> Factory work just doesn't seem like a viable long-term career.
The US middle class exists (or existed) in no small part precisely because of factory work. Many people have spent their entire lives in factories making a good living, some still do, more would if the jobs were available.
Automation is the obvious argument against long-term viability, but most factory jobs have never been automated, and probably won't be for years yet -- they've just moved.
And don't assume everybody can work in an office, nor assume everyone wants to. My father, who actually does work in an office, has for years, and is well respected in his job, would rather be building houses.
I'm working class, I come from a pit village in N. England, my father was a miner, my family were miners or steelworkers.
I now have a PhD in physics and work in aerospace, but I'm still working class! And for most of my life (certainly my academic career!) I was poorer than most working class people with union jobs on assembly lines.
Those words have slightly different meanings in England vs the US I think.
In the US upper vs middle vs working class is related to income and lifestyle. If you're a coal miner who somehow makes 80k/year (i just made that up, who knows if it exists) you'd be firmly middle class in popular discourse the US, despite the fact that you're in a working class job.
Similarly one auto-plant can pay union workers 70k (middle class) and non-union 30k (working class, or at least on the line) for the same job.
I think in the UK it's more delineated by job and upbringing than income, right?
Note that I'm just speaking out usage by normal people/media, those words (although usually avoided in favor of income deciles) can be given specific definitions in academic research.
In the UK class=job not salary. Approiximately; jobs needs a degree=middle class, owning the land = upper class.
Working on oil rig and earning 4x as much as a school teacher still makes that a working class job, the teacher is middle class. The rig manager is working class, the geologist is middle class.
But ultimately it's a personal identity thing. You can be a member of the royal family making furniture or a working class lad making avionics software!
The US middle class exists (or existed) in no small part precisely because of factory work. Many people have spent their entire lives in factories making a good living, some still do, more would if the jobs were available.
Automation is the obvious argument against long-term viability, but most factory jobs have never been automated, and probably won't be for years yet -- they've just moved.
And don't assume everybody can work in an office, nor assume everyone wants to. My father, who actually does work in an office, has for years, and is well respected in his job, would rather be building houses.