The Big Problem Facing America’s Economy w/ Mike Rowe 

Excerpt from Mike Rowe | TPW 416 Full Episode: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BTWN-uVuRfI.html

I’ve missed Mike Rowe, grew up watching this guy on discovery channel.

Because the jobs are in trades which our country shoved college down our throats for 30 years and now we can’t ever be a self sufficient country again. It’s going to take generations to get there.

I was recently unemployed for over 6 weeks because I couldn’t even get an unskilled service job unless I had a completely open schedule. I have been in the work force for 16 years. All I needed was one job that was willing to give me a set schedule and it took me nearly 2 months to find it. I applied to close to 100 jobs.

People are also realizing the Company's need us more then we need them. Time for the CEOs to wake up and do right by our fellow Americans.

"You can not find an employer not desperate to hire." I've applied to over 1000 jobs. I have a degree and solid experience. They're paying less than $20/hr. Usually more like $15. It's a joke.

I will NEVER knock someone who's doing what they've got to do in order to support themselves and their family. I'm also not "above" working any job as I've had many of what a lot of people would call "crap" jobs throughout my life. My main gripe is when I'm working my hands to the bone and then when I calculate my pay, not only are any of my "dreams" within reach financially, I couldn't even support 1 child and a wife without going into bigtime debt. Seems like every job I've ever had is me sacrificing my body and time to fulfill someone else's dreams while mine are never even close to being within reach. When I can barely afford my basic bills and the guy at the top has 10 kids, multiple houses, countless cars and boats and all that sorta stuff... Well it just doesn't really do much to incentivize me or compel me to WANT to contribute to helping that man's dreams come true by crushing or giving up my own, it is what it is.

Theo looking like the new age Wayne's world...

It’s definitely bad right now. Everyone I know is on edge lately because they’re stressed about finances. My mom is a contract graphic designer and she’s really worried because she’s not getting enough work from her employer anymore … my friends are worried because they’re not getting enough shifts at work, I got laid off my second job because they had to cut down on hours. It’s really crazy.

I’ve been looking for a job over the past couple months, and to be completely honest it’s soul crushing. It’s seems like all that’s available is either after somebody they can have for a minimum wage disposable position or somebody with 5-10 years of experience for an entry level position. I just don’t understand how anybody can expect this problem to be solved when entry level positions leading to larger positions are being locked away from people who are ready entry level because they’d rather have somebody with a ton of experience. It’s not only a hit to people with no experience who should be in the entry level positions, it’s a massive blow to people with experience who want to move up and don’t want to stay stuck in an entry level position. Personally, I just want to be in sales and everywhere I’m applying to is turning me down because I don’t have the experience. I’d be more than happy with a bare minimum internship or something of the sort in that field, but nobody wants to take a risk on a person without experience no matter what the ranking of the position is it seems. Idk man, the job market is just all over the place right now. Edit: Thanks for all the replies of advice and offers everybody, I’m doing a lot better now. I decided that my only option was to start working for myself if I wanted to make any money doing what I love. I’m now doing copywriting, starting e-commerce, and having a blast with both. Good luck to anybody in a similar position, I wish you all the best.

I like how effortlessly Mike tells Theo he would have zero chance in the real workforce

The problem with the economy is the corporations keep raising prices.

If the pay was worth it, people would do the job. Who doesn't like money? People have looked at the offer on the table, decided the pay isn't worth the work. Simple. It's like owners think they're the only ones with a bottom line to look after.

My local chic fil a pays more than wal mart, all other grocery stores, and some warehouses. Yet they are one of the few businesses you can't see much of a change in menu prices.

I really admire you guys talking about this as people who aren’t really affected by what’s going on for us normies, haha. To be aware of it and sympathetic towards it. That’s really important.

Its both. People dont want to take a bite of the shit sandwich for pay that is shit. Make it more tolerable to take the bite by doing the employees right. Lot more will stick around.

If they want workers, they need to pay more. Period.

Pay people a living wage and you won't have high rates of unemployment.

The free market says people can choose how much they sell labor for. The jobs don't pay enough VS the cost of living

Pay me a living wage.

It's easier and much nicer to employ yourself nowadays, even if you make less money. There's also a lot more under the table jobs that pay about the same. The gov doesn't make it easy for businesses and some have to be shady just to get by.

I went to college and worked with my degree for 12 years...depressed hated it....opened a house painting business (7 years ago).....I DO THE WORK....much happier!

Mike Rowe is a American that knows we are having issues as do all of my friends looking for good teammates to work with. Lets hope we circle back to putting your boots on and earing your way!

Yeah ignore the inflation metric completely. For someone to be "comfortable" in these economy you'd need $25hr. $15 an hour is the new $9/$10hr. We aint gonna be buying properties making $5hr like our grandparents did.

It’s bitchin’ it up home boi

Please get david paulides the missing 411 guy on the show!!

First off this guy isn't actually a worker look at his beach tan, second he assumed all 7 million aren't looking for work which is factually untrue

The jobs are open because these greedy corporations won’t open their pocket books. Who can get by on 12$ an hour job? Hell, now a days who can get by on a 20$/hr job!?It’s easy to call people lazy when you’re driving home in a Mercedes with a fat pension and six figure salary!

Theo Always comes thru...... awesome episode gang gang

The problem is the guys at the top are taking all the money out of the pool. I do own a leak locator( plumbing) business. We are in a major metro plex suburb and service the entire metroplex. We are 7 figure business with over 20 employees snd no one makes less than $20/hr. Companies that are larger than us start pay much lower.

The way Theo says “when I’m out and about”

Thanks for sharing Theo! I hope everybody is doing alright!

Mike Rowe is a legend, this is a man young men should look up to.

Need to start with more farms. More farms produce more milk, meat and vegetables. The fewer the farms, the higher the cost of food, living, and will have domino effect.

Personal responsibility is the reason its going to shit, lack of empathy is why it won't change

I think what’s happened is people don’t see the opportunity and a lot of young people feel very depressed and nervous to take that step in any one direction, because sure jobs are open but it takes a hell of a step to be 18-20 years old and agree to working 8-12 hour days doing something you really do not like doing when there’s more stimulating things than ever these days you DO like doing, and the job itself (now that we’re able to so easily look into career paths rather than just walk off blindly into them like the old days) might never even give you an opportunity to buy a new car, have a decent house you actually want, impress anyone with all your lifetime of work etc. so yeah, on one hand people are lazier but on the other it’s because they are anticipating a soul crushing 20-30 years ahead of them which feels like suicide.

I wonder how many of those jobs are service industry. Fast food and retail.

A major problem is how much the heads of corporations make. Look at the gas prices. They say oil shortage, Russia, etc. But the oil companies making record profits.

mike rowe ages like wine

And I see the Starbucks cup, drinking $6 coffee!

Theology

Theo the Hero!

The reason people are not looking for jobs is because after a full day of labor they are not getting paid enough to afford anything substantive. Obviously paying unemployment payouts are not helping, but without that unemployment we would have a standing army of working poor people, which is a serious problem. It is easy to say that people do not pay enough; however, the fact is that businesses are now catering to the rich, and are ok if they price the middle class out of the economy. They know that by selling 3 homes to the rich, they can make more money then selling 10 homes to the middle class, so they stopped building and pricing homes for the middle class. This issue is happening in all sectors of the economy.

I'm 38 and haven't worked in over a year and a half. I moved to Florida from Maine a bit after the pandy started and the same construction jobs I did up north that paid 25-35/hr I'm lucky to get 16/hr because of all the illegal labor. And everything down here costs the same. Meanwhile the boss had two houses and a fleet of construction vehicles. I don't want to own a business and deal with losers like me. I really just don't care about anything anymore. When my money runs out I'll probably buy a ticket to San Francisco and be paid 650/mo to be homeless.

I can weld, I can mechanic, I can run equipment. I can't make enough to support my family without leaving for weeks at a time and missing a huge chunk of my children's lives. Why should I look?

I think a lot of people have just stopped wanting to work for big corporations and small businesses have been struggling to hire people because they won't take lower pay. Just from what I've seen in my region. The fact that being a company man can't get you a pension and decent insurance anymore all with costs rising makes you choose your own happiness and agency over being someone else's excuse not to worry about their own job.

It's really simple. We currently have a super educated and skills-trained generation of people in their 20s and 30s, and tons and tons of job openings in low-level service and flunkie positions that don't need their education or skills training. Most people aren't lazy and do want a job, but the average open position no longer matches the qualifications/expectations of the average job-seeker.

It's just as much a business decision for the employee as it is the employer...if it's not a good deal and we don't let them prey on our desperation then why bother... the government and corporations have been using us all for centuries and it's easy to talk about other people's work ethic when ur doing none of the work and have a solid financial foundation under you... you kick a dog long enough and it'll eventually bite back

Both sides are correct here and the biggest problem is there’s no such thing as compromise anymore. The left is adamant on “pay more” while the right is adamant on “people are lazy”. Maybe let’s just agree that both things are very possibly the issue and we need to figure out the best solution.

My Voice always sounds deeper because we real Men That go to Work..

Theo man

People don't want to work their ass off at an understaffed fast food place, getting yelled at by assholes all day, for 8 dollars an hour. Go figure.

Because jobs in the trades suck. Why would you want to work in extreme heat, extreme cold, come home every day covered in scrapes and bruises, with a sore back, chance of injury, and no retirement??

well you need to look at some kind of cause and solution to solve a problem... how else can you try to solve it?

Im a 20 year old man who works currently but when I don’t have a job it seems much harder to get hired now than pre Covid

i lost everything, in a hurricane, was priced out where i lived, insurance wouldn't let me rebuild where i was, moved to hours north. went to just about every dirty job i could find, from cleaning chicken trucks to a sod farm, to garage's, and said i will do the jobs you don't want to do. they turned me away because im not from here. so there is a prejudice even if you want to do the work. i have a military background with honorable discharge. i also have a background in a.v. installs, farmhand, and mechanic. but still cannot seem to find anyone to let me work for them.

There is no labor shortage its people looking at these pathetic paying jobs and noping the f out.

eAny body else notice Theo mimicking what Mike does, Mike crosses his leg Theo does the same 🤣

I love how Mike Rowe pretends not to know what the solution is. They don't have this problem in Europe, or in Australia. Simply put they get paid what they're worth and they get healthcare and 401(k). The rich in this country have for far too long, said that we should take less and work harder. People are fed up. Stop telling them to work more. Figure out how they can be more productive. Spend time with your family and survive on a paycheck comfortably. It's not do the job yourself. And micro is the most dissed honest person to talk about this subject. The man is an altar, Republican. Literally campaign for Trump. Thought the guy that never worked a day in his life and was given money was the best for the workingman. Laughable. He's just like everyone of these other guys. They got theirs they don't care about yours.

I love Mike! I'm happy to see him. Also didn't know he has his own podcast! I'm way more liberal than he is but he's well spoken and comes with facts, not just opinions.

Employers still usually only want to hire people with experience. There are lots of jobs that these people might take if the employer was just willing to do on the job training.

Smarter than the average bear...

Entertainment is killing our economy. All these kids just want to be Tic tok, stars, influencers, etc. The same way my generation all wanted to be rock stars. Not everyone can, in fact, most people can't. We need most people to focus on actual jobs that build actual things. Everyone wants to take the easy way out, but that only works for 0.00001% of the population.

Mike Rowe is a presentation expert. He really knows how to say a bunch of nothing and make it sound compelling.

Mike Rowe should do ASMR.

These dudes with their Starbucks dranks and Yeezys. Don’t be fooled, guys, they’re good.

The problem is there’s no loyalty to anyone anymore, a job is not guaranteed anymore. It’s not like my grandpa that worked 40 years an Bethlehem steel. If your boss doesn’t like something you do now you’re gone. No retirement no gold watch you are just down the road 🙌

No one wanted to hire me, bills kept coming so I opened my own company, fuck them. They act like it's so hard to pay fair wages 😂

Interesting topic. Less men are getting married or have kids. I’m in my mid 40’s. More of my friends were working when I was out of high school than they are now. The dudes that don’t work or don’t work that often all don’t have families.

Anyone that is working for a mom and pop shop or small company usually gets treated like family instead of a number. But these big companies where the CEO who was born into wealth and already had a Harvard degree before attending is the main issue. They make 20 million a year while the front line workers who usually work the hardest struggle to make ends meet. I have a Class A CDL, NCCO and many more certifications and I still have to argue my worth at times. It’s not right.

3D mindset will never understand that we are already in 4D going towards 5D, abundance in 3D is money, abundance in 5D is Christ Consciousness. We don't need money in 5D!

The Root is the loss of value of the money we use. Fight me.

This kind of made me mad. I have been doing manual labor, carpentry restaurant jobs… for 20 years. They still want to pay you 25 an hour or less. The only real way is to become a business owner or be self employed. I make more self employed part time than a full time job working for some company. Its a burn out position. Try it for 20 years you will be lazy too. it’s eventually impossible to work so hard for so little. And yet the rich get richer on the back of the poor sob stupid enough to show up.

Years ago Mike Rowe told everyone to learn a trade like welding. I took his advice and got a 2-year degree from a community college in welding. Right now, welders are making 15-16 an hour. I can work as a cook in a restaurant for 17-18, plus I do not have to be out in the ice/snow breathing toxic fumes jeopardizing my body. Sucks because 5 years prior to me graduating welders were supposedly making 30+ (why do you think I learned how!?) Typical blue-collar guy can't catch a break it seems.

Most Americans are spoiled Mike and I think you know that. I saw a video of a Cuban guy who got his first paycheck from UPS and he was in tears. He said a doctor in Cuba makes 72 dollars a week. My wife employs a hispanic maid who drives a late model Escalade. I see hispanic guys in construction driving new trucks all the time. They appreciate the opportunity in this country. I went to Army boot camp forty years ago. We had a Japanese national there. He would volunteer for anything. No American does that. I bet he's done quite well for himself. In the late 80s, I sold a BMW to a Vietnamese man who had escaped Vietnam on a boat. He was doing landscaping. Are you willing to bust your ass and swallow your pride? Learn a marketable skill and hopefully more than one. Learn how to manage yourself and others. If you can manage others you can start your own business. The maid I mentioned probably has a half dozen or more girls working for her. That is how she makes enough to buy an Escalade. There are plenty of millionaire plumbers out there. They aren't out on Friday night clearing drains. They have a bunch of trucks and techs who are out there doing those jobs. He just has to manage the office and dispatch and have the expertise to hire good techs and keep the jobs coming in. This isn't rocket science. The wealth in this country is off the charts. I can't emphasize this enough. Pick up and read The Millionaire Next Door. It is an amazing book. It teaches you what others have done to earn and accumulate wealth.

Shared to Rumble and Truth Social. Thanks Mike and Theo.

Its bull crap that Someone that is a hard working individual with loads of experience but lacks a college education can't find a job willing to hire him into a supervisor position or other Top level jobs because he is considered not qualified. But some fresh kid out of college with a degree but, zero hours under his belt with experience will get the job almost guaranteed. Anyone that has work with an arrogant college kid in a factory setting understands their pure arrogance yet ignorance when it comes to the working environment with people and the equipment etc.. Most their good for is helping maybe break down a situation of chaos with people/equipment breaking down and rationalize a system to work with but, a fast route of getting things done but other than that. They shouldn't touch a damn thing until they watch and learn. But to be part of the team and actually help hands on. They just get in the way and mess crap up. Stand back and learn.

I dont understand or haven't heard how the people that dont want to work, make ends meet, how do they get by every month, rent food etc.? Government susbsidies are not that great, so how do all these millions of people get by?

I think there's a large problem of crap jobs available with large experience boundrys to get in and employers just being way to picky and unwilling to train people. There's also the problem of moving for jobs or moving to were the work is costing a crap ton which just puts people in a worse position then if they stayed. Alot of degrees don't pay anymore, if you sit down and look at the time to cost ratio of a school program and what you will earn after there's alot that pay as much as a crap labour job.

This guys realllly interesting

Pay more for labor. Of those 7 million bums 7 million still won’t work.

Your American flag is facing the wrong way. When it's held vertically, the stars need to be on the upper left hand side for proper flag etiquette

Gas has come down yet groceries and nothing else have not. What's the reason??

How many of these positions were created just to collect COVID checks? Everyone is “hiring”, yet all of their positions have unreasonable standards, like entry level jobs that require degree/masters and 5 years experience. It’s like they don’t actually want to hire..

Its funny cause I just can't trust a guy in a suit and tie. I always find it off putting and I'm from a white middle class family in ireland

How about the all the girls on onlyfans and pornhub? What's that? Like 30 percent of the workforce across hospitals, vet clinics, restaurants, list goes on.

You need to be greedy in business. You have no idea if you're about to hit a rough patch tomorrow, and when that happens "greed" then looks like good planning.

" harvard" all the abbreviations. Yeah, I charge him five hundred dollar's to change a toilet float Valve 🤣

Funny how mike never talks about the rise of fake online vacancy. Literally epidemic

Minimum wage in Australia is $21.38 We have record low unemployment. Don't believe the libertarian grifters. You don't lose jobs when you raise the minimum wage

Eh, I’ve been a NEET for about 8 years now and to be honest I’ve never had much of a choice, it’s not like I can make anyone hire me. I don’t know how but it just kind of happened. TBH I think it’s the new normal and in 10 years everyone will be a social dropout

People don’t want to work for bullshit wages. There isn’t a job shortage; there is a capitalism problem.

true.

What a great clip. Mike Rowe is awesome. I have huge respect for him. I run a business and hiring is very hard.

Mike

On hood

Plenty of good paying jobs in construction

Why work, when this administration will pay you to NOT work? 🤷‍♂️

Because we don't want to work for a little of nothing now that's all there is to it

Pay people more and you'll get the employees. Once I get my va disability I'm quiting my job.