Why do all my dream jobs pay $10/hour?

[Book Lover]

I am qualified, but how could I possibly support a family on this pay? Why do all the good art jobs pay crap?

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Communicate with Marquand Books Designers as books are being designed to assure
that design, production methods and available time in the production schedule are
compatible
Assist with creation and organization of production schedule
Determine quantities of materials needed for production of book editions
Order materials, arrange for timely delivery
Preparation of paper, board & cloth using board shears and hydraulic paper cutter
Perform every step in production binding, while managing and assisting other employees
Hand set type; work with type foundry to cast type; work with engraving company to
produce metal plates; make polymer plates in-house
Print on C&P and Vandercook presses
Basic Maintenance of equipment and facilities

QUALIFICATIONS

BA in Book Arts or related field, or equivalent training
Production letterpress printing experience required
Edition binding experience required (case binding, non-adhesive binding, etc.)
Leather binding experience a plus
Ability to create and maintain a production plan and schedule for book projects
Ability to manage and instruct a staff of several relatively inexperienced bookbinders
InDesign experience a plus

COMPENSATION

DOE, starting at $10/hr, plus paid housing costs for first 4-6 months.
Access to our well-equipped facilities for production of personal work is offered.
Facilities include a Vandercook 219, two 12” x 18” platen presses, lots of type, polymer
platemaker, and a well-equipped bookbindery.

[datasuspect]

1. because our culture values intrepid self-starting team players with robust strategies for changing

paradigms thus increasing net effective gains for the enterprise.

[ComerPerro]

3. but what I want to know is: Does it grow the brand?

[datasuspect]

6. i think when coupled with coalition building exercises

and outside the box thinking, yes, it does.

[ComerPerro]

13. that kind of jam session could proactively synergize our resources.

[Book Lover]

4. Oooh! You worked in "paradigms"!

Your reward:

[ComerPerro]

2. They want you to have a BA, but only pay $10 an hour?

[AggieGal]

5. I was thinking the same thing.

I do not have a BA and make more than that.

[Book Lover]

7. And production letterpress experience

which let me tell you does not grow on trees. The only reason I have it is because I have had opportunities made available to me by working for arts organizations.

[Deja Q]

16. Hey, that's a terrific wage!

A pity the cost of living requires a job that pays closer to $15/hr, but nothing's perfect...

Other countries that have similar jobs - look at the pay plus cost of living. Never mind the unethical imbalance caused by fleecing off of other countries' workers because their cost of living is that much lower.

[Elidor]

8. Gee, they're not asking for much, are they?

It's like running an ad for a nuclear engineer...starting out at minimum wage. Anyone with those skills would rightly consider $30K to be the low end of the range, and fairly insulting at that.

VERDICT: cheap-ass bloodsucking bastards.

[Book Lover]

11. And I wondered when I started out why the field was littered with the wealthy

Who else can afford to work at these wages?

[Connonym]

9. yay for the Bush economy

$10 an hour is an insult to someone with a degree. No wonder the middle class is disappearing. Something is seriously fucking wrong with this country. Will it take revolution to end the indentured servitude? They want class war, maybe they'll get class war.

[Book Lover]

14. It seems endemic to the arts in good times or bad

But no arts job is going to pay enough in a bad economy. Well, except to those who already have wealth, and are just looking for some income, of course. Not that that's anything inherently wrong with that, but c'mon! There have to be only so many rich folks interested and qualified for this kind of work!

[AllegroRondo]

10. my guess

is that the position is already filled by someone already with the company. They were required to post the position to meet legal requirements, but put a very low starting salary to ensure very few people applied for it.

I've seen a LOT of this in the IT industry.

[Book Lover]

12. I've seen that too

and it is possible. I once applied for a job acting as a project editor for a fine arts publisher organizing a collection of Drurer's works, and they wanted to pay basically the same. Hello! A project editor gets $30/hour at least here in the SF Bay Area!

[Deja Q]

15. Art isn't valued. Anything that doesn't appeal to the LCD is worthless.

Lowest Common Denominator.

Then the same people turn around, offshore jobs, and claim it's because everybody's stupid...