[KorematsuFred]

I am from India and I have lived in UK and USA. Personally I think it is pretty stupid to compare USA and UK. I would rather be a janitor in USA than an engineer in UK. This is not a criticism of UK or its people in any way but USA is far far better country than UK.

It is not just that salaries are higher but overall quality of life is significantly better. In USA I can drive in any random direction for 400 miles and crash at a Motel 6 without having to worry about reservations. I can eat at Denny's at any time of the day and fill up gas in towns like Austin, NV with population 29. There are giant theme parks within 100 miles of driving distance in any city. USA is dotted with national parks and various state parks, fishing spots, hiking trails, hunting grounds. Every American school is basically a mini Olympic stadium with some space for classrooms. Most people including people below poverty line own cars, which means their quality of life is way better. You can explore different and remote places, spend more time with family and friends over the weekends and show your kids lot more stuff each weekend that what a London resident can not do for similar amount of money.

Also, I can totally see why people in UK may not want to make those extra bucks putting in more hours because often, it is not allowed because of tighter regulations. Tough labor laws discourage businesses from hiring new people so if you quit your job it is harder for you to find a new job. So people would rather stick to a dead end job working uninspired. that quit for better opportunities.

It is also incredibly common for Americans to simply quit their jobs and take a long break to explore whatever hell they want to explore. I arely saw that in UK.

[liberalbias998]

I am afraid we are often expected to work crazy hours here as well.

The contract (we have employment contracts) may say 37.5 hours but it also says "and any other necessary to complete your work"

[klipklop]

I don't understand why this is downvoted so much? A janitor has a wide spectrum of pay in the US and what he describes is certainly possible.

People also forget how good the standard of living can be for tradesmen charging $100-500/hr to reset a GFCI outlet or perform basic plumbing tasks in the US.

This mythical tradesman I describe often lives in a 1500+ sq-ft house and drives a pickup. He takes his kids dirt biking every weekend or goes fishing in his boat. The folks I met in the Google London office have none of these things. Most of them didn't even own a car and had a long public-trans commute home.

The bottom is really hard in the US, but the middle can be fairly good if you are working in the right areas of in-demand employment.

[paulpauper]

You're assuming you can keep what you already earned and then become a janitor, which is different from starting as a janitor

[KorematsuFred]

I made no such assumption. When I moved to USA from India I would have happily moved in as Janiter. Life in USA as a janiter is way way better than a middle class person in India.

[subsubzero]

I think what you are getting at is its better to be rich in the US than the UK, in that I can agree with you on.

[kcb]

And what there requires you to be rich?

[ska]

Your commentary convinces me completely that the US is a better fit for you than the UK was.

[jfengel]

Mostly it convinces me that they've never been a janitor in the US.

Minimum wage work in the US is brutal. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, amounting to $14,500 a year if you can manage to work a steady job. That leaves you very little money left over for traveling to those national parks.

Being a janitor is actually a step up from a lot of retail jobs, where your schedule is variable and it's hard to work the same 40 hours per week. It might even come with health care, another thing rare among minimum wage jobs. It's less likely to come with retirement savings, and at $14.5k per year you're not putting anything away. Certainly not if you also like to take vacations.

Being poor in the US sucks. Being janitor is not the worst job, but from context I think they meant it that way. I think few people would take janitor in the US over engineer in the UK, and practically nobody sane would take jobs in retail or food service if they had any other option. (Part of the reason they pay so badly is that those are the jobs occupied by people who have no other option.)

[throwaway0a5e]

I've been a janitor in the US.

I'll agree with his comment

Living in a double wide in BFE and commuting 40min of scenic roads to vacuum the regional hospital isn't that bad (I've done it). The instantanteos QoL was arguably better than my first tech job after I got my degree (but the tech job had better long term QoL because of savings and future earning potential).

That said, I'm surprised that more people working min-wage jobs while living in the high cost of living major metro area don't go postal. It's a far, far, far worse quality of life.

>Being a janitor is actually a step up from a lot of retail jobs,

It's really a matter of personal preference. All minimum wage jobs that aren't a good fit for any person suck. When you find something that's a good fit it's just a job. I hate customers so janitor was a way better fit for me.

[KorematsuFred]

I have not worked as a janitor but I have done menial work far worse than mopping a floor for assured hourly rate.

Being poor sucks everywhere but it sucks less in USA.

My claim is not that being janitor is some kind of gold standard or aspiration in USA. My point is that even such a very low skilled job is good enough to help you survive. You will probably suffer a lot but yet it is way way better than being completely jobless on streets.

Janitor is also not a job for life, it is mostly a stepping stone for something bigger and a lot A LOT of americans do this every single year. Something you will rarely see outside of USA.

[kcb]

Janitor is a pretty broad range of work but a professional full-time janitor is not a minimum wage job and could make $70k to $80k at an entry level.

Citing the federal minimum wage is kind of useless with the number of states and cities with their own laws.