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Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

annehelen.substack.com

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Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#31

Post by unyttigfjelltol »

unethical_ban wrote: post #21

Occasionally, Twitter provides some nice insights in digestible forms (of course, nuance gets stripped). I saw a post recently that said something like "We watch Star Trek and marvel at their post-scarcity world. We are living in a post-scarcity world now, but all the benefits are being funneled by wage slaves up to the 0.1%." Paraphrased. I was talking with a friend who mentioned that a local pizza place is offering…

Maybe the pizza shop would get a stronger response if they hired permanent workers on an annual $37k salary? An $18/hr wage is not identical....

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#32

Post by lacker »

Personally, the pandemic has taught me how little I really need physical stores. Only a few items, like bicycles, shoes, and backpacking backpacks, do I really prefer buying them in a physical store. So for me at least, it would be okay if all these retail jobs went away, and all these retail stores just went out of business, and you just bought everything online.

It seems like it could really be a disaster for people working in retail though. Hopefully those retail jobs would end up replaced by something better, like working in an Amazon warehouse....

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#33

Post by colinmhayes »

unethical_ban wrote: post #21

Occasionally, Twitter provides some nice insights in digestible forms (of course, nuance gets stripped). I saw a post recently that said something like "We watch Star Trek and marvel at their post-scarcity world. We are living in a post-scarcity world now, but all the benefits are being funneled by wage slaves up to the 0.1%." Paraphrased. I was talking with a friend who mentioned that a local pizza place is offering…

We aren't actually living in a post scarcity world though. We're moving in the right direction, and hopefully we get there soon, but there is still plenty of scarcity.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#34

Post by itronitron »

LatteLazy wrote: post #3

Neither. If employers really wanted more workers, they'd up wages. If employees really wanted to work they'd settle for less. If neither is happening then everyone is happy and anyone complaining is a liar in the economic sense.

There is also a nasty waiting game that is playing out right now. Employers don't really want to hire people that need a paycheck as those people, if hired, are more likely to ask for more sooner. So employers have no incentive to advertise higher wages for an open position because they will just get more applicants from people who 'need money', not necessarily better applicants.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#35

Post by Clubber »

MattGaiser wrote: post #11
Clubber wrote: post #5

I think the "life is short," phenomenon that recently occurred to everybody due to COVID is also playing a part. People are thinking, something along the lines of, "I could have died and my gift of life has mostly consisted of working for this shithole company for the last 5 years." Employers might want to consider hiring more people in smaller shifts. Maybe an extra person and put everyone on 3-4 day shifts rather t…

> Employers might want to consider hiring more people in smaller shifts. Maybe an extra person and put everyone on 3-4 day shifts rather than 5-6. I thought that doing this to avoid providing healthcare was the problem. Many jobs that can't be filled are for part time hours at terrible pay with no benefits.

I'm not really understanding your point.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#37

Post by treve »

kokanator wrote: post #28

Pre-covid businesses which paid borderline wages are going to find it really difficult to compete with the government. Basically, you have an administration 'silently' waging war of certain types of business or jobs without needing to pass controversial legislation for things like a minimum wage increase or universal income. If it feel subversive, it is. But the cost of controversy these days causes people to find al…

This is a good thing. Businesses that rely on paying people salaries that keep them under the poverty line have no right to exist. Your business is exploitative and doesn't deserve to survive.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#38

Post by stakkur »

"But what if, she writes, those benefits are actually providing a safety net to American workers so that they do not need to take terrible jobs for low wages at terrible companies under terrible management?"

Exactly this. A significant part of American business depends on cheap, low-overhead labor. America outsources a lot of that overseas (both white and blue collar), but fundamentally depends on filling shitty jobs and providing as few benefits as possible.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#39

Post by mc32 »

erhk wrote: post #12
andreshb wrote: post #6

If a business can’t pay a living wage, automate the role.

And tax the labour that automation provides

Lots of things have been automated over time. What’s the cutoff?

Tractors automate things. Email automates things. Computing in general automated things.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#40

Post by Clubber »

the_only_law wrote: post #23
Clubber wrote: post #5

I think the "life is short," phenomenon that recently occurred to everybody due to COVID is also playing a part. People are thinking, something along the lines of, "I could have died and my gift of life has mostly consisted of working for this shithole company for the last 5 years." Employers might want to consider hiring more people in smaller shifts. Maybe an extra person and put everyone on 3-4 day shifts rather t…

Ngl it’s got me wondering if I should make some life shattering changes myself.

I've been working professionally for 25 years now. I could take a year off financially, but I'm still shackled by health insurance being so expensive on the private market.

Think about this, when you are on your deathbed, whenever that is. Could be tomorrow, could be in 60 years. What regrets will you have?

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