I'm just kept up at night at this rate at how appalling the job market is in America. A bachelor's degree in a life science nets me $19 an hour in an expensive cost of living city where I'm scraping by and not saving anything substantial for my future. My company, ironically dealing with COVID tests, took away the COVID bonus pay of $3 an hour (which is over $6000 over the course of a year), removed incentives for working harder while simultaneously firing temporary workers and expecting us to work harder to meet goals, and took away opportunities for overtime, all in the course of a few months. The depressing part is, this is the best paying work I have found so far, yet the company treats us terribly with no appreciation.
Meanwhile, my fiance's brother is 17 years old, was recently hired as a cook at a restaurant further outside the city that I work downtown in, and makes more per hour than I do.
I feel sick.