Posted on 10/19/2021 8:09:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
* Businesses across the US say they are struggling to find employees, especially for hourly work.
* Joey Holz decided to test their claims, submitting two applications a day in September.
* Holz got one interview, and his summary of the experiment went viral on multiple platforms.
Joey Holz recalled first hearing complaints about a labor shortage last year when he called to donate convalescent plasma at a clinic near Fort Myers, Florida.
"The guy went on this rant about how he can't find help and he can't keep anybody in his medical facility because they all quit over the stimulus checks," Holz told Insider. "And I'm like, 'Your medical professionals quit over $1,200 checks? That's weird.'"
Over the next several months, he watched as a growing chorus of businesses said they couldn't find anyone to hire because of government stimulus money. It was so ubiquitous that he joined a "No one wants to work" Facebook group, where users made memes deriding frustrated employers.
He said he found it hard to believe that government money was keeping people out of the labor force, especially when the end of expanded federal unemployment benefits did not seem to trigger a surge in employment. The expanded benefits ended in September, but 26 states ended them early in June and July.
"If this extra money that everyone's supposedly living off of stopped in June and it's now September, obviously, that's not what's stopping them," he said. Workers have said companies struggling to hire aren't offering competitive pay and benefits.
So Holz, a former food-service worker and charter-boat crewman, decided to run an experiment.
On September 1, he sent job applications to a pair of restaurants that had been particularly public about their staffing challenges.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Two weeks and 28 applications later, he had just nine email responses, one follow-up phone call, and one interview with a construction company that advertised a full-time job focused on site cleanup paying $10 an hour.
But Holz said the construction company instead tried to offer Florida's minimum wage of $8.65 to start, even though the wage was scheduled to increase to $10 an hour on September 30. He added that it wanted full-time availability, while scheduling only part time until Holz gained seniority.
Holz said he wasn't applying for any roles he didn't qualify for.
This is interesting….I belong to a local community Facebook page where I live. A few weeks ago multiple people commented on a post about this topic. Many of them shared similar experiences: applying for numerous jobs only to be ignored, not contacted at all, or turned away due to being “overqualified”
Something strange is going on
Maybe he should hitchhike his way across the U.S.A....
I suspect that there is more to the story. I’m retired and I could find a job tomorrow if I wanted.
Same here
How about copies of the applications he turned in?
And there this is this statement. Pretty obvious he had a pre existing political agenda. Seems he had an outcome and created an experiment designed to fulfill that pre determined agenda.
Holz acknowledged that his results may not be representative of the larger labor challenges in the country, since his search was local and targeted the most vocal critics of stimulus spending.
You state you are asking for $15.00 an hour. That a pretty obvious red flag to a potential employer that they are going to be wasting time and money training you for a job you will quit in less then 6 months.
I think this is BS.
Where I live there within in a quarter mile there are 2 restaurants asking for help. And the marina spitting distance from me cannot get full time help, and forget about qualified mechanics.
The business owners I associate with are hurting.
Agreed, I’m not buying it. I know business owners around here offering $15-17 starting pay for entry level workers and still cannot find employees.
RE: Where I live there within in a quarter mile there are 2 restaurants asking for help.
OK, will they hire you if you applied?
I've talked personally with many, many small biz owners who are desperate for new-hires.
I've talked w employees who are overworked and would like some peeps to be co-workers.
I see a lot of small biz owners doing most of the work themselves.
I was at a restaurant a few weeks ago where the owner had to greet customers at the door saying that he was sorry, but no workers had shown up and he was temporarily closed.
The grocery store I frequent had a card table set up at the entrance just yesterday with reps asking customers if they would like to apply for a job (all positions open.)
I could go on.
Eliminate unemployment insurance. Problem solved. Unless of course they’re willing to work as slaves.
Oh I get it. Grapes of Wrath.
American business is subsidized by cheap money and cheap labor, so they think their business models are viable when they are not.
Raise pay and you will find workers.
DO IT!
I’ll bet they don’t budget advanced training and raise pay rates to KEEP workers productive, well paid, and growing.
As government can subsidize sloth in workers with free stuff, the US government has subsidized LAZY businesses with owners who think they are ENTITLED to near zero interest rates and dirt low wages. Stop immigration for twenty years, send overstayed visas home, and...
PAY A F’in HIGHER WAGE.
“Something strange is going on”
I have been saying this for the last 5-6 months. A local girl on FB said she did numerous applications and zero response. These were entry level or little skill jobs
I think it is all a scam. Companies have less employees and charge more. It’s a win win situation
I start work Saturday. Applied Tuesday. Was hired befor they saw my application. Overly qualified. 81 years old. Need money to help someone.
Exactly. I have been checking out the listings regularly and have yet to see any where the business owner reveals an opinion about stimulus checks. And I suspect that any business owner with such opinions would not find it difficult to spit a liberal loon’s application and ignore it while answering others. It is easy to spot the “woke” companies though, as they go to great pains to explain how woke they are in terms of gender, color, maskwearing mandates, etc., in either an effort to attract fellow liberals, or in an effort to turn off conservative jobseekers. I notice that the more authoritarian liberal the companies are, the fewer people seem interested. Those listings stay up for months while smaller nonpoliticized companies get applicants and their help wanted ads are pulled.
I have a friend who is looking for a better job/career, and businesses are full of sh*t.
They absolutely REFUSE to significantly raise wages/salaries.
Their answer is to SUBSIDIZE cheap labor with immigration.
Their businesses are NOT viable anymore.
My friend is not getting any bites from employers despite having a college degree and a strong five-year work record at the same company.
Businesses today live in a bubble of UNreality when it comes to the big picture of immigration, low interest rates, etc.
They just won’t pay more and yet despite the growth in productivity since the 80’s, the percentage of GDP that is going to the workers as opposed to the owners has be going down.
Owners are becoming ENTITLED.
Not in IT industry.
Vocal employers want to blame price increases on something. That’s the no BS excuse.
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