Labor difficulty.

[Gheld]

Physical labour.

There's lots of "no brainer" physical labour jobs but they aren't the high paying ones.

There are plenty of physically labourious jobs out there though that require a great degree of mental acuity and they also pay very well. Because of this it's not uncommon in a lot of shops to have people in "grunt" positions that make more money than middle management.

You'll never be a millionaire doing physical labour but just because somebody does physical labour doesn't mean they're a poor sap that is lacking in the mental acuity department. I've seen "unqualified" individuals in entry level positions micromanaging IT departments.

I've known middle-school dropouts who have taken positions that they are "unqualified" for because they read and understand things at a higher level than university graduates. I've known university graduates that can't read analog time or solve the most trivial issues.

I mean you can look at Neo in the matrix, wasting all of his effort into that whole pseudo-intellectual "there is no spoon" spoon bending but apparently it takes a real genius to effortlessly pick up the spoon and snap it in half.

The proof is in the pudding; as many as 50% of people born with a genius level of intelligence never graduate from High-school.

So TLDR
If you are stupid and do physical labour it's quite easy.

If you are smart and do physical labour it's quite difficult, because you are also constantly called upon by "more qualified" individuals to help them figure out how to do their jobs (in addition to also doing your own.)

[Collegeguy]

From my point of view of someone that's never done real physical labor, they don't even compare. Of course physical work will always be harder. The reason I say they don't compare is because I think the definition of difficulty is different for each one. If I had to give a definition of "difficulty" for both types I'd say it means strain on the body, which obviously means physical is harder.

Are there really people that are so inept at using their brain that academic work is actually a bigger strain on them...? That sounds crazy to me, and it's very scary to imagine being that kind of person honestly. I don't really mean this as an insult either. People that are good at physical work can be just as useful as those good at academics. It's just so foreign to me to think of physical work as being easier or even equal work.

Also, referring to an earlier post, I think it's very naive to think that the actual difficulty of a job is proportional to the money made from it. If anything I think they're completely unattached in the USA. That is, just because a job doesn't pay much, that doesn't mean it's not a hard job. However, I think the poster above me has it right in that it's about exclusivity.

But why would difficulty be connected to strain or pain.

[Deleted]

It's not like there is an absolute truth to this question. What is "difficult" anyway?

The difference is probably more like - in which field are you most often faced with cost sensitive decisions that require a lot of analytical forework. You're not really faced with that in a physical labour position - most of those decisions will have been taken beforehand by.. an academic - either an engineer, an architect or something up that alley.

However, if you ask that same academic to come and lay down a foundation or bend the girders in place for a concrete wall, I'd say they're pretty lost in much the same way as mr. cement is lost if you ask him to start calculating whatever the engineer is doing. Everything is difficult if you don't know how.

[Todgruppe]

The proof is in the pudding; as many as 50% of people born with a genius level of intelligence never graduate from High-school.

Why do they need lower education systems, when they can teach themselves faster? Genius's that drop out are out of boredom, most public education system's aren't equipped to handle "genius" level.

Both depend on what you do in terms of both, do you enjoy writing mindless reports in a job you can't stand? I don't, but some thing "academic" I do enjoy, others not so much. Same goes with physical labor. People find things they don't like or are not prepared to handle harder, and things they are equipped to handle easier. Human Nature.

[starlord]

those are very broad categories.. the craftsman or technician may do "physical labor" that requires more thought & skill than the worker drone in the cubicle writing reports.

[Gheld]

Here's something we can all agree on:

It takes a hard working genius to design an internal combustion engine.

It takes a hard working genius to build an internal combustion engine.

We've all met dumb paper pushers and dumb wrench turners but I don't think I've ever met a dumb engineer or a dumb mechanic.

[Deleted]

When you're accountable for the results of the work (self-employed, studying etc.), academic labour is harder.

However, when you're not accountable for the results of the work (cog in the corporate machine), physical labour is much more exhausting.

[Deleted]

Here's something we can all agree on:

It takes a hard working genius to design an internal combustion engine.

It takes a hard working genius to build an internal combustion engine.

We've all met dumb paper pushers and dumb wrench turners but I don't think I've ever met a dumb engineer or a dumb mechanic.

Building an engine is amazingly simple. Designing it is not, that's an academic problem.

And I find this really interesting. Assuming you can do both, and in my case I can and do, people seem to be leaning to academic work being more difficult even when compared with labor intensive work.

What about skilled labor? For example carpentry? It's a blending of the two I grant you, so which category does it fit in or does it straddle both?

[Stuffs]

Depends on skill level partially. But I think theyre hard in their own ways.

A journeyman or master carpenter is on a whole other level as some random ditch digger. And the best of the best inventors or what have you are on a whole other level from some random guy filing TPS reports.

At the end of the day, it really depends on individual ability and skills. I've done both, and I do both, and they both push me in separate but equal ways. A guy naturally built for physical work, will find physical work easier, and vice versa for mental.

[Collegeguy]

because you're not taking into account a lot of factors.

anyone with a working brain stem can be a coal miner because the only requirement is the physical labor. Not everyone can be an engineer because it requires intelligence.

Being a coal miner requires a limited amount of training. Being an engineer can take 4 to 8 years of training.

The difference however is that the more you know about engineering, the easier it gets because you know more about it. Physical labor never gets easier, and in fact, with age it only becomes much much harder.

I don't think I can agree with that. I think they both get relatively easier as you get older, assuming you're in the same career path, because experience is something valued. Usually, someone working in labor will get promoted as he gets older to less labor intensive work because he has experience in the company. Likewise, the Academic will get promoted or receive a higher salary because his experience is valued, and they allow all the new employees to come in that know more about computers, technology, and management information systems because they are a younger, creative, tech-generation. That puts pressure on the old guys.

[muto]

Academic by far. I don't find picking something up, and moving it for instance difficult, or swinging a hammer all day, or pouring concrete.

[Stuffs]

Academic by far. I don't find picking something up, and moving it for instance difficult, or swinging a hammer all day, or pouring concrete.

Using that logic, we'd compare it to a basic cubical worker. You're comparing the bottom 1% which a monkey can do.

[Bigbazz]

Neither, I'l be honest I didn't much enjoy university (well atleast not the studying part!), it wasnt for me. I like to learn on my own terms in my own direction, and I'm definitely more of a hands on guy. But that said, I worked as a carpenter for a year with a friend and while I found that easier (or maybe just less stressful) It would not be something I'd want to do for a Career.

I used to teach guitar, and found that you need a lot of patience to teach, again this wasnt for me and I stopped doing it. I think to be honest work in general is just work and if you don't really enjoy it then its work, regardless of academic or manual. Making music is what I love to do, I don't consider it work even if that is my chosen career path.


I don't find either harder, but if anything since you can switch off while doing manual labour, unless its some really intense heavy work, manual labour is easier.

[RadmaKanow]

Hard to compare. Which is harder:
- digging a .5m deep row all day long using a shovel only
or
- writing a book about magnetic field transmutation within the influence of gamma radiation and gravitation fluctuation of a black hole?

- writing an MA thesis
or
- assembling an oil rig somewhere on a Barents Sea in January.

Both type of work can be light or hard - too much variables.

[Deleted]

Hard to compare. Which is harder:
- digging a .5m deep row all day long using a shovel only
or
- writing a book about magnetic field transmutation within the influence of gamma radiation and gravitation fluctuation of a black hole?

- writing an MA thesis
or
- assembling an oil rig somewhere on a Barents Sea in January.

Both type of work can be light or hard - too much variables.

That´s the point !! You really can´t compare physical labour with academic because there are so many different jobs that you would need to consider that it is just impossible comparing it.

[Twoflower]

Mental labor is more difficult, physical labor makes you more tired.

[Deleted]

Both are too different to compare really. For instance i'm considered smart but if you asked me to do the plumbing of a house i'd have no idea what to do. Different skills for different people.

[Larynx]

Are we talking theoretical physicist or college student for Academic?

I'd say both are hard for someone who isn't experienced in it. You tire very quickly building a house if you don't work out or have muscles, but you also tire very quickly if you try to figure out quantum physics if you didn't even finish highschool.

---------- Post added 2012-01-16 at 09:21 AM ----------

Mental labor is more difficult, physical labor makes you more tired.

I'd say this sort of sums it up for me, if I had to decide.

[Laize]

I voted physical only because 'academic' is schoolwork.

The men in offices have it pretty damn tough. The higher up the chain you go the more hours they work and the more stress is in their lives. With physical labor you show up, do your job, go home. Do that forever.

With office work you show up, do your job, worry about deadlines and go back home. You also have to present reports and possibly make really tough calls that you don't want to make. Most people in physical labor jobs never have to deal with something like firing someone.