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If we don't get people back to work in key manufacturing, transportation, and service jobs we are in serious trouble. There needs to be an emergency summit of global business leaders to find a way to get things flowing. One possible solution could be to appeal to retired workers to fill critical positions with no penalty to SS or medicare for additional earnings.
I totally agree with this - I have had to cut off my Survivor Benefits via SS because of the cap on earnings till I am 67 (I am 60). I have made too much money so far this year. I had to figure out how to work part time and come in right under the cut off of under $20,000 a year which frankly I think is RIDICULOUS, especially since I just recently found out that they count IRA distributions as income.
Look, I don't mind working without benefits and part time or whatever, but dang it, now I am losing my SS benefits till the end of the year because after May I wll be making too much money per year. I am great right now at aged 60 but will I be able or willing to make more money at aged 67? I think the whole charade is ridiculous.
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?
Because of two factors:
1) Unemployment is at historical lows. Which means jobs a lot better than working a cash register at Walgreens are going begging. And God help you if you are located in an area with a high cost of living. Because the middle-class and lower-income workers have skeddadled.
2) With the accelerating retirement of baby boomers, we are facing up to demographic reality, where there are not enough workers. Especially if you live in a place where there are not enough young workers.
There are layoffs among office workers,those who work for financial services and IT,also AMZN is laying off warehouse workers as it has too much capacity
Something else I've noticed is how big corporations are using their so-called inability to find workers as a call for more immigration of unskilled labor.
I've only focused on skilled labor - chemical engineers, chemists, electrical engineers, solid-state physicists, mechanical engineers, industrial engineers, photolithography engineers, semiconductor design engineers, semiconductor manufacturing engineers, etc.
By analogy, the above technical people are the "seed corn" of future technological innovation and economic prosperity. We need more - as many as we can get.
I've only focused on skilled labor - chemical engineers, chemists, electrical engineers, solid-state physicists, mechanical engineers, industrial engineers, photolithography engineers, semiconductor design engineers, semiconductor manufacturing engineers, etc.
By analogy, the above technical people are the "seed corn" of future technological innovation and economic prosperity. We need more - as many as we can get.
I believe this is correct. America doesn't do a very good job educating engineers or in STEM fields for that matter. I wish more was done to address the fact that our system is not doing a good job in this area, but until we do we are going to need foreign workers with these skills.
It is not that hard treat your employees right and pay them well and they will stay and be productive many companies have figured this out but the stubborn business owners who don't will have trouble finding help.
The US labor force participation rate is low compared to most countries. We're in with countries like Italy, Columbia, Turkey and South Africa. Countries like England, Germany, Denmark and France (yes, France) rank higher.
This is from the OECD or OCED or whatever. It doesn't include people 15 - 24, which is different than the way the US calculates it. i suspect the US ranking would be worse if it did because so any kids go to college here vs. there.
The US rate was always higher before, which was thought be be because we didn't have as much welfare as other countries, particularly European ones. Maybe it's reversed.
Where I work we have a shortage in all the salary classes, but it's least severe among the top ranks that pay 80-100k plus per year. Most severe in the unskilled, low-skilled ranks. We have raised salaries for the unskilled jobs from about $13-14 an hour pre-pandemic to $19 an hour now. No takers.
There is a limit what we can do. If we raise salaries for them, we will have to raise the professionals too. Our degreed workers will not tolerate making the same or only a few dollars more than the custodians. At some point we simply can't pay 60k for a 35k a year unskilled job, and certainly not 120k for a 55-75k middle class entry career. We just can't. We can push the high end of those salary class ranges but that is the best we can do.
The job is worth what it's worth. We are not responsible for the out of control housing market and goods inflation for things like cars. Living wage for an apartment skyrocketed from about $18 an hour to $27 practically overnight. The thing is that 30s-50s per hour is what our PROFESSIONALS make. It would be a wage spiral start paying custodians and the like $27. The degreed pros will want 60+ in that context. I don't blame them but it is not feasible to pay them double what the labor market says the job is worth.
But in the meantime, they are all talking about strike and/or walkout. I don't blame them honestly. Contract negotiations are going to happen soon. We are already planning to basically shut down within the next 12 months if this doesn't get better. An institution that has been open to the public for over 70 years is going to stop functioning because the housing went out of control.
Once the recession hits, you won't have any problems finding workers. That is why a correction in some ways will be a good thing. It will get peoples expectations in line with what they are actually worth based on their skillset or lack of skills. It will switch from an employee to employer market quick in a recession.
Once the recession hits, you won't have any problems finding workers. That is why a correction in some ways will be a good thing. It will get peoples expectations in line with what they are actually worth based on their skillset or lack of skills. It will switch from an employee to employer market quick in a recession.
Since this recession will probably be even worse then prior ones dealing with stagflation, no one will want to work crappy jobs for $12 an hour when a gallon of gas is still $5 and a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment in a crappy part of town is $1,300 a month.
Something has got to give no doubt, but capitalism might be crumbling before our very eyes soon. I’m the least liberal progressive type person there is, but I’m also a realist.
OK update: I finally just went to the SS office and took a number and waited to see someone, because I was receiving conflicting information from them.
So here's what they told me. They told me that only EARNED INCOME counts toward Survivor Benefits, so the inherited IRA doesn't count. UNTIL I apply for Medicare in five years. THEN the inherited IRA income DOES apply to income.
Sheeze! So in five years I am going to be screwed but apparently I'm OK for now.
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