Layer Cake 5

The common theme in all three of the articles on low-wage workers is this: if you are going to have a bad job, you will have a poor life. Working with a job that has a minimum wage is not a strong job, but sometimes it is necessary. Some people do not have the skill set to own another job. Each day they are barely making ends meet with their $9.00 an hour and two kids at home to feed. It is a sad aspect of society that there has to be people who live in poverty while some people have more than they need. Also, the world has become a battle for every job. People who have been overseas and fighting for our country's freedom come back to the United States and have a difficult time finding employment. This, in my eyes, is very sad considering they have done so much for us as a nation, and the least we could do to repay them is supply them with a sufficient paying job.

In the New York Times article, specifically, the pictures did not strike deep. The quality of the pictures were not immensely high and did not show sorrow or pain. The second site, The Atlantic, was also disappointing in their one picture. It was not a picture of the worker, but rather a customer shopping for a football jersey. If you are trying to depict the difficulties of working at a retail store, do you not think there is a better way to express this? On the Star Tribune they have a video located at the top of the page. When I first played it, I lost interest because it was a man with a graph. This is also, a bad visual to start off your article with.

In all instances of any story visuals bring a whole different aspect to presenting a story. In the first article they have a graph that shows how the work force has changed over time. Back in the days, a high school diploma was considered great and could be enough to land a great job. Today a college degree is barely enough to even be considered for a job. Employers are looking diamond in the rough, not a person who simply graduated from college. The video presented on the Star Tribune is a decent visual to use. It presents what life is really like for a person searching for a job. It also has some statistics on slides that are useful to know.

The first graphic shown was slightly surprising. If I had to take a guess, I would have said that employers are hiring people who are in the "college graduate" group. They have more work experience and are more dependable, in a lot of people's eyes, because they are grown adults. Once I doubled back for a second glance, I concocted a theory. The younger workers are more adept to be in on current trends and times. They might be able to explore alleys that the older generation did not even know existed. The youngsters can properly work computers, social media, and are skilled with their cell phones. These workers are important for a company who is interested in expanding and doing it fast. The second graphic, on the same site, was another perplexing image. I was interested to find out that the "good non-college jobs" line was the highest on the chart. This means that there are a lot of older assistants. I would have guessed that those jobs would be for the younger class, specifically interns.

In my opinion, the key to fixing the amount of unemployment in our country is not to raise the minimum wage. This will only help those people who currently have those jobs and not those who are actually unemployed. If the job of fry cook ends up making $15 an hour, mother of two who can barely make a living off of $9 an hour will not hold that same job. If a business is going to be almost doubling their workers pay, they will want double the quality of the work. They will end up firing the lazy, not so productive worker for the young teenager who is willing to bust their butt for that job. I feel like if they raise the minimum wage a lot of jobs will be lost and that unemployment will just continue to rise. Students and teenagers will try harder to get into the work force and they will in turn take the jobs of those who are struggling right now. Teenagers will jump for $15 an hour because it is worth their time, but for $9 an hour they would rather be playing video games or hanging out with friends. A person who is more conservative would take this view point because they tend to believe that you should make how much you earn. A liberal would say that we need to help those in need to try and get more of an equal society.

The statistics presented seem like they are accurate. This table makes a great deal of sense in the fact that a person with a higher degree would be in more demand in the work force. People want to hire those who have shown they have the skills to succeed in their work. A person who has a college degree is more impressive than a person who dropped out of high school. To fully understand this graphic, you must look at each section separately. Look at each level of education and the amount of people employed/unemployed. The numbers seem legitimate because there are a lot of people with a B.A. that are employed, and a small number of people with a B.A. that are unemployed.

The Huffington Post came out with an article about the unemployment for recent college graduates for each specific major. Personally, I would not change my major intent because of the amount of jobs that are open in each field. I would rather test my luck with the job that I have interest in. Also, that job will probably have the requirements that I feel confident in my skill set. I would never pursue a job that does not interest me or a job that I feel I could not complete sufficiently. I do not feel like there is any more information that is necessary for me to make a decision because I would not change because of others' success or failure.

The Wall Street Journal also had a take on the topic of choosing a major based on how much revenue you can accumulate from a job. Some of the arguments were interesting, and I agree with a few of them. Others, I do not care for so much. Just because the average salary of a job is listed, does not mean that every person who has that job title makes that amount of money. This is where I believe blissful ignorance plays a role. People tend to assume that they have a standard salary if they are a lawyer. False, you are not guaranteed a certain pay check like professional athletes. I would never make a decision that could affect the rest of my life based off of how much money I can make. Also, if someone showed me a graphic of how many figures a certain job makes, would not sway me in the slightest if that career was not something I could be happy or excel in.

On this specific picture (below) you would need more information to predict what the exact number of unemployed people there will be. You would not need more information to tell that the people who have a bachelor's degree will probably have a lower unemployment than those who graduate from only high school. Over the short history of this graph the lines have never crossed and I do not see this happening or the first time in the near future.