Skilled labour: Jobs that require education or extensive training to be able to perform
Semi-skilled labour: Jobs that require minimal or no education, but require some extent of on-the-job training to be able to perform the basic duties.
Unskilled labour: Jobs that require no education, and can be effectively performed on day one by a new hire.
I’m sure there’s also a “highly skilled labour” category that encompasses jobs that require extensive education, training, and practice, but I’m not really sure where to draw the line.
can be effectively performed on day one by a new hire.
If such a job exists, I’ve never seen it. A first day worker on ANY job won’t be as efficient as someone with experience. Even a ditch digger has skills.
In the first part of your edit, you explain why there’s no such thing as unskilled labor.
I think the confusion here is that you are saying “unskilled” when you mean " skills that have been picked up without education", or “skills I assume can be picked up quickly”
Find me someone from an ancient civilization and see how well they vacuum without any training.
On day one is a bit steep. Most unskilled kinds of jobs, like retail, include a week or two of training where you’re only sort-of useful to your employer. Really really simple jobs (breaking rocks, digging trenches, turning wheels) have mostly been subsumed by machines.
From an employment market perspective, a better question is if you need to have training already to get hired, and if it’s on-the-job kind of training (aka. semiskilled) or you spend significant time as a student.
I think in some unskilled labour, you can provide value on day one. You won’t know all the processes, but you’d be able to perform some of the duties. Cleaning up, stocking shelves, etc.
I go by…
I’m sure there’s also a “highly skilled labour” category that encompasses jobs that require extensive education, training, and practice, but I’m not really sure where to draw the line.
If such a job exists, I’ve never seen it. A first day worker on ANY job won’t be as efficient as someone with experience. Even a ditch digger has skills.
no shit they won’t be as efficient. but they can do it without requiring weeks or months or years of training
In the first part of your edit, you explain why there’s no such thing as unskilled labor.
I think the confusion here is that you are saying “unskilled” when you mean " skills that have been picked up without education", or “skills I assume can be picked up quickly”
Find me someone from an ancient civilization and see how well they vacuum without any training.
On day one is a bit steep. Most unskilled kinds of jobs, like retail, include a week or two of training where you’re only sort-of useful to your employer. Really really simple jobs (breaking rocks, digging trenches, turning wheels) have mostly been subsumed by machines.
From an employment market perspective, a better question is if you need to have training already to get hired, and if it’s on-the-job kind of training (aka. semiskilled) or you spend significant time as a student.
I think in some unskilled labour, you can provide value on day one. You won’t know all the processes, but you’d be able to perform some of the duties. Cleaning up, stocking shelves, etc.