No one wants to be a doctor in New Zealand for $267,000 a year, but getting paid $100,000 to sift through giant rats, dead animals, and even human body parts is right up Noel Molina and Tony Sankar's alley. Both men made six figures as NYC garbage collectors last year (Molina $112,000 as a driver, Sankaer $100,000 as a helper), complete with health insurance and a 401(k), CNNMoney reports. And although not all trash workers rack up those kind of bucks, most enjoy a higher salary than not only many high school dropouts (with median earnings in 2013 of about $24,000, per the Department of Ed), but many high school grads ($30,000) and even some college grads ($48,500 for those with a bachelor's degree). Per the Department of Labor, the median annual wage for "refuse and recyclable materials collectors" is $33,600, with those in the top 10% pulling in $58,590. And if you're in a high-paying state, those wages are even more: In New York, for example, the annual mean wage is $52,570, or just over $25 per hour.
"We're one of the very few blue-collar jobs that can't be outsourced to China," the director of the Solid Waste Association of North America says.
"We're one of the very few blue-collar jobs that can't be outsourced to China," the director of the Solid Waste Association of North America says.
