Staffing Shortages
- Thread starter FallsChurchTiger
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Man, how to unpack all of this is not a simple answer. These certainly aren't the only factors but a few of the issues.
1, I'd say a lot of people started loving the work from home lifestyle. I know tons of people who have simply stated I won't ever go back into an office (I'm 34).
2, people realized they could make just about the same money doing something that requires an equal amount of skill. Changed to being a Door Dash driver for instance.
3, we've trended further and further away from a trade skill based society. It's now "I'll just pay someone to do XYZ". Why is this? Part of it is the push to "go to college because that's what you do after high school" mentality where tons of people a generation ago didn't go and went immediately working as a plumber, electrician, working construction, etc. Now we are seeing shortages because nobody wants to get a history degree and then become a plumber, electrician, HVAC repair guy, etc.
4, for some industries its the sue happy society makes it hard for anyone to "want" to work in an industry like healthcare. I hold a professional license and there is no way in hell I would hold a license that deals with the public.
5, the "I can do nothing and make as much or more and not deal with Karin's shit" has made it VERY hard for service industry and sales clerks to come back after they were laid off. It's a forking bitch of a cycle this road goes down. Now you pay top dollar for servers-hotel clerks-lady at the checkout stand-etc, now we have to charge more for food-goods-services-etc because everyone has to turn some kind of profit or the business fails, now that the lowest rung on the totem pole is upset again because someone else they are paying $10 at McDonald's, so we go back to square one. While all this is happening, the advanced degrees and higher demand jobs have to pay their employees more because they simply can and will leave for the next company because someone will pay them their demands.
6, truck drivers haven't received a wage increase since the 60s or something crazy like that. If they receive a raise, then everything in the supply chain has to increase.
7, raw material shortage. You can mostly blame COVID here because, for instance, one of the major lumber manufacturers laid off half their workforce because of the pandemic. This isn't the only type of material with a similar story. Now that things are ramping back up we are seeing what an increase in demand with a decrease of supply looks.
8, some people went to another industry that didn't shut down due to the pandemic. It's almost like some businesses didn't think laying off half their workforce would potentially have consequences.
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Wrong!
People with no education/no high school diploma won't work for $19 hr with FREE medical insurance after 3 months on the job.
Wife has OVER 200 open positions in manufacturing to fill in Upstate and can't find anyone to work. Minimum pay starts at $15 to $17 hour and nothing.
To OP's point, "where did all the people go"? Still alot of folks sitting at home doing nothing, collecting unemployment for whatever amount of weeks they can get.
It's awful and only getting worse.
Damn I love capitalism. People exercising their freedom to be selective in what jobs they take or not take a job at all, going to force employers to increase wages and worker’s benefits. Maybe the US will see its first major increase in real wages in decades.
Can’t wait to see how the free market works this out!
Can’t wait to see how the free market works this out!
The concept behind this is correct. Many industries are not having labor shortages. However, the service, hotel, transport, manual labor related industries are feeling it. The reason is because during the lockdown, people did realize they are worth more than minimum wage (or the wages they were previously paid). So, that is absolutely correct. Also people from these affected sectors were forced to get jobs in other industries where they found better working conditions and qualities of life. So, they didn't go back to their previous jobs when things opened back up.
That's why the service industry, and the trucking industry, for example, are struggling with shortages now. Truckers get paid well above minimum wage, but their working conditions suck. Unemployment numbers are improving. People are going back to work. They just aren't going back to their old jobs.
Here’s one small example. I work for a pharma company. Before Covid they always paid a premium wage. Mainly because it was a tense job. You’re completely gowned and it’s stressful.
I spoke to one of our production managers the other day and he said that post-covid their challenge has been the increase in wages for other jobs nearby. They aren’t paying as much but the small difference in pay is not enough to offset the reduction of stress in the job. Our support staff, customer service reps for example, are very well trained and that takes a lot of time. It’s also a stressful job because it’s more technical than many other jobs in the same field. They were also paid more. Now, the difference is not not as much. So, less stressful and maybe less difficult jobs are paying enough more that people are leaving more technical jobs. I think this is happening with important jobs where shortage of workers is really noticeable. Just one contributor to this issue.
I spoke to one of our production managers the other day and he said that post-covid their challenge has been the increase in wages for other jobs nearby. They aren’t paying as much but the small difference in pay is not enough to offset the reduction of stress in the job. Our support staff, customer service reps for example, are very well trained and that takes a lot of time. It’s also a stressful job because it’s more technical than many other jobs in the same field. They were also paid more. Now, the difference is not not as much. So, less stressful and maybe less difficult jobs are paying enough more that people are leaving more technical jobs. I think this is happening with important jobs where shortage of workers is really noticeable. Just one contributor to this issue.
Haha same.
I have a feeling it's going to crash and burn before it gets better. The economy is one fickle bitch.
I run a Staffing Company here in Anderson and many of our clients have raised their rates tremendously and people still don't want to work!
Unemployment is lower than ever. This is due to a reallocation
-Manual laborers have found comparable pay with better hours presumably.
-Demand for everything is up.
-Those stimmies helped a ton …a segment of people got caught up on bills
-spending habits changed (what do you not buy anymore now that you work from home for examole?)
-Lots of folks went ahead and retired early.
Its a combination of a lot of things
-Manual laborers have found comparable pay with better hours presumably.
-Demand for everything is up.
-Those stimmies helped a ton …a segment of people got caught up on bills
-spending habits changed (what do you not buy anymore now that you work from home for examole?)
-Lots of folks went ahead and retired early.
Its a combination of a lot of things
A lot of companies are just staffing less at a time. I know for a fact Target is paying better however they're running with a smaller staff, overworking them and expecting more.out of them. Target is also wasting payroll on running the ship from store/ buy online pickup at store extremely inefficiently as well. Getting more trucks but filling the shelves to just send it back out.
I'd love to see the free market in action. Turn off the Government spicket, and watch how fast people go to work, if they wanna eat and pay the light bill...
exactly. I'm also not comfortable having someone else "pay my way."
So many people on unemployment ... with 3.6% unemployment rate?
I know of 2 deaths personally and they were both working....62 and 36... father and son 17 days apart... I do not deny your point... but that is stil 300,000 working age people
I blame screens, but then again I blame everything on screens.
Bright side is technology will sort this out in a couple years which will, of course, bring a new set of issues. Luckily, we have an abundance of great leaders who help us all navigate these new waters.
Bright side is technology will sort this out in a couple years which will, of course, bring a new set of issues. Luckily, we have an abundance of great leaders who help us all navigate these new waters.
Let's say 40% were, that's still 400,000. Not an insignificant number. Certainly not the main reason, just part of the equation.
Many people have combined their households (more people under one roof) making what they need to earn to live lower. Legal immigrants have moved back to their home countries because they were laid off during the pandemic and not eligible for unemployment. People that can afford to are bypassing industries that don’t offer a good quality of life. These are all real things that I encounter with my business. I saw a Taco Bell advertising management positions at $13/hour when housekeepers here in hotels make $17.
I suspect those screens play at least a small role in the problem in another way.
How many people aren't working because they can make what they need (or more) online?
Sure there are "influencers" making millions, but there are also people like me.
I retired from teaching with 28 years (minimum required years). My financial guy says "sure you can retire, but you have to get a supplemental job making $X/year to maintain your lifestyle." That's not lots of money, mind you, but I would have had to get something small, say working at the local hardware store, or Walmart greeter, or whatever.
I haven't had to do that because the blog income covers my needs. Now, not a lot of folks taking that approach, I suspect, but thinking broader, cumulatively, there is a decent number who use the internet as an income source.
There's no need to "get a job" because you can make your own way with a computer and internet connection.
I took my son to chick fil a last night since wore and daughter were out. $18.46 later, we were full. I got a 12 count grilled nugget combo (no super size or anything) and he got a kids nugget meal.
That is nuts!!!! Almost $20.
It’s the GIG economy. People figured out they can work less hours on their time and make the same or more than some of the traditional labor jobs.
I’ve made that same statement 100 times. I’ve seen more Burger Kings close their doors in the past two years. We even had three that I know of between Aiken and Edgefield close and two were basically brand new. Chick-fil-A has the business model right there for the fast food world to see and copy but apparently some of these places would rather shut the doors than take better care of their employees, which in turn provides better service. I’m not even a huge Chick-fil-A fan but their service is great.
Chiming in from the other end of the spectrum, so to speak. Skilled blue collar guy here, mfg field for past 18+ years.
Willing to work, want to work, but have doing contract work for past 2.5 years, since where I was at for 15 years closed down. Contracting pays great, but sucks being away from family all the time.
I see numerous job listings posted in my field, but vast majority are only offering entry level type pay.
A lot of my fellow contractors speak of the same issue, wanting to find permanent positions, but not wanting to take huge pay cut because many employers aren’t willing to pay for experience.
Willing to work, want to work, but have doing contract work for past 2.5 years, since where I was at for 15 years closed down. Contracting pays great, but sucks being away from family all the time.
I see numerous job listings posted in my field, but vast majority are only offering entry level type pay.
A lot of my fellow contractors speak of the same issue, wanting to find permanent positions, but not wanting to take huge pay cut because many employers aren’t willing to pay for experience.
2 Reasons... 1) Immigrants and 2) Women workforce
1. We are 2 million fewer working-age immigrants at the end of 2021 than it would have had if pre-pandemic immigration trends had continued because of borders closed. Immigrants from Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. The only travel that came inside was Student Visa and Visitors Visa and they cannot work legally.
2. Some women with kids cannot find daycare or cannot afford one and they are sitting at home taking care of kids.
If the free market can’t compete with unemployment benefits then we have a very serious wage problem.
W
Where the hell have u been the last 12 months? Give some people a taste of not working and being taken care of, they like it.
I don’t understand why people don’t understand.
1. Boomers exiting the workforce
2. Lack of skilled workers
3. Hott economy (not many empty commercial spots in my area)
4. Money was way too cheap over the last 13 years
5. People making $$ online
6. Alot of the younger end of the millennial generation have no retirement or savings account and dont seem to care
7. Iphones
8. Social media
9. Mental illness
10. Trump
1. Boomers exiting the workforce
2. Lack of skilled workers
3. Hott economy (not many empty commercial spots in my area)
4. Money was way too cheap over the last 13 years
5. People making $$ online
6. Alot of the younger end of the millennial generation have no retirement or savings account and dont seem to care
7. Iphones
8. Social media
9. Mental illness
10. Trump
I agree with everything you said as long as the main competition is not the US Govt
This doesn’t get talked about enough. I had an employee who wound up leaving because her paycheck was pretty much just going straight to childcare. Made more sense for her to leave and be a stay at home mom or find a job where she could work from home.
Some benefits equate to a living wage for some. When your least skilled workers are making $15+, the others with more skills obviously want a sizable gap between them and the lowest and it goes up from there.
Add it a rent moratorium for 2 yrs, no college loans for 2 yrs, and the stay on your ass money was enough for many.
That shit should be running out, but they know dems will give away more of my F'n money to buy poor ass votes with midterms on the horizon. Now you see Dems posing with cops and touting fund the police is absolutely nauseating. But some are too F'n stupid too see through it. Its maddening.
Thats the irony of Dems touting 15-20 min wage. They dont recognize ( or admit) that will also apply to child care workers etc driving the costs up so the net gain will be ZERO. The bottom will always be the bottom regardless of the arbitrary min wage number.
I work in nurse staffing. We are still booming. The concern on our end is the gap that was created in creating more workforce during the beginning and height of COVID
