Categories
Antiwork

“Unskilled labor” doesn’t exist, and it’s high time we abandoned the term

Just because you can teach almost any able-bodied person to do it, that doesn’t make it a skill-less job. Just because you could train almost any person you point to how to do the job, that doesn’t make the position unimportant or unnecessary. Furthermore, the definition of “unskilled labor” is sloppy at best, and sadistically ableist at worst. Driving a car is not unskilled labor — you literally have to pass a driving test in order to reserve the privilege to drive in the first place. Cooking food is not unskilled labor — you have to learn the ins and outs of food handling, promoting a sanitary work environment, and committing to memory the preparation of food to someone else’s (the business’s) standards. Waiting tables is not unskilled labor — you have to be able to listen, write, communicate, and balance trays of plates, all while being personable and charismatic.…


Just because you can teach almost any able-bodied person to do it, that doesn’t make it a skill-less job.

Just because you could train almost any person you point to how to do the job, that doesn’t make the position unimportant or unnecessary.

Furthermore, the definition of “unskilled labor” is sloppy at best, and sadistically ableist at worst.

Driving a car is not unskilled labor — you literally have to pass a driving test in order to reserve the privilege to drive in the first place. Cooking food is not unskilled labor — you have to learn the ins and outs of food handling, promoting a sanitary work environment, and committing to memory the preparation of food to someone else’s (the business’s) standards. Waiting tables is not unskilled labor — you have to be able to listen, write, communicate, and balance trays of plates, all while being personable and charismatic. Even cashiering is not unskilled labor — math is a bloody skill, and it doesn’t come easy to everyone, and just because the computers calculate everything for us, computer literacy is ALSO a skill, not to mention the where wherewithal to keep up a smile in the face of verbal abuse of those entitled and unruly customers that come around all too often.

I could go on and on. Point is, “unskilled labor” is a term that needs ditched when it’s not something that quite literally ANYONE could do. When you think “unskilled labor,” you probably think of a Walmart greeter — someone that just stands there to say “hi” and “bye” for their shift. A disposable cakewalk job that’s mostly twiddling thumbs and batting eyelashes all day, and absolutely nothing more. If that truly were what jobs classified as “unskilled labor” were, I probably wouldn’t have a problem with it.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case, and jobs that are considered “unskilled labor” — often disguised as “entry-level” — are only labeled that by employers so they can get away with sticking someone desperate for an income on to some permanently minimum wage position with absolute zero incentives.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.