To feel like some jobs are a total con?

[Changeusern8me]

I'm not talking about sales or timeshare or multilevel marketing businesses which are obvious cons. I'm talking about low paid jobs where you slave away for low pay and have the carrot of promotion dangled in front of you which is even slightly more money for poor pay. I'm talking about care, shops, bakeries, fast food, childcare, telesales. I despise these companies which are such a con and prey on the weak, the vulnerable, the desperate, the kindhearted and innocent. They dress up these roles and oversell them but in reality it's hard work, huge time commitments for shitty poor pay. Am I completely paranoid or are these careers just a total con? My niece is thinking of leaving sixth form to get a job in carework and I worry she will end up trapped in hamster wheel of low pay. It just made me think that if she does decide to leave it will be a Sliding Doors moment she will regret. Sorry for the rant but am I being unreasonable in saying these jobs are a trap or am I in fact correct?

Thank you @Changeusern8me I promise it's not embellished in anyway. If anything, I've sanitised it lol.

My niece is thinking of leaving sixth form to get a job in carework and I worry she will end up trapped in hamster wheel of low pay

That could easily happen if she has no qualifications, which is why I'd encourage her to stay - or as a PP said, look for training schemes instead

I wouldn't call the jobs you mention a con exactly, but then they're not really a "career" either since careers tend to require qualifications

The way I perceive it works is this:-
The more rare your skill set the more you get paid for your skills. Conversely the more people able to do what you can do the less financially valuable your labour is.
I’m continually puzzled why this simple fact of life is so difficult for some to comprehend. It is not that the care worker lacks value but that pretty much anyone could do that work.
It seems some believe all toil is equal, I call that Communism.

I get where you're coming from. Your daughter is planning to embark on a caring role because she is young and naive enough to think it will be enough to do something fulfilling, not realising that there is often an expectation of unpaid hours and limited career progression for a path she may spend 50+ years working in.

I agree with people that these roles should command better pay and given the credit for the services they do but sadly that isnt the reality.

There are a few careers I would like to do but they all pay less and have less favourable terms and conditions. Your daughter isnt yet thinking about what sort of maternity or flexible hours those roles offer and whether she will have the emptional energy for her clients and her children and the money to do less hours if she wants to.

She perhaps needs support to explore the roles she is interested in without closing any doors before she has experienced the reality. Perhaps support her to plan some valuable volunteering and work experience over summer and frame it as a win-win to get experience for a paid job.

Consider if she is struggling at school and this is more about wanting to run away from somethin rather than to something.

interesting read https://davidgraeber.org/articles/on-the-phenomenon-of-bullshit-jobs-a-work-rant/

I worked for the nhs after finishing uni and left after 3 years. It was toxic. I became a carer and thoroughly enjoyed my job. The pay was more in the nhs but the stress and toxic work environment made it not worth it for me to continue there.

Caring is a career if you want it to be. Seniors need to be svq level 4 qualified and some homes put their seniors through phlebotomy courses.

It's very snobby to suggest otherwise. Not everyone wants to be a solicitor or a dr.

It is not that the care worker lacks value but that pretty much anyone could do that work.

Except this is BS. Decent care workers aren't just "anyone" and have certain skills and sensibilities.

Same for many customer service roles. I work in one and trust me, as much as people will say "any idiot can do that job", it's categorically not true

I just devoured that thankyou @HellersK

Don't worry too much. She can go back and get extra qualifications and training a bit later when she knows what she wants to do. A friend's DD walked out of three different degree courses at three different unis - a very expensive way to discover she loved working in care and making a difference!

Now are they cons? They're just jobs. Minimum wage for minimum skills. Which suits some people.

If your niece things they're going to lead to a high flying career then that's on her, her family and school. On the other hand if she's not particularly bright or career orientated or doesn't know what she wants to do, it's honest work, and she'll have plenty of time to assess her choices. Not like she's handcuffed to the till is it.

lots of jobs can become a career, I know loads of people who went in as carers, waitress’s, kitchen porters and ended up as managers, area mangers, head chefs, some of them on good money especially the chefs.
there’s always time to change as well, there are no jobs for life anymore, I left hospitality after 20 years and now I’m a library assistant looking to become qualified as a librarian which is now called library and information services.
I saw my job in hospitality as a career because I took all opportunities to move up and I was passionate about it, not everyone can do it well as you will see if you go out to eat at all.
I see my library job as a career and my true vocation because i love it even though the money is still crap, there is opportunity there for me to learn so much and move up.

I said exactly this, it's Mumsnet snobbery. But @Changeusern8me thinks otherwise.

"the point of low paid jobs is for those with no/little poor education"

Jesus wept. That isn't the point of low paid jobs. The point of being a carer is to care. If it's low paid and disrespected it's because it's a heavily a privatised/deregulated "industry" driven by profit to keep wages low ....

Yabu. People voted for Brexit to get British workers into these jobs.Your niece is doing the right thing in that respect. The pay is low in the care sector because people vote for lower taxes and reduced public spending. It is what it is.

Some people on this thread are horrible. God help them if they need these services in the future if this is their attitude.

Yes, but she could leave the NHS and get a similar role elsewhere on more money.

Agreed. DH is just above NMW. His manager two levels above him really is not paid that much more but has so much responsibility.
People on this thread are saying these jobs can lead to management but are ignoring that for most of these people they are still vastly underpaid for the responsibility.

And pity the workers they encounter day to day.

What is more of a con is apprenticeships in such roles. About £4 an hour, 37 hour week for a year... for a lvl 2 qualification in knowing how to make a cup of tea.

My issue is definitely the lack of career progression for some of these jobs that are needed. I wish we (I mainly mean government/society) would see the value in care and childcare enough for there to be progression and decent pay to incentivise people to stay.

These days we are loosing nurses, future doctors, carers, childcare staff because they start happily with an entry level salary. They rack up the experience for a few years, with passion. Then a mix of poor management, no progression, income not matching the “grown up lifestyle” (at what point do we expect people to work on an entry level wage when they have bills to pay or even sometimes want to start a family). So they leave to find something more lucrative - usually in the private sector.

I agree with you OP - I think the con is in the lack of real career progression. Particularly the salary match.

So many of my friends parents that were nurses could live a very good life as their careers progressed and some even went on to further study. These days I know people who start, and don’t even last 2 years because of burnout. Being a social media manager or equivalent has more appeal.

Lots on MN look down on low paid staff.

Nurses can be very well paid. OP is talking about people on pretty much NMW who rise to management and do not get that much more for all the responsibility.

If people are working an honest living, paying into the system, paying tax, national insurance, pensions etc. Why does it matter what job they decide to do?

It really pisses me off these threads.

I'm not pitying anyone. I'm saying that the premise of certain jobs are a con. That's my opinion about how poorly paid certain professions are and how unfairly they are marketed. I'm not saying people are gullible or stupid or morons for working in those roles.. We all want or expect different things from our working life. I'm just concerned my niece will have a limited quality of life financially speaking due to this. I'm not saying these jobs aren't rewarding or worthwhile. I'm saying that they are an awful lot of time, effort, energy, commitment and other roles are paid the same as or more. I'm not attacking carers or anyone. I'm saying it's not represented fairly at times.

These are the jobs that actually open up lots of opportunities for all walks of life not just people with degrees, experience etc. You don't 'slave away' you accept a job for the pay offered then you go to work and do said job. I have worked in popular fast food not naming any naMes for 14 years & it's a joy to see how many people have worked their way up through management over the years