[humanrebar]

It's not exploitive to pay people a modest wage for modest productivity, especially if the role can be part of a successful career.

You also ignore the point that entry level jobs provide advancement opportunities that are sometimes better for disadvantaged folks (or even folks changing careers) compared to expecting them to (re)train at four year universities, etc.

People talk a lot about apprenticeship these days... Apprenticeships are entry level, low paid positions.

[benjaminjosephw]

You're not wrong as long as the definition of "modest wage" isn't subjective and is instead collectively agreed within society (i.e. a minimum/living wage).

I think you're saying the same as this Economist article[0] which says that "the workers who are most vulnerable to losing their job as a result of the minimum wage are those whose productivity is low". Empirical data on this also shows, perhaps counter-intuitively, that a "minimum wage can sometimes lead to higher rather than lower employment".

Entry-level jobs are important but so is human dignity and freedom. I don't think you need to sacrifice one for the other here - we can (eventually) have both.

[0] - https://www.economist.com/schools-brief/2020/08/13/what-harm...

[humanrebar]

There's nothing undignified about working an entry level job. I've done so myself, as have billions of others around the world.

[benjaminjosephw]

Agreed. There's a lot of dignity in honest work. Exploitation can rob people of that dignity but it doesn't have to.