At a young age, you are told you need to go to college in order to earn a nice living. However, in the current labor market, white-collar professionals who earned a four-year degree are having a challenging time finding jobs, and must contend with substantial student debt.
While there may be a cultural stigma around traditional blue-collar roles, especially toward the food services and hospitality sectors, this cohort is doing relatively well. The current labor shortages in blue-collar industries have inflated wages for workers in housekeeping, fast-food chains and big-box stores, where they can earn upward to $100k per year.
List Of Well-Paying Jobs In Hospitality, Food Services And Retail
1. Housekeeping For The Rich
Wealthy Americans moving to Florida from high-tax states, like New York, are driving up demand and salaries for household staff, including housekeepers, nannies, chefs and estate managers in affluent areas, such as Palm Beach.
Due to bidding wars for experienced staff, housekeepers in the wealthy Florida enclaves can now command salaries up to $150,000 per year, with hourly rates of $45 to $50 for skilled labor, CNBC reported.
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“I have been placing staff for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said April Berube, founder of the Wellington Agency, which recruits household staff in Palm Beach, Miami, New York and other locations. “We’ve seen such a boom from people relocating, especially Palm Beach and Miami. For housekeepers, it’s wonderful. For us it’s extremely difficult. It’s a severe shortage.”
2. Walmart Store Manager
Walmart has significantly increased the earning potential for its workers through performance bonuses and new stock grants. This allows top store managers to earn over $400,000 per year in total compensation without a college degree, according to NBC News. Walmart is aiming to better compensate and retain talented store managers who run its multimillion-dollar stores.
The average base salary for Walmart store managers is $128,000 per year. Store managers can earn bonuses of up to 200% of their base salary based on performance, potentially reaching over $400,000 in total annual compensation, said John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., in a video posted on LinkedIn. Specifically, the total compensation range for Walmart store managers is $90,000 to $170,000 for base salary, plus bonuses.
As of April 2024, top-performing store managers are eligible for $20,000 in annual stock grants on top of their salary and bonuses. Market managers who oversee groups of stores can start at $130,000 base salary plus equity compensation.
“We ask our managers to own their roles and act like owners, and now they’ll literally be owners,” Furner said in the announcement video.
3. Costco Store Manager
General Managers at Costco were earning an average base pay of over $106,000 per year, with a range of nearly $50,000 to $180,000 in 2019, Fox Business reported. At the time, warehouse managers were making between $52,000 to $146,000 annually, while assistant managers earned around $85,000. These base salaries don't include additional compensation like bonuses, stocks and commissions, which can add around $8,000 more per year.
4. McDonald's Store Manager
General managers at McDonald's earn an estimated total pay range of $59,000 to $85,000 per year, which includes base salary and additional compensation, Glassdoor data reveals. They can earn upward to $8,000 per year in cash bonuses, stock, commission profit sharing or tips.
Regional restaurant managers make an average base salary of $111,024 at the fast-food chain. Operations managers at McDonald's can earn an estimated $102,914 per year, including $90,091 in base salary and $12,823 in bonuses, according to data from workplace culture and compensation monitoring platform Comparably.
5. Home Depot Store Manager
The total compensation for Home Depot store managers can range from approximately $134,000 to $206,000 per year, including base salary and additional pay, according to Glassdoor. The average base pay is $104,000 per year, and the potential to earn $60,000 per year in cash bonus, stock, commission, profit sharing or tips.
Moving Up The Ranks
With dedication, hard work and a strategic mindset, it is absolutely possible to start from an entry-level position and work your way up to the highest ranks of a company.
The path to the C-suite is not an easy one, but those who demonstrate exceptional performance, leadership capabilities and a deep understanding of the business can steadily climb the corporate ladder. It requires a relentless commitment to continuous learning, taking on increasingly challenging roles, delivering outstanding results and developing a broad skill set that spans multiple disciplines.
Those who cultivate strong relationships, build credibility through their expertise and exhibit the vision and decision-making acumen that top executives need will position themselves as prime candidates for C-level roles, including chief executive.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon's career began in 1984 when he was 17 years old, unloading trucks at a Walmart distribution center in Arkansas for $6.50 an hour. After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a business administration degree, and later earning an MBA from the University of Tulsa, McMillon held various roles within the company, including store assistant in Tulsa and fishing tackle buyer at HQ in 1991.
He was promoted through the ranks and joined the C-suite in 2005, before being appointed CEO in 2014. McMillon is Walmart's youngest chief executive since Sam Walton, the company's founder.
Former Costco CEO Craig Jelinek's journey at the company began at the ground level. In 1984, Jelinek joined Costco as a warehouse manager and would continue to serve in various management positions in warehouse operations.
This hands-on experience likely provided him with a deep understanding of the store’s operations and Costco’s culture, which landed him in the C-suite in 2004 where he was the COO and subsequently promoted as the head of the company.
