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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.
Today's JOLTS numbers were just announced: 11.3 Million job openings -- another record. It is hand-to-hand combat trying to hire & retain good employees. Yes, making the jobs more attractive should certainly help to bring people back into the labor force. Yet at the same time, there is a growing segment of our population who effectively view participating in the economy as highly optional and highly transactional:
"Well, it looks like I'm gonna need about $X this week, so I'll work to earn $X dollars - and that's it."
With 11.3 Million job openings, it is clear we need to encourage immigration to match the skills needed in our economy.
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.
I think your economic analysis is excellent. However, what you fail to understand is that it has limitations.
Some jobs are difficult to analyze strictly in terms of profit and loss. I think the job of custodian is probably one of those jobs that is difficult to do that.
Janitor work like all work can be done more efficiently and there are people who do it better than others. However, what do clean buildings add to a corporation's bottom line? Probably not very much. Yet, most of us would refuse to work in a pig sty. We do this as humans because we have other values than strictly making money. Cleanliness and neatness has a value to many people that cannot necessarily be expressed in terms of profit. It does not mean there are not limits to how far we are willing to go in terms of cleanliness, but these standards are set as much by culture as by profit and loss. What I am expressing is the limit to utilitarian type thinking. It has its place and is important. It cannot and does not account for all human actions.
Frankly, I do not see why a custodian ought to be concerned with how much money he is making for a company. It is not his job. It is his job to do the best he can to keep premises clean and orderly. That is how is performance is judged and should be judged. If the performance is excellent than the custodian should receive periodic raises that reflect more than the mere cost of living.
Today's JOLTS numbers were just announced: 11.3 Million job openings -- another record. It is hand-to-hand combat trying to hire & retain good employees. Yes, making the jobs more attractive should certainly help to bring people back into the labor force. Yet at the same time, there is a growing segment of our population who effectively view participating in the economy as highly optional and highly transactional:
"Well, it looks like I'm gonna need about $X this week, so I'll work to earn $X dollars - and that's it."
With 11.3 Million job openings, it is clear we need to encourage immigration to match the skills needed in our economy.
All FAKE NEWS. Yes, job adds are up but none of those employers can afford or are unwilling to offer market clearing wage. No wonder people don’t want to work and accept those jobs.
There is no such a thing as a labor shortage. Americans are ready and available to work. What is missing is that employers can’t afford to pay market clearing wage because economy is weak at best. Phony and fake economy and what we witnessed last year was just another DEAD CAT BOUnCE from 2020 pandemic recession.
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.
Even when I was 16 working fast food, my co-workers were other teenagers. The day shift were women whose husbands had full time jobs. No one expected pay from one fast food job to pay the rent. It's the same where we live today. And even though we are in a low cost of living area, the pay is in the same range as you post above for your expensive area.
I'm wondering if some of the reason these jobs aren't being filled is that the family is still afraid of covid and don't want their children working. Or the high income families don't push their children to work and just give them spending money.
Even when I was 16 working fast food, my co-workers were other teenagers. The day shift were women whose husbands had full time jobs. No one expected pay from one fast food job to pay the rent. It's the same where we live today. And even though we are in a low cost of living area, the pay is in the same range as you post above for your expensive area.
I'm wondering if some of the reason these jobs aren't being filled is that the family is still afraid of covid and don't want their children working. Or the high income families don't push their children to work and just give them spending money.
I'm not sure. Some of the kids are definitely working. I suspect though that these are children of what I will call the "native population" or people who have lived there all their lives. There are just so many of these kids and some of them are probably attending the local university and not working. College is very competitive these days and I think some parents encourage kids to focus solely on their studies.
There's an odd dynamic in this community though. A huge proportion of the population are retired people with adult children who live somewhere else. I think one of the best options local businesses might have is to try to recruit among some of the older population. The thought has occurred to me that when I do retire, I may want something to do part time. I don't think I want to work at a counter serving fast food, but I probably would actually like to do some delivery work simply because I like driving. Recruiting won't be easy though. A lot of well-to-do people are in the retired population and aren't looking for any kind of work.
There are two actors in the labor market - employer and employee. If it takes offering 60K to fill a position, then that's the labor market putting a price tag on the job.
a. so long as the $60K paid produces $60K for the business, sure. Otherwise, the business has to eliminate or combine that function.
b. and so long as the employee-to-be makes that choice without relying on other unrelated people (which includes the government) to fund their lifestyle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA
Capitalism can't be expected to function if there isn't an impoverished reserve army of labor, now can it?
Of course it can. All those Silicon Valley companies pay great wages/compensation, and they make a ton of money producing something that obviously has "value". Folks may hate Wal-Mart, but for all their revenue and the "low wages" they pay, they still only make 3-4 cents on the dollar.
What you speak to is the "Robber Baron era" or "mill towns" when there was an intransient workforce and a small # of companies where the labor was "captive". That no longer exists due to a variety of advances.
Even when I was 16 working fast food, my co-workers were other teenagers. The day shift were women whose husbands had full time jobs. No one expected pay from one fast food job to pay the rent. It's the same where we live today. And even though we are in a low cost of living area, the pay is in the same range as you post above for your expensive area.
I'm wondering if some of the reason these jobs aren't being filled is that the family is still afraid of covid and don't want their children working. Or the high income families don't push their children to work and just give them spending money.
There are a lot of jobs that depend on low-wage workers. There are far too many jobs be filled just by teens. Additionally, many households are dual income households and it is also common for spouses to have similar career and income levels as opposed to one being the breadwinner. Therefore, most of those working at the Walmart are not just housewives working part-time but a key part of the household's income.
Some small businesses used to pay a better wage but online retail has forced prices down on many of the items these businesses sell. This requires them to keep labor costs as close to minimum wage as possible to stay in business. Big companies like Walmart may pay better than minimum wage, but they can't pay that much higher than minimum without driving up the costs of the items they sell. Since many of Walmart's customers are at or near the same wage rates as their employees they need to be extremely cost sensitive to be able to continue to meet the needs of their customers. The labor shortage has shown us that inflating wages often inflates the costs of the goods and services more than the wage increase itself leaving the recipient further behind.
Immigrants continue to be a key component of the American retail/service economy. A recent trip to Walmart in south Florida illustrated the point. If not for the large number of immigrant employees, they would have to shut the doors. The employees are a not taking a job from anyone as there still are a number of help wanted signs and Walmart and others would gladly welcome those interested to join their payroll.
It hasn't *really* shifted to the worker, though. It's just that housing is now beyind what the the working and middle classes can afford. There's no point to working a job that is not worth it to work. If working my career will not put a roof over my head, well, I'll go live with mom and doordash for 3 hours a day to afford food. Works out the same as being a teacher.
But now we're doing it to workers YOU need, who USED to be able to afford to live a few years ago. Your kids need teachers, right? You need a nurse when you go to the doctor's office, right?
In this case we're pricing out public education and basic services.
It's like the whole country is becoming Jackson Hole. Just read about housing cost in Miami going haywire. Florida, where it's supposed to be cheap and run by Republicans.
Who will serve those of you with money who want to be served? We can't all live in trailers.
Sort of. Some power has shifted to workers simply by virtue of the ratios:
Of course, this is a cyclical economic process. When the economy recedes again and unemployment is higher, the power will shift back to employers as it always has.
There is a severe lack of people who can add, write and speak properly with tattoos all over there face and rings hanging from their nose.
Have you ever asked yourself why micky d's cash registers have pictures? I guess you never had to stand in line waring for the cashier to count 1,2,3,4,5 etc making change?
Parents have failed their role as parents and want to best fiends instead of making sure they stay in school and learn the basic skills to work in our society.
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