6 ms·

No disrespect, I have something that is pressing on my heart. I am absolutely mind blown by reading the comments here. You are afraid of what will happen to yo

No disrespect, I have something that is pressing on my heart. I am absolutely mind blown by reading the comments here. You are afraid of what will happen to your job when you reach 40? Ask yourself this: how do you think people managed to live and have a job a hundred years ago when they hit 40 or 50? OK, perhaps this is a cultural thing. I am from eastern Europe where a "normal" annual income, for a single person, can be $12,000. So a couple can bring $24,000 I assume this would be devastating in US. Just like the news the other day with the president of a university (in UK?) where he was complaining of having to deal with an €220,000 annual income. But of course, you are aware of this discrepancy. Otherwise why would these kind of job offerings exist: https://www.elance.com/j/wordpress-plugin-theme-developer-month/66087187/ https://www.elance.com/j/wordpress-plugin-theme-developer-mo... $300 / month "FULL-TIME wordpress plugin and theme developer from Pakistan and India only." Please, if you are being laid off at 40 and in the case you are not suffering from a company downsizing, bankruptcy or you don't have medical issues (another interesting topic to talk about) it means that you are either an incompetent or a lazy individual. No disrespect, please just wake up from your dream. EDIT: I just realized from the feedback to this message how completely and utterly naive I am to not taking into account that HN is in no way representative of the average worker in US. Here, the absolute majority seems to be only people from IT which don't quite appreciate the opportunity and privilege actually to be able to code and think that only > $60,000 salaries are worth their time and effort. Good luck then!

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
benaiah 12y ago
No disrespect, but fuck off and learn some basic economics before you call people incompetent and lazy. Cost of living varies vastly in different places, which accounts for much of the wage discrepancy. You simply can't afford a place to stay or food to eat if you live in the US and make $300/mo. Also, just because jobs at a specific price point exist in other places doesn't mean that they exist here. The low end of the US job market is notoriously competitive and exploitative. Often, it's simply impossible to find work at that low level, and the US has no real safety net to speak of.
- las_cases 12y ago
  > fuck off > learn some basic economics Madam or mister, it seems you don't understand from my message the essence of it. A valuable, reliable person with a salary that is not massively higher then it was 3 years ago (so I am mainly talking about inflation correction) will not be let off. As a younger man and when I did IT maintenance I had often found employes over 50 on jobs which were good enough to allow them to still keep their kids in colleges, allow them to be dressed nicely at work and so forth. They were on jobs which younger employes refused to take. They were desk jobs varying from constructions (estimates and offerings) to accounting to work safety management to human resourcing etc. And just for your record, food here can and IS more expensive than in US. Clothes and electronics have the exact same price or are more expensive. Cars too are equally or more expensive (taking into consideration maintenance as well). Please don't bring the economic aspect into discussion. You have a higher standard of living. That is a fact. Lower your standards a little if you are incompetent or lazy and you will be happy no matter what.
  - chris_wot 12y ago
    You live in a different culture. What works in your culture may not work in another culture. I don't think you quite understand the concept of income inequality.
    - las_cases 12y ago
      > What works in your culture may not work in another culture. Here, if you are not performing you are being sent away. So you have to perform in order to keep your job. Obviously, being able to perform beyond a certain age does not work in the US according to you. Thank God the other massive part of US is not composed of people like yourself. If US doesn't understand the need of hard work (Okies and the Dust Bowl simply pops in my mind) that I don't know what other country does. You and all of the people giving me negative feedback are in no way representative to US I believe.
      - chris_wot 12y ago
fsloth 12y ago
If we take the global perspective the quality of the state funded safety nets combined with the local culture and job market greatly affect what the implications of a lay-off are. And they can vary drastically. For instance in the USA the economically worse off are in relative terms considerably more worse off than in countries with lower income inequality.
- las_cases 12y ago
  I just cannot believe you are arguing that in US you have a more hard time finding a job then in a less developed country like in Eastern Europe. > You seem rather ignorant of the U.S. then. To this type of a comment you can easily answer the same way. You madam or sir seem to be equally ignorant of Europe as well.
  - chris_wot 12y ago
    You seem rather ignorant of the U.S. then.
  - fsloth 12y ago
    I don't think I argued that - but that the amount of economic options available to individuals should not be deduced from comparing GDP or such. I think in eastern europe most countries are still civilized enough to offer basic medical care without insurance? Any way, I have no local knowledge of either issue ... I'm located in northern europe.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

benaiah 12y ago

No disrespect, but fuck off and learn some basic economics before you call people incompetent and lazy. Cost of living varies vastly in different places, which accounts for much of the wage discrepancy. You simply can't afford a place to stay or food to eat if you live in the US and make $300/mo. Also, just because jobs at a specific price point exist in other places doesn't mean that they exist here. The low end of the US job market is notoriously competitive and exploitative. Often, it's simply impossible to find work at that low level, and the US has no real safety net to speak of.

las_cases 12y ago
> fuck off > learn some basic economics Madam or mister, it seems you don't understand from my message the essence of it. A valuable, reliable person with a salary that is not massively higher then it was 3 years ago (so I am mainly talking about inflation correction) will not be let off. As a younger man and when I did IT maintenance I had often found employes over 50 on jobs which were good enough to allow them to still keep their kids in colleges, allow them to be dressed nicely at work and so forth. They were on jobs which younger employes refused to take. They were desk jobs varying from constructions (estimates and offerings) to accounting to work safety management to human resourcing etc. And just for your record, food here can and IS more expensive than in US. Clothes and electronics have the exact same price or are more expensive. Cars too are equally or more expensive (taking into consideration maintenance as well). Please don't bring the economic aspect into discussion. You have a higher standard of living. That is a fact. Lower your standards a little if you are incompetent or lazy and you will be happy no matter what.
- chris_wot 12y ago
  You live in a different culture. What works in your culture may not work in another culture. I don't think you quite understand the concept of income inequality.
  - las_cases 12y ago
    > What works in your culture may not work in another culture. Here, if you are not performing you are being sent away. So you have to perform in order to keep your job. Obviously, being able to perform beyond a certain age does not work in the US according to you. Thank God the other massive part of US is not composed of people like yourself. If US doesn't understand the need of hard work (Okies and the Dust Bowl simply pops in my mind) that I don't know what other country does. You and all of the people giving me negative feedback are in no way representative to US I believe.
    - chris_wot 12y ago

fsloth 12y ago

If we take the global perspective the quality of the state funded safety nets combined with the local culture and job market greatly affect what the implications of a lay-off are. And they can vary drastically. For instance in the USA the economically worse off are in relative terms considerably more worse off than in countries with lower income inequality.

las_cases 12y ago
I just cannot believe you are arguing that in US you have a more hard time finding a job then in a less developed country like in Eastern Europe. > You seem rather ignorant of the U.S. then. To this type of a comment you can easily answer the same way. You madam or sir seem to be equally ignorant of Europe as well.
- chris_wot 12y ago
  You seem rather ignorant of the U.S. then.
- fsloth 12y ago
  I don't think I argued that - but that the amount of economic options available to individuals should not be deduced from comparing GDP or such. I think in eastern europe most countries are still civilized enough to offer basic medical care without insurance? Any way, I have no local knowledge of either issue ... I'm located in northern europe.