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I wish kids behaved better myself. However, I see all these comments as having little to nothing to do with why we have a shortage of employees for jobs. Here are some reasons why--perhaps--there is a shortage of workers for some jobs.
Both my children are now working in decent jobs that even have benefits. However, I remember some of the crap they went through in the past trying to find work during summers. Employers would advertise jobs when all they were really trying to do was gather a bank of employment applications for emergencies. I remember it was very common to tell the young people they had a thirty hour a week job and than send them home a couple of hours early everyday to save a little money for the boss. Actual working hours were more like 20 hours a week than thirty. Had my children known this it would have influenced their decision to find another job and work somewhere else.
The reality is that this period of time has given many workers something they lacked for years: A little big of bargaining power. As a result, wages are rising and many people don't have to take any job at any wage rate no matter how bad it is. This is probably a very unpleasant change for many employers and I am sure they don't like it. My advice to them is this: Make the job more attractive. This can be done with higher wages, better working conditions, or the addition of benefits. Lots of people are interested in working a decent job.
Get back with us when the service jobs are being filled by the little kids being raised today.
Get back to me when the problems I mentioned are solved.
No skills/entry level doesn't translate to zero respect, but it does generally translate to low pay and not many benefits. One needs to grow, make oneself more profitable, more critical to a boss's success in general, and pay typically increases.
And hey, at least I answered you. You may not like my answers, and you may not agree with them, but I did answer you.
I researched single-payer systems in a couple of countries. In Sweden, timely appointments don't happen, except for emergencies or critical cases. People don't even use the "free" health care for lesser complaints. They have a variety of home remedies for colds, flu, stomach upsets and various things, and if that's not enough, some have med care savings accounts, so they can pay cash for the doctors that don't take insurance, who will see patients right away. You're right, that timely appointments are the first thing to go with "free" health care. I've heard this is true of the VA hospitals and clinics.
The OTC drug options are often significantly more powerful in European countries. The stuff we bought in Germany for a sinus infection packed like five times the power of Afrin in the USA and sent me from ‘intense stabbing ice pick sensation in my cheekbone’ to very functional if a bit hyper in about ten minutes. And I’ve seen paracetamol (Tylenol) with codeine on open shelves at UK grocery stores.
I went to Five Guys the other week for lunch with a friend. I was amazed they had a hiring sign advertising a rate of $17.49 an hour. I worked at McDonald's about 25 years ago at 16, and it was around $4.25 starting. Using the BLS calculator, it would be around $8 today (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm)
My cousin's kid is 21. Doesn't work. Doesn't go to school and doesn't really interact much when we go to visit. He just stays in the room, plays video games and is on his computer. We mentioned a place that was hiring and his first question was, is the work easy? He doesn't drive. He took one credit course at the local community college. He did work a job for a short time before covid closed it down permanently, but required someone pick him up and drop him off. I'm just amazed the kind of thinking some folks have. I guess when you have things provided for you, there really isn't motivation to do more.
At his age, I didn't have a college degree but I had some computer certifications and was getting paid around 28k, approximately 45k in today's dollars. I was a government contractor flying around the country doing IT related migrations. Even without a college degree, I was able to make a good income and more jobs followed. My friend who had gone to college, were coming out of college making similar money but with no experience and college debt.
I see folks panhandling in the median at traffic lights, but then I go into stores and see these hiring signs. These jobs aren't the most glamorous, but they pay a wage. Maybe they're doing the math and they can make more money pan handling than doing these jobs. That's their prerogative I guess. I had come out of a store a few weeks ago and a guy asked me for some money since he was hungry. I don't carry cash, so I said I have a couple $5 gift cards to Chick-fil-a he could have. He turned it down lol.
No skills/entry level doesn't translate to zero respect, but it does generally translate to low pay and not many benefits. One needs to grow, make oneself more profitable, more critical to a boss's success in general, and pay typically increases.
And hey, at least I answered you. You may not like my answers, and you may not agree with them, but I did answer you.
I think what is going on is that the demand for unskilled labor has increased. The curve has shifted. Because of the law of supply and demand if burger places, stores etc. want staff they are going to have pay more to get staff. The fact that people are not lining up to take low wage jobs shows that they apparently have some options. Options even though enhanced unemployment benefits have run out almost everywhere and no more stimulus checks will be coming.
The city I am planning to retire too has a situation where there are many fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and mom and pop businesses. Virtually every one has a sign in front advertising for employees. They offer wage rates of between $13 an hour to about $15 an hour. What they leave out is the cost of renting any kind of housing is super expensive. I suspect they cannot fill a lot of these jobs because prospective employees have no place to find affordable housing. I don't know what they think they are going to do to get workers. I suspect they will end up raising wages further or just go out of business.
Another factor is the underground economy. When you can make a few hundred a day selling drugs, or your own body, you're not likely to be applying for a 9 to 5.
those folks were never in the traditional workforce any way
down the road none of these jobs will even be needed. It will just be a kiosk and machines making the fast food.
same with janitorial. down the road all the office people will just take out their trash and a machine will do most of the cleaning, IMO.
Beat me to it. I was going to say one word: robots. or I guess you could say automation.
I really would like to see people being paid enough to live on no matter what the job, but I think with something like fast food, if the wages go up enough to support the employee, then the price of a burger and fries might increase so much that customers just stop buying....I know I have....then the business goes belly up and everyone loses. It's a tough question.
is your question rhetorical? How in the world would I know how much I make for them?
Well, you say you'd like a job with the following characteristics:
Quote:
what I really want and what would make me really thinkg about moving on from my job is:
4-day work weeks
401k
Health coverage
more than $21/hr.
In order for an employer to offer that compensation package, you need to be able to generate enough profit for them to make your employment worthwhile.
I'm sure Mogul remembers you are a custodian (janitor). He analyzes things in terms of profit and loss.
Not quite. I analyze things in terms of economics, not profit & loss.
Many employees in our economy are overhead. Their personal reasoning goes something like this: "Everything costs more, so I should get a raise." That is flawed economic thinking, of course.
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