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perception of how serious or demanding the job is
Support worker for people with learning disabilities and mental health needs is serious and demanding, much moreso than most people's work, they get paid fuck all. You advertise that job for £100k and people would assume it's a misprint or cabbage pickers getting £1000 an hour are all over the papers. What is valued with high wages isn't necessarily the hardest work, Low paid workers aren't less hard workers or under less stress, probably moreso, if from slightly different directions. People doing low paid jobs don't always have much in the way of progression out of them, and a step up from £16000 to £20k can seem like a lot, so wages up there at £80k and beyond can seem like they're for other people. I don't think that's right but it's the way you get treated and it becomes pretty ingrained and internalised, I'm glad you don't feel that way yourself.
snottyotter-
I agree with that, but I really doubt that the thing putting more low paid people off being an MP is the fact the pay is high, rather than all the other really obvious stresses, threats to personal safety, requirement for party political allegiance, etc.
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Support worker for people with learning disabilities and mental health needs is serious and demanding
That's a reasonably well paid job over here, it might even be too well paid as it's attracting all kinds of venal underqualified lowlifes to an industry they shouldn't be in... There's a shortage of trained staff and a lack of regulations so the sector is full of shady people on the make...
Back to square one...
andyfallsoff
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Fair points, I guess I just think that the barriers stopping people from more diverse backgrounds being MPs are highly unlikely to be the fact that it seems too well paid. Being put off higher paid jobs (if it happens) seems to be more to do with a perception of how serious or demanding the job is, but I really doubt that goes away for an MP even if they’re paid far less - everyone can see the stress, pressure, public scrutiny, so won’t think ‘ah it is within my scope as salary is reasonable’.