Visions of Shadow and Light

I would agree, but I remember some show (may have been on the Discovery channel) where they were talking about docks and the fact that dock workers have one of the riskiest jobs in America, which ~may~ be where the dollar value you saw is coming from. The show didn't state what they make, though, and just because a job is dangerous doesn't mean it pays well, but...something to keep in mind.

I recently heard from someone that the people who empty and repair septic tanks make a little over $100k (here in the South). But I agree that the "realism" is ironic. Maybe he should have picked the school cafeteria assistant making $13,000.

I live in Long Beach, CA and work in Los Angeles, so I think I know how much people earn (I also can look stuff up on the web)...

I copied this from CIO magazine:

"with workers down at the docks now earning as much as six figures—$82,895 for class A longshore workers, $118,444 for clerks and $157,352 for foremen. "

Here's the URL to the source article:

http://www.cio.com/archive/120102/tl_dock.html

I'm pretty sure those figures are fairly accurate. However, those jobs are VERY hard to get. Just to get in the union to get a shot at those jobs is a 5 year waiting list. And when you get in the union, it can take another 5 years to get to work full time. So don't all quit your jobs trying to get these jobs. Also the union had over 100,000 applications for about 3,000 openings last year. Yah, the jobs pay well, but your winning the lottery in getting one.

What I have a problem with is the administrative assistant making $60,000. Unless they work for a movie studio they probably only make $30,000 to $40,000.

As for IT professionals in Southern California, we make a little less (but within about 5K) than you think (with about 7 years experience), less with less experience, probably more with more (although those jobs are hard to find.

Just thought I would provide some facts.

Thank you for fact-checking. I must say I'm amazed at how much a dock worker makes, but if it is as dangerous as it sounds then the wage is probably justified.

It does help reinforce why computer jobs are being billed as requiring low expertise and thus can be offshored without a thought. Shipping the low-paying computer jobs overseas and keeping the hard labor jobs in the US is obviously a much better proposition from a tax-base perspective.

There is one thing good about those dock worker jobs. As more and more jobs are outsourced overseas, all that stuff has to come in to the U.S. somehow. It unless it's code, or something else that can be sent electronically, it most likely will come in by ship. Since most things are outsourced to the far east (accept for the stuff going to India) it will almost all come in through West Coast ports. The Los Angeles / Long Beach port handles more container traffic than any other port in the country (I think it's 10% to 20% of the nation's container traffic comes through the ports of Long Beach / Los Angeles), and it's just going to get busier.