Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
annehelen.substack.com
Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
1–10 of 1001 posts
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#2This 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 alluding to.
The problem for the business is that the financial model is set by the fixed or imperative costs, i.e. the cost of rent, the cost of maintaining the capital equipment, the cost of cleaning to meet codes, insurance, etc. The cost of labor, for cooks, wait staff, etc. is often the biggest part of the expense budget for restaurants.
With such a small profit margin, arbitrarily raising everyone's wages is likely going to kill the business. There is no room in the budget. The only choice is to either automate, which will reduce the labor requirements, or raise prices and hope that customers won't just go down the street. But they will, they will go down the street--until everyone's prices go up and there is nowhere else to go. And all of this is free market capitalism at work. It is a continuous process of reinvention.
In short, I'm not saying that higher wages aren't necessary, I'm just saying that both sides of the equation need to be examined, i.e. the plight of the worker AND the plight of the business. And we need to understand that things will probably get ugly before they get better. Because that's how capitalism and free market economies work.
But watch out for technology and automation...that is the part of the equation that has been "solving" the labor problem for some time now...
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#3Neither.
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.
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#4Neither. 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.
Apparently close to 30% of household income right now is from government payments. I think on average people are getting the equiv of $15/hr from gov checks. So for people to want to work it’s going to have to exceed that by some non trivial amount.
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#5I 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 than 5-6. It'll be interesting if this phenomenon holds.
Of course the US workforce has been constantly squeezed for the last 40 years, so maybe the COVID was the breaking point. No more cheap labor because people are unwilling to live with their parents / not have health insurance. People really mastered how to live cheap over the last year as well.
Make no mistake, COVID was a seismic event in the US economy that will have lasting changes.
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#6If a business can’t pay a living wage, automate the role.
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#7Maybe one of these days the pro-labor left and the pro-labor right are gonna figure it out, stop taking the bait, and we'll finally get a real revolution.
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#8Neither. 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.
> If neither is happening then everyone is happy and anyone complaining is a liar in the economic sense.
The complaining is an economic act in itself - employers whining about "unable to find workers" usually get political help as a result, either in the form of tax breaks/other subsidies or in the form of relaxed labor laws/enforcement (e.g. loosening the requirements to fire someone, reducing the amount of inspection for undocumented workers).
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#9Neither. 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.
This. Everyone is trying to milk the government for “support”, especially if they can get it in cash.
Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?
#10Maybe one of these days the pro-labor left and the pro-labor right are gonna figure it out, stop taking the bait, and we'll finally get a real revolution.
Everyone knows how to make a revolution. The hard work is the day after the revolution. The same problems will exist. They don’t magically go away.