They’ve tried everything but paying more.

It’s really not more complicated than “the pay isnt enough.” If you can’t compete with McDonald’s or Home Depot, you’re not looking for workers, you’re looking for victims.

I would be reluctant to take a factory job, even if it paid more than my college educated job. You are more than likely going to be forced to move to the middle of nowhere to develop hyper-specific skills. Once the company decides they had a bad quarter, they’re going to lay you off and you’ll face moving away entirely again to find another job. And you’d better hope you were performing tasks with transferable skills, otherwise the next factory is going to start you off on the same five or ten year cycle of working for raises and better positions before it happens all over again.

The modern boom-bust-layoff cycle tells me that I should never invest in a company, because nobody is offering guarantees and they are especially not offering contracts. And if they do, there’s no way it’ll be for my benefit.

With my college education, I at least know I have transferable skills and have been able to pick an industry I actually enjoy, instead of settling for what was nearby or available.