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That’s awesome if the point of the job is entertainment, but if the work is actually just removing nails from a board, it doesn’t really matter if people stop and gawk, in fact that’d be a detriment as they’d get in the way. And the value difference between the guy removing nails for 20 years and the guy who’s been on the job for an hour is close to nil. As long as the nails come out in a reasonable time, that’s all that matters. And because removing nails from boards is not something that takes any inherent skill, somebody who’s been on the job for an hour will be proficient at the job.
When talking about skilled work vs unskilled work, the definition isn’t “Something you can get better at”, it’s “Something you must get better at to do the job sufficiently”
Sufficiently, proficient - too arbitrary. There's "skill" associated with all work and therefore all work is skilled work. There's value in people being good at virtually every kind of work (excluding vulture capitalism, etc.)
EDIT: Also FWIW, if think there's no difference between the 1 hour vs. 20 year nail puller, my guess is you're never been even REMOTELY close to this kind of work in your life.
You can split hairs all day and night about how anything from pulling nails from a board, to not pooping your pants at work is technically a “skill” according to the strictest dictionary definition, but to put all your pedantry aside for a moment, there is just no way to actually equate unskilled jobs with skilled jobs. They are just two different things, and the heart of it lies with how much skill is required as a floor to do that job.
If I could do your job adequately with no previous experience with a day’s worth of practice, it’s an unskilled job. If you could put 40 hours a week into education, training, and hands on experience in a job and after a full month you’re still not ready to do that job, that’s a skilled job.
EDIT: Is the heart of your issue that fact that you’re a full time board nail remover? Because that would explain where you’re coming from but it wouldn’t make you right. I think the healthiest conclusion to your train of thought is to understand and accept that the skill level of your job is not the be-all-end-all of the societal worth of your job, only the monetary worth, and money isn’t everything. I’ve worked low skill jobs for very little money that were far more meaningful than the highly skilled, well paying jobs I got later in life which contribute less than nothing to society.