It was better when we had those jobs. Factories needed bodies. They didn't care if the bodies were white, or black, or polka dot. We were all equal. Under a weld hood, color was irrelevant. These were good, union, high wage jobs. And workers were able to buy new vehicles rolling off the assembly line of that car plant in Kenosha.
I remember the days where some of those skilled workers were getting new cars every two years. Relatively speaking, cars were cheap. And new cars every two years meant there were plenty of great, low mileage used cars running around. None of the 6 years loan payoff stuff, with used cars having over 150K miles on them. Cars didn't last much more than 100K, but that was alright. They were still good value. Some of the new cars going for over $100K now?? Seriously?? Who the hell can afford that??
And you could fix those cars. And when the oil usage got too bad, junkyards had used engines for reasonable prices. And you could swap out that 283 for a 327, or with some skill, even a 396! Kids learned skills working on those things. Kids learned to read Chilton manuals. Friends were needed for two man jobs.
And none of us were married to any electronic devices. Now it is slaves to the machines.