to afford huge childcare bills without incurring commuting costs.
Whilst I would love to be back in a role like I was before in IT, things like commuting in to London a couple of times a week are difficult to manage when you have challenges at home not to mention the expense.
Also not everyone has the same expectations. I have no inkling to go skiing or disney world, I own my car outright and don't have high monthly repayments. Thankfully I bought my house when property was still affordable so it only has 30% LTV.

I personally don't stack shelves but have had to make some hard decisions recently, broadly money is helpful but finding a role that gives me flexibility is challenging.

So true. I could earn more money but wouldn't have the ability to go travelling for at least 2 months per year so freelance and self employment works for me. I no longer have a mortgage as I didn't strive for " bigger and better" but still live in a nice area. I also own the car outright even if it is 9 years old. I don't need a new one every couple of years. Nor do I need expensive clothes and skincare etc Sometimes it's choices not inability

Which is great! But a lot of people simply dont want to do it- if they did, then care wouldnt be struggling to recruit so much. Why is care relying on overseas workers if the job is so rewarding?

People in those low paid roles may manage, but it involves living in a constant state of financial insecurity.

I have worked for the NHS in a band 3 role for 25 years. This is an ‘unqualified’ and lower paid role, I now work part-time due to chronic health issues, but, if I worked full time my salary would still not be enough to live on and I’d still need a universal credit top up to manage. Currently, in the UK, minimum wage is not a true living wage, and on top of this many, if not most, minimum wage jobs are not protected with sick pay etc.

Both my (adult) children are pursuing professional careers because they want to be financially secure and not need to rely on the kind of support I’ve had to, and to avoid the constant stress of worrying about money.

I have worked in most of those jobs Op and others mentioned and I hated most of them.

Warehouse work - too physically demanding and extremely boring.

Call centre work - micro managed by supervisors, time toilet breaks and screamed at by customers on every second call. could also be boring.

Waitressing - too overwhelming, didn’t like carrying people’s dirty plates and some people could be rude and got sore feet.

Retail : found it boring, had a lot of nasty supervisors and again some customers could be rude.

TA work - loved it depending on the school but struggled with the low pay.

Some people may like all the jobs above I’ve listed though - we are all different.

Now noone should be looking down on any job just basically it’s poorly paid, but it’s not rocket science why many people don’t dream of those jobs.

Enjoyment aside they can be tough to live on.
Especially if you’re single with no kids - living on NMW won’t get you any benefit top ups so it will be financially challenging unless you happen to come from money, was giving a house by parents etc.

I had to live in flatshares or with family when I did all these roles. I couldn’t have afforded a one bed or even a studio.

I do find it odd when people say “more important than bankers etc”

you mean the industry that props up pensions and stuff?

everyone’s job is valuable, if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t exist.

Ive been a carer - was awful at it. Hated it. Did it for two years, full respect to anyone that can do it, I can’t: in the same way I sucked at being a SAHM despite adoring my children. I just got bored.

so beyond financial security, having grown up in abject poverty and wanting to move way way way beyond that…

i suppose, I need mental stimulation, a different stimulus constantly. My job changes by the half hour some days, which means I’m constantly doing something different, I love that part of it.

I needed a job that I could be as busy or not busy as I wanted depending on the day, and I found that. Some of my colleagues love this job because they can do so little most of the time, I personally don’t understand that mentality - there is always something to be done.

My sense of pride, I was so ashamed as a child of not having “enough” be that food, money, clothes..anything. I hated it, I felt othered. I’d look at a car and never believe it would ever be possible for me to have one….

So yeah, that determined the types of jobs I went for and the career I chose. As it is, I left my first career which paid more than this currently does because I hated it nearly as much as care work. But I want to earn the money, so I’m doing a qualification along side my current role to make that possible.

My current job is something I did a masters in, I find it interesting and it allows me to WFH most days and work quite flexibly in terms of hours.

I don’t get paid big bucks (40K) but it’s better than MW and because the actual job itself doesn’t leave me so exhausted I still have space for my creative career on evenings and weekends, which earns me on average 10K-20K a year and I absolutely adore it.

For a person with no dependents living up north that overall income has me very comfortable.

I also enjoyed pursuing my degrees, I like learning and I enjoyed campus/ student life. Also made some friends for life at uni. Not everyone was desperate to run straight to full-time work at 18.

This is true.

It can work as a supplement to income, or for a younger person still living at home.

But you can't build a comfortable lifestyle on it if that is what both of you are doing in a family.

You may not have those expectations in terms of housing, holidays and cars, but most people want more.