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Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

annehelen.substack.com

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Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#671

Post by digitaltrees »

solosoyokaze wrote: post #94
honksillet wrote: post #56

There are no such things as “jobs americans won’t do”. It’s just you have to compensate people accordingly. With this failing stealth UBI experiment that we are currently engaged in, people aren’t willing to work when many of them are getting near 100% the same income not to work. The rest of us are being crushed by inflation.

> The rest of us are being crushed by inflation. The top 1% are making more money than ever before. If you're holding assets impacted by inflation, you're doing quite well now. If we take it as a given that in a modern, humane society no one should starve to death on the street and everyone should have access to the basics of survival, then the answer to the labor "shortage" is simply to shift some of the historicall…

Agreed. Not long ago there was debate about a permanent structural stagnation with permanent unemployment. The argument was that workers lacked sufficient training or desire to fill current jobs. All while some economists were screaming that it was actually the result of an insufficient fiscal stimulus response to the Great Recession that could have easily been solved had the response been $1.5T instead of $700B. Given the massive fiscal response to COVID and this current situation resulting in a rebalancing as you highlighted, I think it’s clear that it was never structural and always a result of unnecessary slack due to a financial recession easily solved by government support spending.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#672

Post by Robotbeat »

dragonwriter wrote: post #514
zizee wrote: post #382

Honest question: why do discussions about minimum wage in the U.S. never propose having teenagers having a different minimum to adults? In australia we have a $12.50/hr minimum for 15 year olds. It climbs in increments until about $25/hr. This system allows teenagers to get a foot in the door for low-skilled jobs, and allows adults to get paid a livable wage. The result is that a lot of fast food jobs are performed b…

> Honest question: why do discussions about minimum wage in the U.S. never propose having teenagers having a different minimum to adults? Because its effect would be a transfer of jobs from working class adults to middle class kids.

I sincerely doubt that.

1) Kids are unlikely to be as effective. 2) There's not that many kids.

It's all just motivated reasoning to argue against a significant minimum wage.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#673

Post by Robotbeat »

8note wrote: post #553
angmarsbane wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this concern until I realized teenagers have to go to school so there’s a huge chunk of the day that they cannot work. Adults have to take those shifts. This realization also led me to determine that these jobs aren’t purely for teenagers despite hearing all my life burger-flipping was for teens.

Not all teenagers are required to go to school. Dropping out is possible, and usually 18/19 y/o don't have high school

18/19 year olds shouldn't have a lower minimum wage. They're adults. Younger teens, sure.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#674

Post by loopercal »

inetknght wrote: post #295
loopercal wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My rent is up 80% since two years ago. There's no major* rental market in the US where this is the case. * - There could be some oil boom in a 300 person town I don't know about I guess.

Houston, March 2019, my rent renewal was $1500/mo for a 12-month lease or $1500/mo for month-to-month or a new contract. Houston, October 2020, my rent renewal was $1500 for a 15-month lease or $2100/month for month-to-month or a new contract. Okay so 80% is an exaggeration. 30% isn't.

1. There's a giant difference between 80% and 30%.

2. That's not reflective of the rental market in Houston (I'm from there and going back for a graduation tomorrow), that's reflective of your landlord charging you for the convenience of not moving.

https://www.rentcafe.com/apartments-for-rent/us/tx/houston/#...

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#675

Post by Robotbeat »

asperous wrote: post #571
zizee wrote: post #382

Honest question: why do discussions about minimum wage in the U.S. never propose having teenagers having a different minimum to adults? In australia we have a $12.50/hr minimum for 15 year olds. It climbs in increments until about $25/hr. This system allows teenagers to get a foot in the door for low-skilled jobs, and allows adults to get paid a livable wage. The result is that a lot of fast food jobs are performed b…

My issues with this are it's ageist and unequal, teenagers are people too. Many teenagers work harder and are smarter then many adults. It glosses over the fact that some teenagers sadly have to support children and adult parents as well. Symbolically it tells teenagers they aren't worth as much as adults. It could reduce age diversity in some jobs which can be important. I never understood the argument that middle c…

Kids are often not allowed to work full time and ARE required to go to school until 18.

You can consider anti-child-labor laws to be ageist, and maybe you'll be technically correct but that's irrelevant. Age discrimination actually is good in this case. Kids should be in school and shouldn't be forced to have to work.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#676

Post by Robotbeat »

Igelau wrote: post #568
andromeduck wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if adults can't compete with teenagers.

At that level, "cheaper" is the killer feature. There's no competing with the cheaper option.

Doubt it. Australia doesn't have a problem. And there are a finite number of minors, and they're not allowed to work full time any way.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#677

Post by Ancalagon »

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.

in some ways its worse, the internet has literally made everything more competitive

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#678

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

tedsanders wrote: post #300
j1elo wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vehicle insurance on an old vehicle: $300/mo Wow. In Spain you would pay between €150 to 200 per year of insurance for the typical old cheap car. 400/year for a nice, semi luxury one. I knew some things were expensive in the States, but this particular one surprised me a lot.

It's not typical in the States. I own a new vehicle, have comprehensive insurance, and pay Geico ~$60/mo. I suspect that someone paying $300 for an old vehicle has either (a) an expensive low-deductible plan, (b) a driving record with past insurance claims, or (c) an expensive old car.

Minimum coverage, modest car, clean record, over 30 is ~$220/mo for most carriers here, $150 if you're eligible for USAA.

For each factor you change you can add another 15%-40%.

I'm paying $400/mo for 2 cars, no collision, above min medical.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#679

Post by stainforth »

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…

>the cost of rent,

The real drag on business and progress

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#680

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #600
inetknght wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2 tanks a week? When I lived in Spring and commuted to the office at 610 North and I-45, it was 2 tanks a week for the 35 minute drive. That was 7 years ago. > 200 bucks a month for shit tier food? Ever heard of cooking? One week of food for one person: 2lb white rice, $1.5 1lb beans, $1.25 2lb ground meat, $10 1gal milk, $4 1lb sharp cheddar, $5 1 loaf bread, $3.5 total... $25. Times four weeks, you get $100. I ne…

$1400/mo for rent seems exorbitant, especially if you're working a minimum wage job.

Our rents that were $1400 last year are over $2000 for the same properties.
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