In Australia, "Blue Collar" jobs are paid extremely high. A normal tradesperson (builders, electricians, plumbers, etc.) earns $125,000 pa, and specialist commercial construction people may earn over $300,000.
Even a retired person doing minor repairs or gardening charges over $80 per hr.
> To be sure, the unemployment rate for Americans age 55 and older was 3% as of January, which remains near historic lows.
The "Unemployment Rate" measurement always seems so fraught and useless to cite. I wonder how many of these 55 and olders would love to work but gave up looking and decided to just accept a less secure retirement. More interesting would be the workforce participation rate of 55+ seniors. I doubt it's at "historic" highs.