Employers wanting a degree and several years of experience, but pay is very low?

[Anonymous]

I'm not looking for a job for myself, but was casually looking through some job postings. I feel like the in most of them, the pay is really low compared to the cost of living.

For example, one I found in another small city--it's not in the DC area and cost of living is lower, but a 1 bedroom apartment (not luxury or fancy, just a decent apartment) averages about $1000/month.
The job was for the city in their zoning/city planning department. They required a BA in a relevant degree and at least one year of experience, but preferred 5+ years of experience.
The pay? Just under $20/hr (40 hour work week.) That seems REALLY low to me. For comparison, I just looked and jobs at the local Sheetz gas station are paying $14.50/hr.

Am I just out of touch, or is that pay (for the city job) shockingly low?

[Anonymous]

Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

Thanks. I guess that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

For local government, first responders can make a lot of money, but rank and file employees are usually underpaid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

then they shoudnt require a degree and 5 years experience if its a housewife job WTF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

then they shoudnt require a degree and 5 years experience if its a housewife job WTF

The degree and job experience might actually be necessary to perform the work.

[Anonymous]

I've been job hunting even though I currently have a job and actually did just find another job that I accepted but pay generally does seem to be lower. And experience and education expectations appear to be high.

[Anonymous]

There are inside jokes and memes about this, OP. People should be paid living wages, not housewife wages. People with the experience don't apply for these insulting jobs. Employees say "people don't want to work" haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

then they shoudnt require a degree and 5 years experience if its a housewife job WTF

The degree and job experience might actually be necessary to perform the work.

Then the pay should be commiserated with those two requirements AND not referred to as housewife jobs. You cant have it both way. You cant need educated and experienced people and then refer to it as a housewife job barely paying more per hour than the fast food place down the road, which requires neither. So the differential for HS and 0 experience and BA with 1-5 years experience is $5 per hour?

And dont shite on fast food benefits and comp either for FT employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

then they shoudnt require a degree and 5 years experience if its a housewife job WTF

It's 2024 -- a college degree is the equivalent of a 1960 high school diploma for these purposes.

[Anonymous]

In 2021 I got a job offer for an analyst position which required an undergrad degree (I had that plus an advanced degree) and several years work experience. The pay was less than $20 an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

then they shoudnt require a degree and 5 years experience if its a housewife job WTF

It's 2024 -- a college degree is the equivalent of a 1960 high school diploma for these purposes.

Not financially its not! Regardless of your "feelings" on the matter. 1960s HS Diploma= free. College 4 years = not free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. But city is giving great medical, dental, vision, pension, 457b, job security.

To be honest those are “housewife” jobs not meant to support a family.

I worked in a job like that briefly and mainly married women who lived nearby whose husband had no benefits in his job

then they shoudnt require a degree and 5 years experience if its a housewife job WTF

The degree and job experience might actually be necessary to perform the work.

Then the pay should be commiserated with those two requirements AND not referred to as housewife jobs. You cant have it both way. You cant need educated and experienced people and then refer to it as a housewife job barely paying more per hour than the fast food place down the road, which requires neither. So the differential for HS and 0 experience and BA with 1-5 years experience is $5 per hour?

And dont shite on fast food benefits and comp either for FT employees.

The local government hiring is not calling it a housewife job. I've had people say that about my field (I work in a different level of government) and find it pretty insulting. We work to support ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are inside jokes and memes about this, OP. People should be paid living wages, not housewife wages. People with the experience don't apply for these insulting jobs. Employees say "people don't want to work" haha.

I work at a company in Nova. I just hired a lovely women with MBA and great experience at low wage for what she is worth. She is a new mom with a husband with big job DC

She took it as it is a straight 9-5 job no OT ever. My office is literally one mile her house. We are hybrid two days remote. She leaves every day 445pm to pick up one year old. She literally can run errands at lunch.

It is a housewife job. They exist. But she is WFH two days a week and even home by 5pm on in person days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are inside jokes and memes about this, OP. People should be paid living wages, not housewife wages. People with the experience don't apply for these insulting jobs. Employees say "people don't want to work" haha.

I work at a company in Nova. I just hired a lovely women with MBA and great experience at low wage for what she is worth. She is a new mom with a husband with big job DC

She took it as it is a straight 9-5 job no OT ever. My office is literally one mile her house. We are hybrid two days remote. She leaves every day 445pm to pick up one year old. She literally can run errands at lunch.

It is a housewife job. They exist. But she is WFH two days a week and even home by 5pm on in person days.

The problem is now anything with reasonable hours and work-life balance is considered a housewife job. The above job, that should be the norm for most jobs regardless of who does them.