Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Several posts and threads discuss the downsides of the Biden Administration paying people to stay home, out of the workforce. Of course, people tend to do what you pay them to do.
Here's an interesting piece on The American Work Ethic.
Here is the introduction to the article:
Is the American Work Ethic Dying?
This week, surveying the gulf between the millions of jobs available in the U.S. and the startlingly smaller number of people taking them, President Biden said, “People will come back to work if they’re paid a decent wage.”
But what if he’s wrong? What if his $300 unemployment insurance bonus on top of the checks sent directly to millions of people (which began during the Trump presidency) turns out to be a big, long-term mistake?
It’s now clear that Mr. Biden and the left expect these outlays effectively to raise the minimum wage by forcing employers to compete with Uncle Sam’s money. Still, it is impossible not to be struck by how many employers say that former and prospective employees—after a year of forced unemployment—simply will not work.
Greg Brown, president of W.W. Cannon in Dallas, told the Journal that despite offering wages up to $30 an hour, “you just can’t find people; people aren’t willing to come to work.”
Refusal to work is something new in the U.S.
Ideas have consequences. By making unemployment insurance competitive with market wage rates in a pandemic, the Biden Democrats may have done long-term damage to the American work ethic.
We are seeing this in meatpacking. We’ve raised wages We’ve have a 4 percent dollar for dollar match on 401k. We subsidize not just most of the employees insurance but plus 1 and children as well. However the work is hard. It’s easier to sit at home. However even that isn’t the main cause. The main absorption is that the market for cash jobs is very hit at the moment. Suddenly a cash job paying 12 with no benefits of plus unemployment with all benefits for free is tremendously more appealing than simply working an up and up job. So the effect is expanding the grey market forcing out some market participants who are legal. Lots of people moving to unregulated and uninsured grey labor.
We are seeing this in meatpacking. We’ve raised wages We’ve have a 4 percent dollar for dollar match on 401k. We subsidize not just most of the employees insurance but plus 1 and children as well. However the work is hard. It’s easier to sit at home. However even that isn’t the main cause. The main absorption is that the market for cash jobs is very hit at the moment. Suddenly a cash job paying 12 with no benefits of plus unemployment with all benefits for free is tremendously more appealing than simply working an up and up job. So the effect is expanding the grey market forcing out some market participants who are legal. Lots of people moving to unregulated and uninsured grey labor.
I think that what you are saying is that many people would rather draw a steady check from the government for not working and then work a lower paying job on the side for CASH rather than work a higher paying job with benefits that likely would require them to pay taxes. That doesn't surprise me at all.
However, there is a remedy for that. It's called "imprisonment" for tax evasion for the non-reporting of taxable income. And it's called "welfare fraud" for claiming/receiving government assistance which they aren't entitled to (due to their work income). If the government would crack down on these abuses, there wouldn't be nearly so much of it, and there would be plenty of workers to fill these jobs. However, it seems that the current government is more concerned with buying your vote and less concerned with how taxpayer money is spent in doing so.
Until/Unless we are willing to face the OVERpopulation issue and it's effect of supplying
far more warm bodies than are needed at all levels (mostly toward the bottom but it's climbing)..
in order to align labor supply with labor demand so there is a market based reason to be paid better...
what's the motivation ??
Immediate Term: Get the deadwood out of the equation and the employment statistics.
Longer Term: Get the population numbers down generally.
The work-ethic cannot die in Corporations where a hire and fire status quo is the norm. They are mainly low-skilled from warehousing, distribution to supermarkets. Where speed is computer graded and a employee who makes more the at least minimum wage and not those teens hired to just stand around and watch up from in the grocery store.
Many know in these blue-collar jobs with no Unions even.... where their life-blood is their computerized speed and accuracy. If one looks into many kinds of companies.... the % of those who remain employed and not fired.... in their first year even may be much lower then some believe.
Also huge is missing days of work is a sure road of course to firing. That is under work-ethics... though most have a point of life they may have issues family or themselves and missing time still counts against them. Best hope was the Obama pass Leave of Absence that must be offered. It did help save some jobs .... just you have NO PAY During that time off. Some just cannot and they lose a job.
We did not create a under-class overnight. Still many I have seen over the years. Did have life's issues send them into a HIGH RISK of Job loss and did. That sometimes for ones with no degrees especially to take for life.... find starting over a financial burden in lost income to lower pay at a time in life their debt is highest.
So those saying THIS COVID ERA UNEMPLOYMENT aspect of some remaining on it longer.... AS IF A NEW SOCIAL LAZINESS??? Well once it ends it ends. Then but for some safeguards of aid when losing a job, normal unemployment and of those who are eligible for Federal and State assistance and even some by non-profit organizations that can be local. It is back to normal.... still so many people have social issues it is unbelievable.... their life is turmoil and they find it harder the those who can easily have the Drive, Ambition and Energy and move forwards leaving the rest behind and labeling them.
The case for soooo easy not to work is waaaay overblown for political demonizing. This COVID ERA IS GOING TO END. Their extra- $300 unemployment and Stimulus will also end and be spent as the poorer QUICKLY SPEND IT.
Still just like Wealthy who use Tax shelters, havens, exemptions and Corporate Welfare to relocate etc. ALL WANT THEIR>>>> WHATEVER I CAN GET I DESERVE ATTITUDE. Some of us JUST KEEP A WORK-ETHIC and do not look for every break to not work or pay - taxes in life. For some IT IS A GAME OF AVOIDING.... work and taxes.
Then demonize any Party or entity who might take it away or limit it as our Agenda.
I'm sure industries that use lots of migrants/immigrants (farming/meatpacking/etc) will be fine if we keep the spigot open once Covid fades, or even reform migrant labor. The retail/hospitality industry is facing a different issue.
Small businesses' employees often rely on tips without any benefits or few benefits while Chipotle or Amazon can pay a decent wage and offer minimal benefits. Childcare, maternity leave, health insurance are things that will hopefully have a public backbone in order to remove that burden.
So no, I don't work ethic is changing but labor is changing.
Personally, and I am not even a millennial, I am starting to think it needs to die on the vine. The entire system is broken.
It used to be that you could make a ok living wage at a blue collar job. But you can't anymore. Of course that isn't anyone's fault with other countries in the world perfectly willing to take advantage of their people to gain cheap labor, how can you compete and pay a good wage in here?
At the same time it seems 99% of people have degrees that put them into debt but gave them no skills and now it is is basically a situation where HR is just trying to bat people off from applying for jobs..
There is a reason so many millennials are in the Universal Basic Income camp. Maybe it is the solution. I feel Biden and the other dems know exactly what they are doing and will pivot to this suggestion. Who knows.. maybe that is the best solution...
Several posts and threads discuss the downsides of the Biden Administration paying people to stay home, out of the workforce. Of course, people tend to do what you pay them to do.
Here's an interesting piece on The American Work Ethic.
Here is the introduction to the article:
Is the American Work Ethic Dying?
This week, surveying the gulf between the millions of jobs available in the U.S. and the startlingly smaller number of people taking them, President Biden said, “People will come back to work if they’re paid a decent wage.”
But what if he’s wrong? What if his $300 unemployment insurance bonus on top of the checks sent directly to millions of people (which began during the Trump presidency) turns out to be a big, long-term mistake?
It’s now clear that Mr. Biden and the left expect these outlays effectively to raise the minimum wage by forcing employers to compete with Uncle Sam’s money. Still, it is impossible not to be struck by how many employers say that former and prospective employees—after a year of forced unemployment—simply will not work.
Greg Brown, president of W.W. Cannon in Dallas, told the Journal that despite offering wages up to $30 an hour, “you just can’t find people; people aren’t willing to come to work.”
Refusal to work is something new in the U.S.
Ideas have consequences. By making unemployment insurance competitive with market wage rates in a pandemic, the Biden Democrats may have done long-term damage to the American work ethic.
Lol, the Plantation Owners want their Slaves back but those Slaves are enjoying higher standard of living staying at home and collecting unemployment. No one wants to a be a Wage Slave anymore.
American work ethic is dying because work ethic is a stupid concept.
Here is why I think "work ethic is dying" across all socioeconomic levels.
The younger generations don't care about stuff or making tons of money. All they really care about now is their connection to the internet and the devices connected to it. They also care about a small close knit group of friends and family who share their beliefs.
Older generations worked 60 hours a week so they could could buy huge mc mansions and put a boat they use 3 times a year or a motorcycle they ride less than a thousand miles a year on credit card.
All the younger generations want is a small place with a good internet connection and enough money to survive and go to dutch brothers ocassionaly. They saw how older generations were bad with money and decided that work ethic dosen't equal wealth so what is the point of working so hard.
I'm 40 now. I used to drive newer cars, have a big house and lots of toys but after losing so much money on all of it. I decided to give it all up. I found the more I worked the more depreciating crap I bought, thus necesitating me to work more to pay for said depricating crap. I broke the cycle. My wife did as well.
Now I have several ground rules.
1. 1 year expendetures in savings at all times no exceptions. (60 k cash) + emergency fund (10K)
2. Credit card with less than a 10% intrest rate and the balance must be payed off within 30 days. I only use it on rare occasions.
3. Cars will cost no more than 10k dollars and must be paid for in cash. There is never a good reason to buy a car worth more than 10k.
4. Any toys will be bought with cash. No financing.
5. 10% 401k
6. 10% to index funds and other investments.
7. Pay of debts anytime I get a tax refund or money that wasn't originally bugeted for.
When I put these simple rules in place it was tough but 4 years later I stopped working 50-60 hours a week because I had a good level of comfort. And I never missed the keeping up with the jones game. Now I am fine with working only 30 hours a week. Sometimes my work forces me to go places because there is no one else and the company would lose money if I don't go so I gladly do. But more often than not I turn down big high dollar jobs because I have money in savings and no debt other than a house so I don't feel pressured to work.
I think a lot of professionals (and non professionals as well) are turning to a more minimalistic life style that dosen't require as much work or as high of paycheck. Now so much can be done on a computer or in the comfort of your own home that you don't have to spend as much money as you used to. Also there are a lot of high wage earners who belive in the FIRE movement.
It can be summed up like this:
more stuff acquired > requires more money > which requires more work.
less/cheaper stuff acquired > requires less money> which requires less work.
Also, Work just sucks.
1. Your not garunteed your job will be there next year, there is no loyalty from the employer. Most workers have to nervously watch the stock price of their company or look for news that some vc firm is going to buy the company and install draconian workplace rules or just shut the whole thing down together.
2. Benefits get worse every year. Pensions have been gutted. Medical Insurance gets worse and costs more every year. Stock or share plans keep being revamped to benifit the company.
3. More and more regulations regarding PPE and workplace safety because companies are so afraid of lawsuits. I worked for a company that would not let you drive your own car to go to a workplace mandated appointment.
4. Companies constantly change the metric of success to get more production for the same cost with less people.
5. Most employees don't get raises that keep up with inflation. People have realized what a bad deal being salaried is. Once you work out the dollar/hour equivilent you find it's pretty low pay.
6. CEOs get huge bailouts even when the company performs poorly. Wall Street and the financial industries have ruined the american work place. 20,000 people lost jobs,but the CEO gets rewarded because he pumped the stock price before it too fell of a cliff. Dennis Muilenburg, Bill McGuire, Lee Raymond, Jack Welch, the list goes on and on. When employees are fired for a minor offense they don't even get unemployment.
7. If you are in a service industry, the customers are rude and dumb and act like elitist snots if you displease them in anyway. In the service industry they keep hours low so they don't have to pay benefits. Which is in my opinion is unethical.
Work schedules are all over the place because they try to keep hours to a minimum. So you could work 8-5 monday then 12-9PM the next day then need to be in at 6AM the next. Then you could go 3 or 4 days with out working. Because of low hours and not wanting to give benefits the paycheks are low $4-500 if that, The average apartment is now 700 dollars/mo., how can you live on that. It's ridiculous how bad this country treats service industry workers.
So I think it is easy to understand why "work ethic" is dying in this country.
It's gotten to the point where if you can find a way to work less you are seen as more successful.
American work ethic is dying because work ethic is a stupid concept. .
Great post.
I think things are going to get worse when after a year of working from home, managers try to impose no telework.
I had a meeting this week with my managers and it appears right now, they are putting things into place to make it so will never be able to telework again.
This is probably the only thing that could make me walk. The offense of that. My life was just so stupendously better and they got more work out of me... and they are just going to go back to the old way,,,, cause? That is so offensive it can't lead to anything but real anger from employees.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
