Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone? • Hacker News Board

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#261

Post by ubercow13 » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:02 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #74

benou wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to hear that but keep in mind the job market is very different from one location to another and from one sector to another. The BBC is talking about truck drivers in the UK and it is hardly a surprise: UK used to rely heavily on eastern Europe workers in that area, and they vote (Brexit) to prevent exactly that. They got what they asked for. If anything, we can complain that the BBC article title is too gen…

In a market economy there is no such thing as a "shortage" of workers. You just don't want to meet the market price of the workers with that skill set. You could imagine a widget factory whose economics rely on paying employees X, it doesn't mean there's a "shortage" of workers, but the workers demand a wage that makes your work unprofitable. The fact is a lot of people are paid not to work through generous covid-rel…

Using this logic, in a market economy there can never be a shortage of anything.

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#262

Post by spamizbad » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:05 PM UTC

cbozeman wrote: post #188

whall6 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Why would I seek a job if the unemployment benefits pay me nearly as much to do nothing?

Because you have self-respect and shouldn't be taking handouts if you're capable of working? No one capable of working should be taking unemployment, ever. This is how social safety nets get demonized by politicians, and it works. A factory worker and mother of three who was making car parts from the start of COVID-19 until now and was never laid off and who never had the option of quitting work, fucking hates someon…

Actually we solved a ton of problems by throwing money at it: poverty dropped significantly.

https://www.urban.org/research/publication/2021-poverty-proj...

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#263

Post by bumby » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:07 PM UTC

RobertKerans wrote: post #257

sokoloff wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our local pizza places have raised prices dramatically in the last 6 months (16” pizza went from ~$10 to ~$15). Based on observation during the far fewer times I visit them, they appear dramatically less busy than they used to be. It’s not clear that “just raise your prices and pay workers more” is going to work out for them.

Is this a joke comment? I'm starting to lose the ability to see sarcasm I think. Why would you have expected them to have been busy in the last six months?

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your comment, but why does the expectation of growth in a pizza parlor come across as absurd? Dominoes had 13-14% Q1 same store sales growth over 2020 numbers.

https://ir.dominos.com/news-releases/news-release-details/do...

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#264

Post by bluedino » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:08 PM UTC

rossdavidh wrote: post #252

tzs wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is strange that the top known factors for this are not even mentioned in this or other similar news stories. First, closing of schools caused large numbers of women to leave the workforce in order to care for children. I'm a bit skeptical of that explanation in the US because schools close for 3 months every summer, without an accompanying large number of women quitting their jobs.

In many families, summers are typically full of "summer camps" that are actually "themed daycare for older kids". Those were mostly closed as well during the pandemic lockdown phase, and some still haven't come back (in the US, anyway).

What rich bubble do you live in where kids go to summer camp?

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#265

Post by _y5hn » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

switch007 wrote: post #216

_y5hn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't they? Workers are generally not allowed to talk about specifics of work to media.

I think that’s a really poor excuse. People can discuss anonymously and about recent prior jobs (being slightly less bound by contractual gagging, or under less threat of being sued) Journalists can apply for jobs and do an exposé too.

The sources will be criticized for being anonymous or ousted. Some journalists cover workplace too. However, corporate tactics optimize away most of what is possible in that regard.

All for a public who can't give a damn (gimme the cheapest).

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#266

Post by Retric » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

sundaeofshock wrote: post #117

Retric wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offer people enough money and they will move. Offer even more and they will train specifically to do the job. Jobs that require lots of training can have short term global shortages of skilled workers. But, that quickly self corrects as long as salaries increase.

That does not necessarily follow. It’s very difficult to put food on the table while going to school in hopes of landing a job in a new field. Pay living wages and provide paid, on-the-job training. That will get prospective employees through the door.

It does at a high enough salary. Some people are unable to pay for their own training but you don’t need everyone you simply need enough people. Start offering Doctor money and people will jump through insane hoops, but it scales down so even 20$ an hour will motivate some people to do a specialized training course on their own dime.

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#267

Post by hellbannedguy » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

cbozeman wrote: post #188

whall6 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Why would I seek a job if the unemployment benefits pay me nearly as much to do nothing?

Because you have self-respect and shouldn't be taking handouts if you're capable of working? No one capable of working should be taking unemployment, ever. This is how social safety nets get demonized by politicians, and it works. A factory worker and mother of three who was making car parts from the start of COVID-19 until now and was never laid off and who never had the option of quitting work, fucking hates someon…

I just head this same rap from a blowhard senator who's state is loaded with Covid.

"The self-respect that comes with working." Read this like you are nursing a hangover.

Americans are fed up with lousy jobs that treat them like crap.

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#268

Post by sokoloff » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:11 PM UTC

RobertKerans wrote: post #257

sokoloff wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our local pizza places have raised prices dramatically in the last 6 months (16” pizza went from ~$10 to ~$15). Based on observation during the far fewer times I visit them, they appear dramatically less busy than they used to be. It’s not clear that “just raise your prices and pay workers more” is going to work out for them.

Is this a joke comment? I'm starting to lose the ability to see sarcasm I think. Why would you have expected them to have been busy in the last six months?

They were busier (for pickup) this winter than this summer. I checked my own order history at our previously favorite pizza place. We ordered about 5x/month from Nov ‘20-Mar ‘21 when large cheeses were $9+tax and there was often a line for pickup. We now order around 1x/month (at $13+tax) and walk directly to the counter.

If anything, CV19 is much less a safety concern now than before.

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#269

Post by RobertKerans » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:13 PM UTC

bumby wrote: post #263

RobertKerans wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a joke comment? I'm starting to lose the ability to see sarcasm I think. Why would you have expected them to have been busy in the last six months?

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your comment, but why does the expectation of growth in a pizza parlor come across as absurd? Dominoes had 13-14% Q1 same store sales growth over 2020 numbers. https://ir.dominos.com/news-releases/news-release-details/do...

sorry, it just seemed a bizarre comment: you said it was less busy when you visited it, at a point in time when everywhere was less busy, nothing to do with overall sales

Edit: sorry not OP

Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

#270

Post by josephcsible » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:13 PM UTC

civilized wrote: post #243

dcolkitt wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a common refrain, but I doubt many who say have actually actual experience as an employer. In many businesses the inability to staff leads to existential threat to the entire business. If you're a restaurant and can't seat customers or a SaaS startup and can't keep your service uptime, you'll go out of business very quickly. That represents millions in enterprise value. In contrast an employer who gets fired,…

If the business is run sensibly and isn't hemorrhaging a large percentage of its workers, not hiring just means delayed growth, not an existential threat.

Governmental meddling since last March has caused a lot of businesses to hemorrhage a large percentage of their workers even though they were run sensibly.