Another reason why jobs aren’t there when people are ready to return to the labor market.
The extra $300 per week in unemployment has now come to an end. It will be interesting to see if people do start returning to work now that this benefit is no longer available.
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It will be interesting to see if there is any change, especially since the states that chose to end that $300 UI payment early didn’t see a corresponding increase in workers taking on the jobs employers were trying to fill at low wages.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/04/ten-million-job-openings-labor-shortage/ (possible paywall or limited pages before paywall) tries to explain why there are many unfilled job openings but also many unemployed people.
For many types of jobs, the number of openings exceeds the number of unemployed whose last job was in that type of job.
However, long term unemployed people generally have difficulty finding jobs and tend to stay unemployed. About 40% of currently unemployed people have been unemployed for six months of longer.
Also, some workers formerly in lower paid jobs in areas like hospitality and restaurant service are leaving that type of job entirely.
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Add the desire to find that purple squirrel, and here we go…
(If you have not heard the term… here is the Wiki:
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The “purple squirrel” often means someone who is exactly like the employee who just left (in terms of skills and experience).
During the pandemic, the minimum wage in Denver went to $15/hr. Now you can work at McDonalds for $15 or wash dishes in a restaurant, or bus tables, or work in an office, or be a ticket taker at the theater or ball park, or work at a daycare… Many are choosing the $15/hr job that also has tips (Chilpotle or Starbucks or the bagel store) and not the hot dishwasher job.
Some restaurants are now imposing a surcharge on the bill and that money goes to the back of the house as an extra tip, or they give the tips from take out orders to the cooks and kitchen.
Lots of help wanted signs. Take your pick.
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Not necessarily. Employers oftentimes have unrealistic expectations of “what if” - meaning “what if we had a person who could do XYZ instead of the one who left:… so we might as well look for the right one while we are looking.”
Since this thread is 200+ posts long, I’ve probably already said this, but there is a problem with the fact that we have severely restricted immigration for 4 years. Immigrants fill lots of those manual labor, food service, and hospitality jobs. US has a negative growth rate, we need immigration to keep the population young and at current levels.
I know it’s become a cliche, but it’s true----immigrants do fill many jobs that Americans would prefer not to take.
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I don’t know if you said it, but I know I did. Both immigrants (legal and not) and refugees are often willing to take any job while they learn the language and get their footing in the US. The vast, vast majority are good for our country, not bad. Chuck the bad ones while keeping those who help our country be all it can be.
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Pretty much every business around where I live has a help wanted sign. Not sure what people who are not looking for work are doing for food/rent/utilities/etc. To a certain extent, covid has turned some people who don’t want to work into people who don’t want to work because of covid. Yet millions of people have been going to work every day throughout covid (including times prior to vaccine being available).
Or better yet, identify how many farm workers, doctors, accountants, IT folks, etc and have a system that lets in ones who follow the rules and go through the system…the same way Canada, Australia and many other countries handle immigration…oh yeah, and kick out the ones that did not follow the rules…
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Unless one is descended from Native Americans, we are ALL either immigrants or descendents of immigrants. It’s time “immigrant” ceased to be a cuss word in the vocabulary of certain folks.
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Our town is no different in terms of nearly every business having a “help wanted” sign in the window. Many of the local restaurants are only opening for dinner because they don’t have enough staff to do both lunch/dinner. With more people still working from home, there isn’t the lunch crowd that there used to be either.
We live near a university and usually kids will work at the restaurants and shops but I wonder if they aren’t willing to take the risk of getting sick now that they have to go through regular Covid testing.
I don’t know anyone without a job who wants one around where I live. And there are still plenty of help wanted signs.
Those who don’t want one aren’t living off the dole either. They’re like me and don’t need one.
Further away I know one who is living off the dole, but it’s not Covid related. It was going on long before Covid. Technically it falls under disability (mainly because no one checks out how “bad” the disability isn’t).
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Even the airlines are having a hard time staffing. Southwest was cancelling flights due to staff shortages. Airlines don’t pay as well as in the old days but still aren’t they still considered desirable jobs?
S3 has now been contacted by his last 3 bars/restaurants to see if he will come back. They dangled much better money but that is not the problem. After 15 years in the business he wants more reliable hours and benefits now that he will be having a family. He is one of the ones that is re-training and will never go back.
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Back when my ancestors came to the US, the social safety net was non-existent. You either made money or you starved. I don’t think it makes sense to have the same attitude towards immigrants (give us your poor, huddled masses) when there are significant social safety nets in place. We definitely should have immigrants but it shouldn’t be “let anyone come in who wants to come in.”
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Businesses don’t like to have/train a lot of employees But I’ve begun to wonder if they will be more tolerant of part timers that can’t work 20 hours a week. The minimum when my kids were in high school - too much to carry on top of their schoolwork and activities.
I think there would be some folks (students, retirees, stay-at-home parents) that might consider a 8 to 10 hour a week gig for $15+ per hour.
I have my ancestor’s diaries from when they came in the early 1800’s. They had to have a passport with permission from their dukedom to leave. They knew they had to have the money to buy a farm because there was no welfare back then. They knew they had to know English, so they learned it. They were checked in Baltimore harbor for disease. They didn’t sneak in illegally.
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