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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

We work hard.

140 replies

Meili04 · 20/10/2022 01:17

I keep seeing this on threads about Middle income families having to make cutbacks. The hardest job I ever had was when I worked in a care home as a care assistant doing 12.5 hour shifts for minimum wage. I now do a different job I have more paperwork to do and responsibility but I earn lots more and it's less tiring work. Same with my OH he works from home and his work is a lot less hard then it was when he started out and gets more pay.

AIBU to think if you are earning more money sometimes it's down to luck/personality/ rare skills more so than simply working hard?

OP posts:

Original poster

Meili04 · 20/10/2022 14:25

Quitelikeit · 20/10/2022 14:14

i think there are certain complaints that people in a certain income bracket are being given hardly no support from the government yet those in NMW jobs or part timers get access to various things.

after everything is taken into account most have the same sort of disposable income

usually because one set of earners take out mortgages and other pay social rent

Why should the government pay for someones appreciating asset ? I'm a homeowner I don't expect the government to bail me out, I'd have to sell the house and move into rented once my savings have run out I'd claim UC.

The only people on NMW who get significant top ups is if they have DC under 18 or have a disability. The extras run out when their DC grow up I still have my wages, no one wants to see kids in poverty surely ?

OP posts:

Discovereads · 20/10/2022 14:36

Quitelikeit · 20/10/2022 14:14

i think there are certain complaints that people in a certain income bracket are being given hardly no support from the government yet those in NMW jobs or part timers get access to various things.

after everything is taken into account most have the same sort of disposable income

usually because one set of earners take out mortgages and other pay social rent

It’s a bit skewed though because around half of those in social housing make above the NMW. In fact, at the top end 176,000 households in social housing make £1000 or more per week! So knowing people in social housing with more or equivalent disposable income- it’s most probably those that make above NMW and in many cases well above NMW.

Maverickess · 20/10/2022 14:36

Quitelikeit · 20/10/2022 14:14

i think there are certain complaints that people in a certain income bracket are being given hardly no support from the government yet those in NMW jobs or part timers get access to various things.

after everything is taken into account most have the same sort of disposable income

usually because one set of earners take out mortgages and other pay social rent

Isn't taking out a mortgage a choice?

It's not a choice open to everyone, granted, but it is still a ch

Maverickess · 20/10/2022 14:38

bloody disappearing keyboard!

It's still a choice that you make.

mavismorpoth · 20/10/2022 16:02

Yes you have to create opportunities sometimes. I was a carer doing 10 hour days often when I was a student, the wage then was 6.45/hour. Now I'm on £20 an hour and the work is not hard, just what I was working as but went freelance and specialist.

Anonymouslyposting · 20/10/2022 16:45

There’s a correlation between hard work and earning more because if you are lazy then unless you are very talented you won’t be hired/retained/promoted at well paid jobs.

That said, being hard working doesn’t automatically mean you can get access to well paid jobs. You may not get the right opportunities, skills or luck to get those jobs no matter how hard you work.

So I agree OP that it’s not always about hard work and other things can be just as (or more) important - but hard work can also be a big factor.

GoldenCupidon · 20/10/2022 17:03

I know for a fact I could leave the job I do now and get a much easier one that would pay a lot more. Many former colleagues have done so and will tell me (quietly) that they now spend half the time pissing about wondering what to do next.

I stay in this one because the work is much more "worthy" (trust me 99% of people would agree) and more interesting, and I don't HAVE to make that choice at the moment.

But yes the people I know who work hardest are people who work in care homes, who work in manual jobs e.g. factory production line, in catering - being on your feet all day and working long and unsociable shifts.

The people I know who TALK about working hardest are things like accountants (N.A.A.A.L.T).

For me it's a coded way of implying that poorer people are worse off because they're lazy "scroungers".

Overthebow · 20/10/2022 17:41

Anonymouslyposting · 20/10/2022 16:45

There’s a correlation between hard work and earning more because if you are lazy then unless you are very talented you won’t be hired/retained/promoted at well paid jobs.

That said, being hard working doesn’t automatically mean you can get access to well paid jobs. You may not get the right opportunities, skills or luck to get those jobs no matter how hard you work.

So I agree OP that it’s not always about hard work and other things can be just as (or more) important - but hard work can also be a big factor.

This is one of the truest posts on here. This is exactly what it is.

Mimilamore · 20/10/2022 19:16

I worked as a TA in school and then progressed to safe guarding and well being. Extremely valuable work, paid so little that I sometimes couldn't afford the biscuits for the support groups I ran... how is that fair?
My daughter has had to give her notice in as a a TA because she cannot live on the money... she earns more from her second job, cleaning for well off professionals who have no time to do it themselves...
It's a crazy bonkers mixed up world

XingMing · 20/10/2022 21:28

It's always fascinating to read about how people succeed. I left a successful company to go freelance on the back of one job, where I was on good terms with the principal operators, who wanted a change but didn't wish to junk the whole team. SO I jumped ship, and my employer went spectacularly bankrupt six weeks later. Nothing to do with me BTW, but I suddenly had 150 contacts and colleagues in 50 up and coming firms, or starting their own small businesses. It looked like a catastrophe but for me, personally, business exploded. I was young enough to work my backside to the bone, and did, until it subsided but the years I worked flat out have contributed big time to our family's financial success.

XingMing · 20/10/2022 21:30

I worked harder after that, doing a PGCE but at 50, then, I was not an attractive prospect as an NQT.

autienotnaughty · 20/10/2022 22:27

YANBU but I would say circumstances have a lot to do with it, people who are well supported both practically and financially will have more opportunities potentially to do well and earn more, education level is also a factor and sometimes it comes down to who you know.
Agree that often manual labour/care roles are the hardest.

Lorski · 23/10/2022 10:12

Ekátn · 20/10/2022 07:02

’worked hard’ doesn’t mean just one thing.

It doesn’t just mean physically hard. I don’t know anyone who earns middle income and upwards that assumes no one’s job is more physically demanding than theirs.

You can work hard on your career, by using you own time to study and upskill, putting extra hours in, spending a lot of time researching your industry and competitors to float ideas where you work, looking at other industries to improve your own, use your knowledge to make risky but lucrative (if it works out) moves and the list goes on.

That doesn’t mean that carers don’t also work hard. It’s a completely different type of ‘worked hard’.

one persons worked hard is not the same as someone else’s. And saying you have worked hard, doesn’t mean others haven’t. That’s not the argument they are making. No threads are saying middle income families deserve more help because they work harder than anyone else. It’s because middle income families are being hit just as hard as everyone else. But there will never be help available to them, although they maybe in a difficult position, financially.

There’s so much talk about higher tax brackets, pensioners, benefit recipients but it is often the middle earners that get the rubbish end of most things. It is a bit shitty when you are working hard, but also in the group that is also assumed to be fine so doesn’t any consideration.

Its also possible to understand that other groups need more help, but also be frustrated that you could do with some support and have the issue ignored.

This!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

this is just yet another anti middle income post intended to be divisive. It’s getting boring 🥱

maddening · 23/10/2022 10:17

Why is it one or the other.

And just because one job is hard work it is entirely fine for someone in another job to also say thay they work hard.

This pitting one lot of people against the other is wholly unnecessary and divisive.

Chesure · 23/10/2022 12:19

I think there's different types of stress. I am a resilient person but struggle with a lack of direction or a clear purpose to what I'm doing. Then my work feels mentally tough. My work is never physically tough except when I'm working long hours or travelling a lot, but even then I'm not doing heavy lifting, personal care or on my feet all day rushing around helping people.

I think there are people who are working a lot harder than me earning less than me. I also know there are people working a lot less hard than me earning a lot more than me. But 'working hard' comes in different guises and if you have responsibility for a lot of people, money or resources that can feel a heavy burden mentally if not physically.

I personally think how 'worth' to society is calculated is all wrong. Which is why public and third sector jobs will always be more poorly paid than private sector because the benefits are to society and are less tangible than profits. Once someone comes up with a better worth calculation the world might calibrate a bit better, rewarding those who contribute the most.

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