Water transportation worker coming in at number 10.
The top 15 high-paying jobs that don’t require four-year degrees
To follow, the top 15 highest-paying jobs that earn above the U.S. median, have positive projected job growth, and don’t require a four-year degree to apply, according to Resume Genius:
Elevator and escalator installer and repairer (Median annual salary: $106,580)
Transportation, storage, and distribution manager (Median annual salary: $102,010)
Electrical power-line installer and repairer (Median annual salary: $92,560)
Aircraft and avionics equipment mechanic and technician (Median annual salary: $79,140)
Detective and criminal investigator (Median annual salary: $77,270)
Thanks for posting that. I always love that sort of info.
Though I must say the published data for “water transportation workers” is largely useless because the BLS parameter for that category is so large.
Example: There are far more deckhands than chief engineers, so the pay data skews towards deckhands. Then there is the question of which average is being considered. The average of the pay scale, or the average of a company census?
To illustrate: imagine a simplified crew with one captain and 10 deckhands. The captain makes $1000 day. The deckhands, $300. The average of the pay scale is $650. The average of the census, however, is $364. Very different. So, the bases for averaging at the company-reporting level must be rigidly defined, which it is not.
Also, is a dock worker a water transportation worker? We get questionnaires from the BLS some years asking us to do a census on our workers and classify them, and I could see some companies classifying dock workers as water transportation workers, which muddies things.
Compare to the classification of ‘flight attendant’, which is much more narrow.
The BLS data in this regard is useful only in a relative sense. Good for vague lists like this, but not much good for any deeper analysis.
Mariner jobs may be unique in that the only way to truly compare pay between companies is to break it down into the equivalent daily pay rate.
BTW: The concept of ‘daily-pay’ is rare outside of the maritime world. So rare that big payroll services companies like ADP and Paycom have no functionality for ‘daily-pay’, and creativity must be applied to make their programs work with the practice.
Here’s a recent essay that’s gotten a lot of attention lately, both for and against, that claims and explains why the “real” poverty line for a family with kids is now roughly $140,000/yr:
Not having a family or kids myself, I don’t have the experience to have an opinion one way or another, but the arguments are at least worth considering in light of changing quality of life vs changing necessities for life, and for the “valley of death” wherein government support disappears faster than your wages rise that keeps people trapped low on the economic ladder.
As someone who grew up in a working class family in a poor rural area in the1950’s, (before the plethora of these overly generous government welfare programs), I know what “poor” means.
$140,000 a year is not “rich,” but it sure as hell isn’t “poor” either.
If every family were guaranteed a $140,000 a year poverty line income, income tax would have to be well over 50% on the rest of us. Hyperinflation would be insane. Plumber’s and electricians would be $300 an hour, and a gallon of milk would cost $30. Suddenly the new poverty line would have to be $300,000!
The “poor families” of today need to get work and support themselves, and learn to live with the basics. No more $300 running shoes, baseball game tickets, or trips to Disney World. They need to stop having more kids than they can properly support.
I am surprised nursing was listed. According to NurseJournal.org the median annual salary for RN’s is approximately $93,600. While many nurses have a 4-year degree it is not required and can be obtained via community colleges in 2 years.
If you’re going to refute an argument, it’s considered polite to at least read the argument you’re refuting
I wanted to see what would happen if I ignored the official stats and simply calculated the cost of existing. I built a Basic Needs budget for a family of four (two earners, two kids). No vacations, no Netflix, no luxury. Just the “Participation Tickets” required to hold a job and raise kids in 2024.
Using conservative, national-average data:
Childcare: $32,773
Housing: $23,267
Food: $14,717
Transportation: $14,828
Healthcare: $10,567
Other essentials: $21,857
Required net income: $118,009
Add federal, state, and FICA taxes of roughly $18,500, and you arrive at a required gross income of $136,500.
But maybe the avocado toast is rolled into those “other essentials”
Since working poor and home every night is $140,000, I need at least $280,000 for responsible, licensed, drug free, job that take me away from home with no intimacy for months at a time. That’s only fair.
Catherine Austin Fitts calculates that $36 trillion are missing from the US Government - nice round numbers, don’t you think?
Where did that money go when it was stolen?
The solution to poverty and disadvantage amongst US citizens may well lie in good paying jobs and work ethic, but why not also put a big effort into recovering that money which roughly equates to the US debt?
I get the housing and food costs, actually think they may be low but that depends on where you live. But the Childcare? That’s $16000/child per year. Really?
$14000 for transportation is a LOT of gas, insurance and maintenance. Seems high to me but again, I suppose it depends on where you live.
One of the things that government needs to do is Stop subsidizing more kids.
The people at the bottom rung of the ladder bred like flies and flood society with halfwit substance abusers and multigenerational welfare recipients. The people from the middle rung of the ladder and up are not producing enough kids. This is a prescription for disaster.
Aaaaah yes. Eugenics is alive and well and still spouting its bile.
People on the bottom rung of the ladder are being let down by idiot woke schools, corrupt local and state governments, poisonous, deadly jabs from the day of birth, a system that removes men from the family house and a bunch of other stuff.
They aren’t born halfwits or substance abusers. Your system creates that. You have many great stories of rags to riches. Thomas Sowell was born in the Bronx and rose to international fame as an economist. People commenting here would do well to listen more to him and his teachings than the current crop of woke academics. Harvard no longer teaches western civilisation FFS. The last professor departed in disgust just recently.
The prescription causing the decline of America isn’t the right sort of of children from the right sort of families it is that such things aren’t even values your leaders at all levels hold to be sufficiently important to espouse. The foundations of western civilisation are being destroyed in front of your eyes and you look on as grinning idiots.
Is this accurate?
" Australia’s welfare system provides income support and services via Services Australia (Centrelink), supporting retirees (Age Pension), job seekers (JobSeeker), parents (Parenting Payment), people with disabilities, and carers, alongside broader services for housing, disability, aged care, and families, focusing on individual wellbeing through a mix of payments and assistance, often with strict means testing and encouraging workforce participation.
Key Components
Income Support Payments: Administered by Centrelink, these are central to the system for those unable to fully support themselves.
Services Australia (Centrelink): The main agency delivering payments and services like unemployment support (JobSeeker), student payments (Youth Allowance), and support for families (Parenting Payment).
Department of Social Services (DSS): Develops policy for community support, housing, work, and income support.
Types of Support Provided
For Job Seekers & Families: JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance, Parenting Payment, assistance with family violence, and employment services.
For Disability & Aged Care: Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, and aged care services.
For Housing & Homelessness: Social housing programs and specialist homelessness services.
Health: Medicare covers essential health services, with other support through Services Australia.
Core Principles
Means-Tested: Most payments are based on income and assets.
Work-Oriented: Aims to encourage workforce participation and self-sufficiency.
Broad Wellbeing Focus: Covers physical, mental, and social wellbeing for individuals, families, and communities.
Accessing the System
Individuals apply through Services Australia (Centrelink) for specific payments like JobSeeker or Age Pension.
Broader support is available through the Department of Social Services (DSS) and other state/territory bodies."
Many of these are actively being dismantled or hobbled by the GOP in the United States.
