Low paying jobs teach you more about society than any academic study ever could!

If you have ever found yourself trying to further your education or start a new business venture you might have had to work a marginalised role. The work is a very dignified way of earning an income. However the worker faces a very denigrating narrative by society often coming from people from all socio-economic backgrounds.

The irony is that many community services roles truly make a difference but since society has collective thoughts on what is a high status job these roles are looked at as subservient roles.

These jobs have a concentration of marginalised groups such as women, culturally diverse people and single parents. Often there is no career advancement and accessible ongoing learning has only recently become the norm in the industry.

One area of stigma attached to these jobs is the lack of formal qualifications required for some domestic and social companionship roles. This paints a whole industry of people working in the field as the least educated and with little literacy. However this misses the rich life experience a person may bring to the role despite not completing higher edcation.

And of course the character reference of the person since education is no guarantee of integrity and.sound ethics, these cohort without formal education should be justly assessed.

Another important factor in the health and community services sector is that not for profit. companies have to maximise their income often leading to reduced hours for workers. The roles could be casual with no benefits such as paid sick leave and industry long service leave. There is a range of disadvantages in the health and community sector affecting the populations in society who already face life with extra obstacles.

As previously mentioned the stigma attached to the job and what therein follows is a low hourly rate, no educational pathways to self improvement, occupational risks such as occupational violence and permanent health injury and of course many more.

As a society more personal growth and evolving is needed to change our opinions and not to devalue the work of core health and community workers.