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Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

annehelen.substack.com

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Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#311

Post by ozim »

maybelsyrup wrote: post #256
jschveibinz wrote: post #2

This article unfortunately doesn't address the business side of the problem. Fast food restaurants, or place like "Dale's" mentioned in the article, make very little profit. It is most likely below 10%. Here is an estimate: https://www.restaurant365.com/blog/what-is-the-average-profi... . A 10% profit is very modest. That's not the story of the "fat cats getting rich on the back of the workers" that the article is al…

> This article unfortunately doesn't address the business side of the problem. Good! I've been hearing about "the business side of the problem" my entire life -- lectured sternly about it, in many cases. All while few of the Adults and Experts - people with Real Power, in other words - dare even mention some of the topics laid out in the link. > I'm just saying that both sides of the equation need to be examined, i.e…

Imagine scenario where you have $100k and you can open a small restaurant, create jobs, maybe not best jobs but still some people will be putting food on the table with your help, some students will pay for their collage.

But you count the costs and it turns out you will break even in 50 years or if anything goes bad never, like, one bad hire will drown you.

You look at Google, Apple, Facebook stocks ... there is always a risk but no one got fired for buying IBM right? If you put your money in that stocks you don't have to worry about bad employees, sanitary inspections, paying rent, bad customers.

That is what those Adults and Experts are trying to tell you, local business is not some "magic" that makes money or loses it. Behind every local business with shitty jobs there are people, don't make every business equal to faceless Facebook, Google or Apple. Your local pizza shop has an owner who is as much an employee as his staff.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#312

Post by chadcmulligan »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #70
lacker wrote: post #32

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 peopl…

How do you handle buying clothes?

My daughter buys clothes online all the time. They have free return now if they don't fit.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#313

Post by losteric »

jschveibinz wrote: post #2

This article unfortunately doesn't address the business side of the problem. Fast food restaurants, or place like "Dale's" mentioned in the article, make very little profit. It is most likely below 10%. Here is an estimate: https://www.restaurant365.com/blog/what-is-the-average-profi... . A 10% profit is very modest. That's not the story of the "fat cats getting rich on the back of the workers" that the article is al…

Real estate prices are also part of the problem, especially in urban cores... some Seattle and SF rents are just stupid, to say nothing of NYC

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#314

Post by cratermoon »

WalterBright wrote: post #278
myself248 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some years back, I was on a jobsite where radios were allowed, and we rotated through the crew, everyone playing deejay for a day, so everyone's taste got represented. Some guys would bring in a stack of CDs, some would just play the radio. It meant I listened to a few stations I don't normally listen to. And the density of payday loan ads, on some stations but not others, blew my mind. I don't think I ever heard one…

> that we could support? One of the most effective anti-poverty programs the government could do is teach basic accounting and finance as core curriculum in the public schools.

That sounds like victim-blaming. People are poor because they can't balance their checkbooks?

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#315

Post by rbg246 »

nickff wrote: post #254
nitwit005 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With such a small profit margin, arbitrarily raising everyone's wages is likely going to kill the business. There have been past minimum wage hikes, and that's not what has happened. The costs get passed onto consumers. Of course, there's presumably some hypothetical minimum wage that would be too high and destroy the industry, but the amounts being discussed in the US are below what other countries have already tr…

Your second sentence is debatable, as it appears that many European countries have high enough minimum total compensations (including benefits and other indirect costs) that unemployment is relatively high, and it can be very tough to get on the economic ladder.

But equally a poverty wage job doesn't get you on the ladder it makes you an indentured servant.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#316

Post by betwixthewires »

I just wanted to comment on the photos of the sonic drive-thru, with the sign that basically shames their employees. "People don't want to work." No, people don't want to work for sonic, a company that pays its car hops tip wages and then leaves no mechanism to tip with a card in their unnecessary touch screen kiosks, a company that charges extra for ketchup. Imagine getting paid 2.15 an hour to hear the 10th person today complain about having to ask for ketchup with their fries, and only getting tips on cash purchases, something exceedingly rare. I've never worked for this company, I never would, nobody should, and I can't wait to hear the impending news that the company is filing bankruptcy, I will throw a party.

Beyond that, there's too much noise in this article about "capitalism" and "BIPOC" and in reality what's happening is a job market going back to normal, where people actually have options, rather than the extended "recovery" of the great recession where people had none.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#317

Post by prepend »

hh3k0 wrote: post #301
prepend wrote: post #253

This seems pretty simple to me since the special unemployment insurance is up to $600/week[0] through at least July 31 it’s going to be hard to convince someone to work for less than that. So if it’s a choice between $15/hour, steady to not work and $18/hour variable to bus tables or whatnot I’m not surprised that people choose the $15. I expect this will be different once unemployment goes back to pre-covid and peop…

> Many jobs are terrible, I mean no one wants to be a janitor. I honestly fail to see how janitor is a terrible job -- being in charge of keeping a building in shape, doing the repairs, etc.? That seems like a great job to me. I'd wager most people would have a problem with the pay rather than the job itself.

I don’t like cleaning toilets, that’s the main blocker for me.

Operating that giant floor waxing/buffer machine seems pretty cool though but I would not want to be responsible for cleaning a bathroom.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#318

Post by kevinmchugh »

aliceryhl wrote: post #310
inetknght wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you elaborate on this? $7.25 8 hours = $58. It's hard to imagine expenses adding up anywhere close to $58/day, especially if you factor in that in high cost of living areas the minimum wage is also higher than $7.25.* Wow can you be any more out of touch? Your comment is offensively innaccurate. $58/day = $1740 for 30 days Unhealthy cheap carbs for a single person... $200/month (chicken, beans, rice, milk, chee…

Couldn't you do without the car? I've heard that the US has bad public transport, but is it really that bad?

If you live anywhere with public transit that's complete enough and reliable enough to get you to work on time, you're paying more in rent to make that happen. It might be cheaper but not by a lot

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#319

Post by r-zip »

colinmhayes wrote: post #129
pydry wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse than 20 years ago but sure, better than the 1800s.

The existence of smartphones alone makes life much better than it was 20 years ago.

Strongly disagree. The existence of smartphones has accelerated the development of social media, which negatively impacts people's mental health and children's attention spans. Their popular adoption has also driven the growth of disgusting surveillance ad-tech. Blegh. I'd gladly go back to using a Garmin GPS and carrying a Nokia if it meant that we didn't have all the accompanying garbage.
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