I was offered $16 an hour today by a recruiter.

[USMCPMEL]

I kind of went off on him a little bit. I was very polite about it but I explained to him that a junior tech with basically no experience would make more than that... Where I live they pay people at Home Depot $12 an hour. It seems like they really are trying to undermine our pay...Any thoughts??

[USMC kalibrater]

You were far more pleasant than I would have been.  Salaries are on the way up, or atleast should be, there is far more demand for Metrology poeple than I beleive the industry would like us to beleive.

[metrologygeek]

Sixteen an hour? Thet's crazy! The first calibration job I got after separating from the Air Force paid over eighteen an hour, and that was 1983. I just read the posting for MSFC in Huntsville and thought $28 was a bit on the low side for the type of experience they're looking for.

[USMCPMEL]

Yes. I talked at length with the guy. Metrologygeek you did a lot better than me when I got out in 1997 I got my first job for $12 an hour then less than a year latter I took my second job at $14 but your right that guy is out of his mind. I calmly explained to him that people at the plant I work at make $16 and some of them don't even act like they graduated high school much less have any real skills...

[CalibratorJ]

I got offered $16 here in Huntsville, once. Was a company ending in co. Needless to say, I never took that job.

Oh, about the $28/hour at MSFC, that is actually a decent starting wage here for someone with that experience. A WG12 makes $23-28 an hour, and they are working in an Army reference lab. It's also more than most, if not ALL, commercial labs will pay here, in my experiences (TMI, SIMCO, Wyle, TekSS, etc).

[Pete]

$28.00 is quite a bit more than I made at TMI also.

[clacoste]

I'm currently on $40 an hour (before tax etc..and not adding my subsidised vehicle - Jeep 4WD Patriot, and company paid 14% to my retirement fund - and I have to add 7% of my own salary to that)....If I pull the plug and retire....my current take-home is $23 an hour...and that is only going to increase - and is not including what I'd get from my own retirement fund - call it another $15 an hour.  Australia, good country....they recognise my Marine Corps service in Vietnam...and give an Australian veteran's pension if I need it (same as South Vietnamese ARVN etc who settled here).  So far I'm happy to keep working for a few more years....Health is good and I like the job....while it lasts.
You could have this too, if you didn't keep voting for those who sell America's future to the lowest bidder.  How many of the scum who destroyed the economy in the GFC are in jail?  I go back to the US often...just there last month....and totally appalled at what America has sunk to since I started working overseas in the late 70's.  You....need...to...wake up.  Democracy is precious...You had it purchased from you....actually, more accurately...silently stolen....Powerful people who are in it for themselves - have taken your country away.  You need to take it back.

[Kalrock]

Clacoste,

With all due respect, you don't know what the hell you are talking about if you want to compare Australia to America. As crappy as America can be to Americans, it is by far still the best country on this planet. Great you make $40 an hour in Australia, but Australia cost 30% more to live in.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=United+States

Australia is like a giant California and California is one of the worst states in the country. Educate yourself about Democracy before you start trying to preach about it.

By the way are you currently a citizen of the US? If so you should just revoke it.

[sdmetrol]

Kalrock,  with all due respect, he is entitled to his opinion, it's what many of us have fought for.  Calling California one of the worst States in the country is your opinion and you are welcome to it, however it does make you seem ignorant.