Millennials reveal what it takes to get boomer relatives to accept the reality of the job market: 'This job was paying $15 an hour'

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Jun 2, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

It seems like empathy is a trait that no generation is famous for, but none more so than those pesky Baby Boomers. Blame it on an adulthood full of late 20th-century economic benefits or blame it on lead poisoning, they're not exactly known for appreciating the struggles that younger people can face today.

This is especially true when it comes to the world of work. Anybody who has had to brave the job market in the past ten to fifteen years with little previous experience understands how hard it can be, but those reaching retirement age? Not so much. This was underlined in a recent Twitter thread discussing how one man only got his dad to understand the struggle of modern job hunting by showing him the salary on a job posting which was the same as the position he had held for most of his career. Some boomers just really don't want to get it.

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    Gritty is the Way @Gritty20202 Follow No employers want to pay anymore.
    via Gritty20202
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    Finally came across something that convinced Boomer father that we are not being "difficult" Looking through job posting in my area I came across one that had the same job title that my father had for most of his career. I sent it to him and asked if the skills required and job description was the same as his. He agreed it was the exact description he worked. He said when his kids were born in the 70s he was making $20-something an hour, plus OT and union benefits. I pointed out this job was pay
    via Gritty20202
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    Gritty is the Way @Gritty20202-19 May Replying to @Gritty20202 for context, $20-something in 1975 had the same buying power as $120-something today - literally 8x the current payrate
    via Gritty20202
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    SunflowerMama @Photo Mel328 Replying to @Gritty20202 Follow I was a lifeguard in 1984 and made 8$ per hour. Kid was a life guard in 2012 and made 9.50. I know it was just a first job but it requires training.
    via PhotoMel328
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    Joey Brown >> @VeraGavrilovna Replying to @Gritty20202 Follow Not long ago, employers were expected by communities (mostly locally owned) to invest in their employees. Successful employers were expected to provide security and a moderate abundance with their employees, white collar and blue. Now we're commodities that can be purchased more cheaply elsewhere.
    via VeraGavrilovna
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    Josh Ben-Shachar @lawless08 • 19 May Replying to @Gritty20202 Profit is for shareholders, not you greedy employees
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    Russell Brooks, real... ❤ @russellhbrooks Replying to @Gritty20202 Follow They never wanted to pay but they didn't used to have a choice. Before the internet offshoring was not practical. It took them a while to figure out that poor immigrant labor only works long-term if you prevent the immigrants from ever gaining legal status, or rather it took them awhile to implement the system. You have to make workers compete with desperate people to suppress wages.
    via russellhbrooks
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    Randall Hubbard @rhubbard66 Replying to @Gritty20202 Follow You meaning living a life with a playbook from the 1960s doesn't work that well anymore? Who knew? Both of my grandfathers as well as my father are big 3 UAW, I would be an idiot to think I could ever follow the same path and do as well. They had it good, and never deserved of any of it.
    via rhubbard66
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    Bart Rabelo @bartrabel... @bartrabelo Replying to @Gritty20202 Follow My parents were boomers and got married in the 70's. My grandfather gifted them an apartment and a commercial office. They accepted (both were hypocrite hippies) and kick-started their adult life with advantages. When I got married, I got a vacuum cleaner and a pat on the back.
    via bartrabelo
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    . minirop @minirop ⚫ 19 May Replying to @Gritty20202 You can also add that with their $20/hour they could afford a house in a nice neighbourhood, we would need triple that to afford the same house today.
    via minirop
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    Do Not Take Selfies Wit... @SummonerOrthan Replying to @Gritty20202 Follow I told my aunt to quit her job as a 30+ year nurse and find a job in any other field once. She never talked about it with me again
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    Lost (Revelations Arc) @LOSTLEAD8R Follow Replying to @Gritty20202 Boomers literally have to be taught empathy
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    Noah Huff @Wooktent - 20 May Replying to @Gritty20202 My dad still thinks "The minimum wage shouldn't exist. The job market would be better without it."
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    Fueled_by_Tea @BrexBoi 20 May Replying to @Gritty20202 Did the same with my mom. (She know its bad out here though.) Same job same company, $2 more per hour after 2 decades.
    via BrexBoi
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    Jess Cause @NachoRupert • 20 May Replying to @Gritty20202 It's so wild. My last job this year I made the same hourly my dad made in 1989.
    via NachoRupert
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    KayBnnuy @bnnuy0v0 20 May Replying to @Gritty20202 Have him try to apply to it next
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    misbehaved woman @nna_onu 20 May : You shouldn't have to do this to garner sympathy from boomers
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    racha ghamlouch @__racha 20 May I had to sit my dad down 10 years ago & explain that jobs still pay as much as they did when he was my age. But house prices have gone up at least 6x in Lebanon, which is why taking out a 40 yr mortgage that will buy me a tiny suburban house doesn't make sense.
    via __racha
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    Nathan @nathano235 20 May . 9 This is why unions matter, people look at UPS paying $45/hr to delivery drivers and think it's crazy but that's simply keeping up with inflation to what they were paid in the 70s, factoring inflation UPS pay hasn't increased, everyone else is simply being paid less every year.
    via nathano235
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    359 hrmph @Ian ForrestAdams 20 May With my dad it was when I asked him, as president of his company, how much more he made than his most junior, lowest paid employee: 5-6x. (Senior practicing MD, versus entry level clerk). I point out that CEO of where I worked at the time got 150x my salary as a yearly bonus.
    via IanForrestAdams

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twitter job Twitter Thread work millennials working baby boomers gen z boomers Reddit money
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