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Far too many grew fond of sitting at home rather than going to work. I have seen on a website or two where people are looking for the best deals in charities and public assistance, but that isn't new, just more people thinking along those lines.
If one compares a lower wage (it was $10 an hour about 10 years ago), and public assistance that includes food stamps, Section 8 housing, Medicaid, a check one doesn't have to work for and other assistance (child care, free job training, free cell phone, etc.), the smart person with no work ethic can do about the same to better by staying in bed all day, and partying all night.
Cut the free goodies for those capable of work, and there is your work force!
All the extended COVID 19 unemployment benefits were eliminated several months ago by every state in the country. If employers are unable to attract employees, its probably because the wages are not competitive.
Well, since the person(s) with the upper hand (ie the applicant)are less informed on business module or labor laws . I find such employees need not apply.
There is still a healthy set of society that contributes , isn't complaining at the water cooler. Actually works!!
Learned to do more with less staff. Because the mindset of those applying here of late is one I find lazy, demanding and unable to comprehend work ethics. We don't need a body . We need an abled adult with sensibility, working their skills and being appreciated.
From what I've been told, $19 per hour in Oregon is basically minimum wage once you factor in the COL. That would explain why you have no takers. If your business model only works with people accepting rock bottom wages, then you have an obsolete system that in today's COVID 19 era, will force you out of business. Only those businesses that can survive while paying competitive wages will thrive. And that's probably for the best.
We're a school. We can only pay as much as the voters authorize the budget to handle. The business model is literally voted on by the public. I mean, Jesus Christ what do they want us to do? We get complaints about not offering services we used to but if we put tax increases on the ballot they'll vote us down. At some point I guess the public doesn't want the school?
But businesses are in the same boat. I've been in meetings with area employers; they're all facing the same problems. In fact they get mad at us for not producing more workers for them and we're like "look at our own staff! Produce newly trained workers for you using whom??"
At the end of the day, a custodian or a secretary or a faculty member or an administrator or a clerk, etc... is worth what they are worth. We pay consultants who tell us what these jobs are worth based on regional studies and then we also have negotiations, that's how the salaries get set. We then put it to the public to vote on. Very few of our jobs are worth what it costs to buy a 700k house when 5 years ago they cost 350k and was well within the realm of possibility for our workers to afford. That's the fundamental problem.
Last edited by redguard57; 03-12-2022 at 04:28 PM..
So here, in Australia, the biggest factor seems to be the closure of the borders for so long which stopped the importing of a lot of labour. I also know a couple of people who were over retirement age, lost their jobs early on in 2020 and have realised they are happy to be retired.
We are desperate for aged care staff but I suspect that is the case in many countries.
I suspect these anecdotes are the tip of the spear, as it were, of there being too much wealth at the high end. As the lower classes get drained of wealth, it crimps the producer-consumer money circulation because the wealthy consume a smaller fraction of their income than the lower classes. This siphons money out of circulation and locks it up in investments with a longer time horizon, or of dubious value. If companies cannot raise prices because their consumers are tapped out, then they cannot raise wages and consumers' balance sheets cannot be healed. A catch-22.
Fordism is the way out, but that requires enlightened employers at a mass scale, which is never going to happen. Economies can get stuck in slow- or no-growth periods because of too much greed at the top. IMO the inflation we're seeing and the labor shortages are just high-level feedback loops correcting for too much wealth at the top.
We're a school. We can only pay as much as the voters authorize the budget to handle. The business model is literally voted on by the public. I mean, Jesus Christ what do they want us to do? We get complaints about not offering services we used to but if we put tax increases on the ballot they'll vote us down. At some point I guess the public doesn't want the school?
But businesses are in the same boat. I've been in meetings with area employers; they're all facing the same problems. In fact they get mad at us for not producing more workers for them and we're like "look at our own staff! Produce newly trained workers for you using whom??"
At the end of the day, a custodian or a secretary or a faculty member or an administrator or a clerk, etc... is worth what they are worth. We pay consultants who tell us what these jobs are worth based on regional studies and then we also have negotiations, that's how the salaries get set. We then put it to the public to vote on. Very few of our jobs are worth what it costs to buy a 700k house when 5 years ago they cost 350k and was well within the realm of possibility for our workers to afford. That's the fundamental problem.
In fairness to you, the public education system is hanging on by a thread now. Down here in Texas, to say that school teacher salaries have not kept pace with COL would be an understatement. Now factor in the student loans that most are saddled with, and it's now on the verge of becoming financial suicide to even contemplate a career in education. You would never dream of getting rich as a teacher, but now you can really destroy yourself financially. Dont be surprised if we see a massive shortage of teachers even after COVID goes away as the older teachers retire and the young have been warned off and stay away.
To the larger question, people cant jump up and down screaming for capitalism but then complain when it works the way it's supposed to. Employers are generally looking to pay the lowest amount for capable workers. Employees are generally looking for the highest paying jobs in exchange for their skills. For as long as I've been alive, it's always been tilted in the employer's benefit. People would go back to school again and again to improve skills for a constantly decreasing lower paying job. In the past, I've seen where a front office receptionist job paying $12/hr would require a college degree. Careers in law, some of the hard sciences, pharmacy have basically been gutted. Workers at the mercy of employers.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot, the rabbit has the gun. Sorry employers, welcome to the world of the workers.
In my area the labor shortage is so bad that it is affecting operational sustainability.
Where I work we used to get 100-200 apps for ONE position. Now we struggle to get 10, many postings get less than 6 when they're open for a month+ and half are not qualified.
The businesses in my area cannot stay open, the managers & owners are basically doing everything. Some retailers, e.g. the Walgreens near me, simply said they are no longer open evenings or weekends. 8:30-5:30 M-F: it's the manager, one worker and one pharmacist running the whole store.
It appears to be a problem in all sectors but somewhat less acute in IT.
We are now 6+ months out from the "free money" spigots being turned off. Where the hell did everyone go?
I wonder about this too. Not in the lofty positions, but why can’t a drive through hire competent people? They used to be able to, but what has changed?
Fortunately, my grandchildren are college graduates and have been hired for good jobs out of college. What happens to the kids who just want to work their way through college, or just work after high school? Apparently, they don’t give a **** at any of the drive thru burger places I’ve frequented lately.
The job is worth what it's worth...I don't blame them but it is not feasible to pay them double what the labor market says the job is worth.
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.
All the extended COVID 19 unemployment benefits were eliminated several months ago by every state in the country. If employers are unable to attract employees, its probably because the wages are not competitive.
There is an active anti work "strike" with people not applying to crud jobs or actively quitting.
Pay better, you will get applications.
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