HVAC tech here, all the skilled trades are like this. I don’t know who’s going to fix things in twenty years.
Staffing Shortages
- Thread starter FallsChurchTiger
- Start date
i must have been drinking when i wrote this...
I didn’t say it wasn’t THE reason. I said it was simply part of it. An ingredient in the dish.
No. Violent crime is down a significant amount. It peaked in the late 80's. It started going up slightly in 2015, but nothing compared to the levels in the 70's, 80's, and 90's.
Seems that some really smart and qualified folks that analyze this stuff for a living disagree with you. Certainly not THE reason, but absolutely a contributing factor among a perfect storm of other influences.
Click here….
random article for internet means it must be true. This is media driven crap. I even posted the CDC numbers which are inflated as hell.
COVID deaths isn’t the reason for the work shortage.
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I paid over $10 today for a Popeye’s 3-count chicken tenders meal. In small-town Georgia.
And the portions were skimpy. Crazy.
the story is true, with some crossover facts on same projects.. . but the truth can often prevent one from running for governor......or mayor
At Pizza Hut, I paid $33.84 for what was supposed to be a large cheese-free, all-veggie pizza plus a $4 tip on a carry out order. Guy handed me what looked like a medium pizza. I did a double-take but went with it because it was paid for using some old gift cards I found.
awww name calling that’s cute…
Do the math…you honestly think 250k deaths can honestly cripple a work force of jobs that are mainly hourly
I will say it hurt healthcare because some chose to leave it and coni to a different direction. Some nurses from being over worked, some nurses became traveling nurses, some refused vaccine, etc. Some CNAs decided another field was better for them with less stress and could stopping wiping asses But they didn’t leave the work force. They changed paths which has happened long before Covid
The crippled work force is straight up because of handouts. Trumps initial idea of not taxing paychecks and letting Americans bring home more was a much better idea than just throwing cash at people
In the simpleton yet you can honestly look at the death numbers…Majority over the age of 70 and honestly say that fast food restaurants can’t staff because of COVID.
18-29 years old…look at the deaths. You’re telling 6200 deaths has crippled a work force? Pneumonia killed almost as many young people.
essentially 65k 18-49 years old…yeah that’s what did it.
COVID-19 Provisional Counts - Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics
Tabulated data on provisional COVID-19 deaths by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, and comorbidities. Also includes an index of state-level and county-level mortality data available for download.
www.cdc.gov
This. Can't tell you how many times I have seen a $60k truck in front of a $20k mobile home.
I was driving on back roads. Convenience while driving and steering--and filling my empty stomach--were my priorities.
But point taken.
... Im late to the party here and not sure if its been mentioned, BUT .... I just wonder how much the great resignation had to deal with the labor shortages. What I mean by that is, many younger people were working jobs that they were overqualified for pre-pandemic. When a lot of Boomers took buyout packages or elected early retirement during the beginning of the pandemic, that was a lot of people leaving the work force and specifically Millennials and Gen Zers all moved up in a short period of time .....this mass exodus, and subsequent mass promotion left a lot of entry level/blue collar/ manual labor positions without their workforce to pull from.
I also agree with the mention that we, society, have stressed College TOO MUCH. Everyone should have the option to go to college, but not everyone should go to college. He are in desperate need of skilled trade labor ...... and most of those careers are future proof. We will always need electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC techs, mechanics, etc ....
I also agree with the mention that we, society, have stressed College TOO MUCH. Everyone should have the option to go to college, but not everyone should go to college. He are in desperate need of skilled trade labor ...... and most of those careers are future proof. We will always need electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC techs, mechanics, etc ....
i think he did you a favor if he gave you a smaller size of that
😂
I only mentioned the toppings to point out it was not an inherently expensive pizza to make, laden with cheese and piles of various meats. Just dough, sauce, and veggies. I still think something was odd about the way the order tallied up, but again I was playing with free money, so I didn’t care enough to redo the order.
Right, but you also have the pizza order of a serial killer.
I saw a woman today at the sandwich shot wearing a t shirt that said in all caps " unmasked unvaccinated unmuzzled unafraid." .. I did not confront her but i thought to myself, " uninformed , uneducated, completely stupid" .awww name calling that’s cute…
Do the math…you honestly think 250k deaths can honestly cripple a work force of jobs that are mainly hourly
I will say it hurt healthcare because some chose to leave it and coni to a different direction. Some nurses from being over worked, some nurses became traveling nurses, some refused vaccine, etc. Some CNAs decided another field was better for them with less stress and could stopping wiping asses But they didn’t leave the work force. They changed paths which has happened long before Covid
The crippled work force is straight up because of handouts. Trumps initial idea of not taxing paychecks and letting Americans bring home more was a much better idea than just throwing cash at people
In the simpleton yet you can honestly look at the death numbers…Majority over the age of 70 and honestly say that fast food restaurants can’t staff because of COVID.
18-29 years old…look at the deaths. You’re telling 6200 deaths has crippled a work force? Pneumonia killed almost as many young people.
essentially 65k 18-49 years old…yeah that’s what did it.
COVID-19 Provisional Counts - Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics
Tabulated data on provisional COVID-19 deaths by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, and comorbidities. Also includes an index of state-level and county-level mortality data available for download.
Finally catching up on this thread. It's relevant as I sit here in ATL with a flight canceled last night and another delayed today - mostly due to staffing shortages.
A few changes I would make:
We can argue all we want about why we're here, but those three changes (along with others like them that are highly logical and practical) would transform the labor market over the next decade. And I struggle to see how any contributing member of society would disagree with them.
A few changes I would make:
- Dramatically shift post HS education focus from college to trades, apprenticeships or other career paths that don't really require a college education. It sure would be nice if Delta had a straight-from-HS track for baggage handlers, ticket agents, flight attendants, maintenance crews, etc to better staff this operation. They could host a career fair at local HSs. Ask for teacher recommendations into the program to encourage good school/behavior/attitude performance even for those not destined for higher ed.
- Major student loan reform. Loans based purely on asset value (degree) and likelihood of repayment (like any other loan), other than specific fields that are considered essential (teachers, nurses, etc) or high demand / low supply. Availability of preferential loans (even 0% interest) for those fields is merit-based. This will reduce unnecessary college, make trades more attractive, while filling essential roles with highly qualified people.
- Pretty much eliminate the concept of a person receiving anything other than very temporary assistance from the government without working/contributing 40+ hours per week. This could be actual work, documented job training or documented high-value volunteer work. Excludes people with a mental or physical handicap and a few other categories that make good logical sense. Applies to all forms of assistance - SNAP, welfare, housing, unemployment, etc. If you legitimately need it, want it and the private sector can't provide it, work for it.
We can argue all we want about why we're here, but those three changes (along with others like them that are highly logical and practical) would transform the labor market over the next decade. And I struggle to see how any contributing member of society would disagree with them.
Sorry I'm just now seeing this! I've been busy WORKING hahaha...I'm not an economist exactly, I got my masters in economics from Clemson ('04, undergrad in '02, TL Hanna grad in '98 since we are doing that today on the board), but it plays a part in what I do (commercial real estate research and strategy). Honestly scrolling through this thread was pretty awful for a number of reasons...I'll try to address those below.
First, unemployment benefits only last 26 weeks and state extended benefits add another 13 weeks. You can't retire on unemployment, you can't sit for 2 years and collect checks on unemployment, and even when you are collecting checks the state of South Carolina (for example, every state is different) only gives you $326 a week BEFORE TAXES (yes you pay taxes on your unemployment checks). It's not even close to a living wage. Unemployment is a safety net that allows you to bridge the gap to your next job without massive disruption, it is a good thing, and people suggesting that all social safety net benefits like this be eliminated...I just can't fathom having that kind of hateful mindset. That's a policy of hate toward anyone who isn't as well off as you are. I cannot understand it, other than believing the misinformation that people can sit around and collect it for years on end. It is my hope that you never need help, and if you do, you find some from somebody kinder than yourself.
Next, the special benefits added during the pandemic (which are over, by the way) were SUPPOSED to compete with private wages. We told people in hotels and restaurants that they couldn't go to work, that they had to stay home. So if the government is going to shut down your employer, I would think everyone understands that we SHOULD be paying them a living wage while they can't work. And, to reiterate, those benefits are over and have been over since September of 2021 when the CARES Act expired.
Ok, moving on. If we look at prime working age population (25-55 years old), we have fully recovered all jobs lost since the pandemic started. Where you find the shortfalls are in the 20-24yo age groups (I think people are staying in college longer, doing masters programs, or maybe living at home...so if you've got a 22 year old kid living at home rent free, you're causing the problem!) and the 55yo and over group (where you had a lot of early retirements). Posters who commented on the lack of affordable child care holding back employment are absolutely correct, as well as those who left the work force to care for aging parents (this is going to be a trend you're hearing more about).
The issue right now isn't that we don't have enough people, it's that the people aren't working in the right places. We don't have enough people working in certain industries where LOTS of money is currently being spent. During the pandemic, spending shifted from services and nondurable goods to durable goods and to things like home and yard supply, sports supplies (like bikes, anybody tried to buy a bike during the pandemic?). So our spending habits aren't normal right now, they still aren't. Which means customer demand right now isn't "normal". So those industries where all of this new demand is concentrated isn't normal and they need a lot more people than they used to. So they are going to have to steal some workers from other industries. And they're going to have to attract some people to come back to the work force.
What brings people back to the work force, and what will make somebody come work for you instead of their current job? Wages. For all of the griping you hear about wages going up "too much", inflation-adjusted wages haven't grown at the lower/mid-level of the pay scale in decades. The minimum wage is currently the same as it was in the 1940s adjusted for inflation. Rent has kept pace with inflation, food prices, energy prices, clothes and cars and everything else you need has kept pace with inflation, but wages have not. When I talk to businesses both large and small, when we are talking about their office space needs and their growth plans, and I ask about the challenges of hiring, every company falls into two camps: 1) they have the employees that they need but they feel they are paying them too much, or 2) they don't have the employees that they need because they refuse to pay what the market demands. The complaints of those in that latter group always sound something like this: "I used to be able to hire as many people as I wanted to at $15/hour and I've been able to do that for the last 10-15 years, but now all of a sudden I can't." Well that's not a surprise! $15/hour was a lot more 10-15 years ago than it is today...if back in 2012 you were offering $15 and people were happy to take it, today you're wondering why you're offering people $11 (in inflation adjusted money) and they aren't happy to take it? I don't understand why this is confusing. It's the same people who are mad that gas is more expensive than when they were younger or bottles of Coke are more expensive than when they were younger. How many people do you see posting to this board saying "You can't buy a Coke anymore! Where are all the Cokes? I've got my 25 cents right here and I'm ready to pay what I used to pay for it, but there's not a Coke in sight for a quarter, what gives?"
That was a long rant, I hope I didn't reignite this thread but wanted to give my perspective.
The place where I get tires in Easley is (was at least) having a lot of trouble filling their opening for an alignment technician. Job pays up to $80K/yr and he can't find anyone (as of a few months ago anyway).
That is an interesting perspective on the 'gig economy' aspect. I hadn't really thought of that but it is probably a big factor.
1 million - mostly from the non-working sectors of the population - is not a big factor in this.
It is. I think it could have a domino affect. And when you factor in.....
....we could be headed for trouble. The Diesel prices might be as big as anything else in this.
thank you for expressing my thoughts exactly ....and then some ..
It used to be said that ignorance was bliss, but now ignorance is courage.
