Reply #5: Interesting story.

[MineralMan]

Few people are interested in jobs that involve using major muscle groups steadily throughout the workday. At age 64, I'm certainly not. Those people who are willing to do grunt labor, though, aren't having too much trouble finding work. As you said, landscapers, roofers, trash haulers, and others are always looking for workers.

That said, working as a laborer is a tough job...one that wears out the body in not too many years.

When I was a kid of about 10, the small CA town I lived in built its first sewer system. That was around 1955. Modern excavation techniques were not used. The ditches in the street were dug by hand, once the asphalt was removed with jackhammers. No backhoes anywhere in sight.

There were plenty of laborers on the job. Digging trenches and throwing the dirt up on the street. Once the pipes were laid, the laborers were back on the job, backfilling.

I remember this, since my mother suggested that I sell lemonade to the men working on this project. So, I did. I made gallons and gallons of lemonade, using lemons from the huge lemon tree in our yard, sugar from the store (bought with a loan from my mother), and ice from our refrigerator, that had to be made on a constant basis.

10 cents per 16 oz. glass. There were no disposable glasses, so I'd take a few dozen glasses from the house with me, along with my 5 gallons of lemonade. Each day, I'd make five trips, taking just enough time to wash all the glasses and make another 5 gallons of lemonade.

It was summertime, hot, and I could have sold three times as much as I was able to make.

That sewer job lasted all through the spring, summer, and fall, employing hundreds of workers. It sort of revitalized the economy of that small citrus-farming town, giving lots of people work. The pay rate for that labor was $1.25/hr. I made more than that with my Radio Flyer wagon and my lemonade.

The point was that it was no problem getting laborers. Today, it's very difficult.