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“business owners spent decades convincing workers that they only deserved minimum wage & then the pandemic hit & those same workers saw first hand that actually, the world comes to a screeching halt without them” https://twitter.com/abby4thepeople/s...95438236725252
Funny tweet.
Actually, many were declared non-essential and were laid off, and the world never came to an end. The labor shortage is because many of those that got laid off are collecting free stuff. When it runs out countrywide, they’ll be happy to get back to work....however, I would expect more of their jobs that they don’t want to come back to until the free stuff runs out will become more and more automated.
I was stating plausible reasons to a question posed and an elaboration on some of the rules in place. Not sure why you would come up with a bevy of questions that don't really have anything to do with what I was talking about. I gave no opinion whatsoever on economic help. Just trying to put to rest some misnomers.
I must be confused. It sounds like you were saying essentially "This is much ado about nothing at this point. Unemployment, especially in hospitality/leisure (which includes restaurants), is basically back to normal."
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Not to mention, what are we talking about here? Right before the pandemic the number of job openings was about 5 million. During normal times that number would average around 6 million. There are 165 million people in the workforce. We're talking about a little over 1% difference on the aggregate. It's a mountain out of a molehill but fun for people to be overly critical of it. The restaurant industry is a small portion of the overall workforce. Clearly people have gone back to work in droves, as evidenced by the U3 and U6 numbers. I don't doubt many left the industry You're not going to just sit around when you aren't getting replacement wages (and that hasn't been the case since August). People still have bills to pay and despite the nonsense you read on-line, the eviction moratorium did not allow people not to pay rent on anything they owed (even if they were late on rent). I had a couple of tenants find that out the hard way when they moved out being past due on their rent (not to mention they didn't give a proper 30 days notice). They thought they would get back their whole security deposit and they didn't. I also suspect you may have had some early retirement from germaphobes who don't want to be around the public.
and if it is, then we don't need to providing individual economic benefits going forward that are related to the pandemic. Free vaccines & medical care? Sure.
I must be confused. It sounds like you were saying essentially "This is much ado about nothing at this point. Unemployment, especially in hospitality/leisure (which includes restaurants), is basically back to normal."
and if it is, then we don't need to providing individual economic benefits going forward that are related to the pandemic. Free vaccines & medical care? Sure.
Oh, I definitely think it's overblown to be claiming a large percentage of people are not working due to unemployment and the numbers support that. Supplemental benefits have ended in quite a few states or are scheduled to end shortly (Texas cuts it off at the end of this month). The entire program as of now ends in August anyway. Yeah, people are returning or have returned to a large extent. Unfortunately for the restaurant industry, I think they're not understanding the new dynamic. It's not about the slightly over 1% difference in jobs available. They're going to have problems regardless (which was the point of my post).
Are restaurants really essential services? Grocery stores? Yes, absolutely, but is the person who makes burritos at Qdoba really an essential worker?
I would say their customers will decide that. If a lot of them start going there and buying stuff, then yes, Qdoba is essential enough for its owner to reopen.
Or is there some other qualification for it to be "essential"? Who else's opinion matters?
(Actually, that's been the only criteria for it to open, or remain open, since it was founded, hasn't it? Again, what else matters?)
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There remains an undercurrent of entitlement in this discussion that I find disturbing, and when I write that I’m not thinking of the guy making burritos.
I haven't read this entire thread. But I get the feeling that there's some Big-Government addict in here somewhere, who thinks he ought to be able to decide for them, whether Qdoba should be "allowed" to reopen. "Allowed" by government? Why does his opinion make any difference? Shove him aside and open your restaurant, and good luck!
The unemployment subsidy is a big issue. Especially when you factor in the $600 and $300 are just the Fed amounts. State unemployment is added to that.
However, I am seeing quite a few that aren't going back to work regardless. Once people get a taste of freedom they realize how important it is. Many women especially are seeing they would rather be at home. After paying for childcare and a car payment I wondered why many bothered to work anyway.
Many got used to not living within a reasonable budget which contributed to it. Buying a huge SUV or minivan for the kids where the payment is almost as much as their mortgage as a common example of excess I see. Add eating out too often and buying too many electronic gadgets and it really adds up. After not being able to go out much for a year many see now they don't need all those extras.
Not to mention, what are we talking about here? Right before the pandemic the number of job openings was about 5 million. During normal times that number would average around 6 million. There are 165 million people in the workforce. We're talking about a little over 1% difference on the aggregate. It's a mountain out of a molehill but fun for people to be overly critical of it. The restaurant industry is a small portion of the overall workforce. Clearly people have gone back to work in droves, as evidenced by the U3 and U6 numbers. I don't doubt many left the industry You're not going to just sit around when you aren't getting replacement wages (and that hasn't been the case since August). People still have bills to pay and despite the nonsense you read on-line, the eviction moratorium did not allow people not to pay rent on anything they owed (even if they were late on rent). I had a couple of tenants find that out the hard way when they moved out being past due on their rent (not to mention they didn't give a proper 30 days notice). They thought they would get back their whole security deposit and they didn't. I also suspect you may have had some early retirement from germaphobes who don't want to be around the public.
There were a lot of retirements, and many were early.
When I was laid off I was already eligible for Social Security, but I was not collecting. The company targeted older employees first and I was very resentful of it, thinking of suing. They offered me a compensation package and after consulting with an attorney I took the package, because those age discrimination cases are hard to win in my state. So I waited as long as I could and applied for the Social Security benefits, expecting to retire permanently.
I was effectively forced into retirement, and I did not expect to get hired in my upper sixties by anyone in my field. The other folks I knew who were pushed out were mostly in their early sixties and late fifties, a hard age to be looking for work.
It just so happened that one particular small company was in a desperate emergency to find experienced help in my field (their guy walked out) and started calling around the city, getting my name from a couple of directions they called me at home and offered me a job (subject to interview) basically about 20% more than I was making before. I couldn't believe it! Yeah, I took it.
It's a very long commute but I took the job anyway. I took the bribe.
I know that my old company laid off about a dozen oldsters at the same time they cashed me out and I am pretty sure I am the only one of the many who found another gig. Those people were essentially pushed out of the work force ... permanently.
Now that the boom has begun all of those positions will need to be filled, so I expect that rat's ass of a company to do some promoting from within, then hire new people at the bottom rung. That means a lot of frustrated wait staff and fry cooks are going to be finding new jobs doing something completely different in my industry.
Oh, I definitely think it's overblown to be claiming a large percentage of people are not working due to unemployment and the numbers support that. Supplemental benefits have ended in quite a few states or are scheduled to end shortly (Texas cuts it off at the end of this month). The entire program as of now ends in August anyway. Yeah, people are returning or have returned to a large extent. Unfortunately for the restaurant industry, I think they're not understanding the new dynamic. It's not about the slightly over 1% difference in jobs available. They're going to have problems regardless (which was the point of my post).
yes, there's not a huge % of Americans drawing unemployment instead of working.
I think the over-arching claim/concern is a lot that are still on unemployment need to get back in the workforce, that's all.
and, from another point made - we don't need any of these "mom-friendly" benefits if moms have the lowest unemployment of any group.
There were a lot of retirements, and many were early.
When I was laid off I was already eligible for Social Security, but I was not collecting. The company targeted older employees first and I was very resentful of it, thinking of suing. They offered me a compensation package and after consulting with an attorney I took the package, because those age discrimination cases are hard to win in my state. So I waited as long as I could and applied for the Social Security benefits, expecting to retire permanently.
I was effectively forced into retirement, and I did not expect to get hired in my upper sixties by anyone in my field. The other folks I knew who were pushed out were mostly in their early sixties and late fifties, a hard age to be looking for work.
It just so happened that one particular small company was in a desperate emergency to find experienced help in my field (their guy walked out) and started calling around the city, getting my name from a couple of directions they called me at home and offered me a job (subject to interview) basically about 20% more than I was making before. I couldn't believe it! Yeah, I took it.
It's a very long commute but I took the job anyway. I took the bribe.
I know that my old company laid off about a dozen oldsters at the same time they cashed me out and I am pretty sure I am the only one of the many who found another gig. Those people were essentially pushed out of the work force ... permanently.
Now that the boom has begun all of those positions will need to be filled, so I expect that rat's ass of a company to do some promoting from within, then hire new people at the bottom rung. That means a lot of frustrated wait staff and fry cooks are going to be finding new jobs doing something completely different in my industry.
What a great story! That's awesome. Congrats!
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