Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

451–460 of 531 posts

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

#451

Post by monkeycantype »

zikduruqe wrote: post #386
mellavora wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both you and the parent seem to assume that 'evolution' means 'improvement' Humanity has clearly evolved, even in the last 200 years. Doesn't mean we are getting better

Our software has improved since the domestication of animals and crops. Our hardware has not changed and we are still on H. Sapiens 1.0.

I hope you’re correct. All our domesticated animals have smaller brains than their wild cousins. If the phrenologists hadn’t been so focussed on proving their racist fantasies, would they have found our skulls a few marbles smaller than our ancient (modern human) ancestors?

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

#452

Post by 8note »

bigbob2 wrote: post #445
f0xytr0xy wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, why should we subsidize them? I’m Californian and my taxes should go to help my home state, not those who hate me and my home? Kentucky and the rest of those moocher states should pull themselves up by their boot straps, stand on their own two feet and sink or swim.

Because we live in a Union? The idea is that your state will be helped if the table is ever turned. Not everyone in Kentucky hates California and the people who live there. What you're essentially promoting is reducing the role of federal government, which is the same thing current Kentucky senators want. I'm sorry to be so blunt but to be honest your comment sounds hateful and ignorant.

I don't think it's likely that the Kentuckians would help out if the tables were turned

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

#453

Post by monkeycantype »

robocat wrote: post #413
DrewRWx wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the appendix became seemingly useless.

1. If the appendix was both useless and deadly (before procreation), there would be a strong evolutionary pressure against it, so it likely is unobviously useful 2. Western diet possibly causes problems with the appendix - "Appendicitis is uncommon in rural Africa and Asia" 3. Anatomy involved with immune function or microbiome is hard to understand function. From links: The peak incidence occurs in the 15- to 24-yea…

Also interesting is the idea that the appendix is a local optimisation. If a smaller appendix was more likely to get appendicitis, it might remain a vestigial organ rather disappearing completely, even it the organ has no function, because there is an evolutionary advantage to having the current rather than the smaller size

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

#454

Post by bigbob2 »

8note wrote: post #452
bigbob2 wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we live in a Union? The idea is that your state will be helped if the table is ever turned. Not everyone in Kentucky hates California and the people who live there. What you're essentially promoting is reducing the role of federal government, which is the same thing current Kentucky senators want. I'm sorry to be so blunt but to be honest your comment sounds hateful and ignorant.

I don't think it's likely that the Kentuckians would help out if the tables were turned

This is just baseless speculation. Also that's a great reason why the federal government exists.

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

#455

Post by is_d4ng_erect »

epicureanideal wrote: post #450

Many companies are becoming increasingly unpleasant to work for, largely because of the increasing political speech at work. I wish more companies would take a Coinbase or Basecamp type stance on avoiding politics at work, and downsize their HR departments so they focus on benefits, compensation, and so on, rather than acting like political commissars and social activists within the workplace.

simmer down there american

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

#456

Post by grecy »

gruez wrote: post #417
stiray wrote: post #303

I think that people started to realize, that they can live much better with lower amount of money. What corona crisis did to me was suddenly figuring out that just, from the pure fact of not leaving home much (or I would rather say, not going into the consumers world any more - I rather went to a forest, hills, rivers, lakes,...), there was an overhead of 500 euros left on my bank account each month. Same life but th…

> I think that people started to realize, that they can live much better with lower amount of money. I might be able to buy this argument if the person in question is making 6 figures, but what about the median person making $36k/year? If you can barely make rent, reducing your working hours because "can live much better with lower amount of money" isn't really an option.

I quit my software engineering job to drive from Alaska to Argentina for 2 years and then to drive around Africa for three years. I have not worked at a desk for 6 years now, and I live on about $20k - $25k.

I've never been happier. I have so much free time to spend how I please, and I just don't buy crap I don't need. Yes, I've got house mates and I can't afford to live in some expensive city and eat out every night, but those things have never made me happy anyway.

I ride my bike, I throw the Frisbee and I snowboarded 97 days this past winter (a luxury, for sure) My dollars per day spent is extremely low.

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

#457

Post by Pokepokalypse »

heurisko wrote: post #159
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of this stuff about workers disappearing and people reconsidering their lives is pretty much a sideshow of projected narrative that is detached from what is really going on. Well said. We’ve been bombarded with news articles and thought pieces about how COVID has forever changed the workforce, how people are refusing to work jobs they don’t like, how people are quitting en masse because their employers won’t al…

One of the stories I often hear, is that people have decided to move house to the countryside, as they are now able to work remotely. I don't know how true this is: are these people not concerned if their employer decides to reopen offices and require employees to work in the office again when the pandemic inevitably ends?

In my case; I found a job that was specified as "100% remote, even after COVID" - so I'm not super-concerned about that. Yes, employers lie, and in 1 year or so, they could easily come back and tell me I'm fired because I can't come on-site. (there is also a component of my job which could require me to go on customer site and work there; which I'm willing to do as long as they pay travel expenses).

I get that I'm very lucky to have landed such a gig. I hope many more do. Because when a worker has to bear the personal cost of sitting in traffic for 2+ hrs per day (burning gasoline and polluting the world while doing so), because his boss is uncomfortable with not being able to physically scrutinize his underlings - that's bullshit.

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

#458

Post by dehrmann »

wildrhythms wrote: post #299
White_Wolf wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Any kind of engineering" is a bit broad. Loation matters a lot with available jobs. Take a look at London and a 30 mile radius around it(or so). You can't find enough skilled (not talking about diplomas here) electricians, PLC/automation controller programmers, Security system engineers, Maintenance engineers and I could go on with the list. I would suggest going straight to companies(managers and such) with your CV…

I work at a massive, well-known tech company, nearly 5 year tenure, and I apply to jobs on LinkedIn, directly through the company website, to government jobs (via USAJOBS), about 5 per week. I live in a major U.S. city. I'm willing to relocate anywhere, or work remote. Full-stack developer. I never get contacted back. Am I just not good enough? I know the discourse is around London, but I think this is an issue happe…

There's something weird about this. You should be getting recruiters on Linkedin reaching out.

What's your job title at the well-known tech company? I assume it's more like FAANG than a consulting firm? How many years of experience do you have? Have you reached out to people you've worked with in the past to see if their current employer is hiring? Are you in a major tech city or a major city with no tech presence?

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

#459

Post by cmmeur01 »

f0xytr0xy wrote: post #438
bigbob2 wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also more affluence in California and the Northeast vs Middle America. Regardless of politics Middle America is not going to be granted the same economic opportunities as coastal regions.

So, why should we subsidize them? I’m Californian and my taxes should go to help my home state, not those who hate me and my home? Kentucky and the rest of those moocher states should pull themselves up by their boot straps, stand on their own two feet and sink or swim.

Why stop at taxes? Let’s talk about water, why should all these states be subsidizing California’s water use? Why aren’t they bootstrapping desalination plants? Quit mooching.

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

#460

Post by fallenspec »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #50
BossingAround wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might also be an attitude problem on your side. If you're serious about getting a job, consider coaching. This "nobody is hiring, everything sucks, and I'm the victim here" narrative isn't really helping you. Also, bringing up stuff like "lies about the cough" (which I assume is OP talking about COVID) absolutely undermines your credibility as an individual capable of critical thinking, which is necessary for softwar…

You've got cause and effect flipped here. It's not the bitterness that causes one to be not hired, its not being hired that causes bitterness. I experienced the same when trying to get in the field. The narrative at the time was that there was a labor shortage, and they were trying to push for more H1B visa holders. Yet there were very very few entry level positions, nobody was training, and the company that hired me…

When I got out of university I was doing a web dev job that paid me less than a full time super market job in the UK.

However after a year of working there I quickly moved on and got a big pay rise in doing so.

Post reply on HN