Posted on 11/27/2012 11:39:40 AM PST by zeestephen
"Whenever you see some business person complaining how he can’t find workers with the necessary skills, ask what wage they’re offering."
(Excerpt) Read more at cis.org ...
"Whenever you see some business person quoted complaining about how he or she can’t find workers with the necessary skills, ask what wage they’re offering. Almost always, it turns out that what said business person really wants is highly (and expensively) educated workers at a manual-labor wage."
And...
"[Employers] claim that much of our unemployment is “structural”, due to a mismatch between skills and labor demand. If that were true, you should see soaring wages for those workers who do have the right skills; in fact, with rare exceptions you don’t."
That’s been the Dem talking-point for at least a few days.
The reverse is also true.
When an employee complains about his pay, ask him why he took the job in the first place.
Also ask how much of the offered wage is reduced due to taxes (inventory, property), regulatory (paperwork), workman’s comp, soon-to-be obozocare, retraining expense because poor education (not taught, or did not learn when taught)etc., etc. etc
Not a fan of Krugman’s “economics” here but I see it all the time as a manufacturing consultant on the inability of business to address a labor shortage with wage incentives.
The Free market is great until you talk about labor, then the games start. H-1b, illegals, off shoring etc. ANYTHING to hold wages down.
This guy (Krugman) is truly an idiot...
“Almost always, it turns out that what said business person really wants is highly (and expensively) educated workers at a manual-labor wage.””
Of course the businessman always wants to pay the least he can to get the job done (which is to get a product or service out AND make a profit).
Similarly the employee wants to make as much as possible, and still get a job.
Now if you have a government that pays you for almost 2 years for not working, and then when that runs out you can get free housing, food, plus a few extras - guess what a lot of people think that’s just fine, maybe supplemented with an under the table job here and there.
That’s what causes structural (government designed) unemployment.
So to fulfill their labor and profit requirements, companies take their businesses elsewhere... or they hire illegals.
“The Free market is great until you talk about labor, then the games start. H-1b, illegals, off shoring etc. ANYTHING to hold wages down.”
Do you ever go to Wal-Mart to complain that their prices are too low?
It’s amazing that even here in Free Republic land so many see only one side of the equation - THEIRS. But why should I be surprised - it is a fact of life that people worry about their self-interest first and foremost - and that’s fine as far as it goes. But if you’re trying to objectively analyze a problem, then it pays to be intellectually honest.
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Well said, can’t say how many times I’ve heard people in my social circle say they “are gonna get some Mexicans”, but with the simple minded assertion that such is cost neutral at best for society.
We pay above average wages and we are willing to teach the skills - to employees with the necessary character. That's the part we rarely find.
Supply and demand. In the late 90’s In&Out Burger in Gilroy CA was hiring burger flippers for upwards of $12 bucks an hour, and still having trouble finding help.
I think it’s usually because they want some pay instead of no pay.
so going on strike and putting companies out of business helps this, how?
Is that even relevant to this thread? I didn’t see anything about going on strike.
I'm always amazed by people "stuck" in a dead end job; learn something and get a better job.
I know bricklayers that make more than $100K p/y. Not all bricklayers can make that kind of money but the ones that are that DAMN GOOD do.
And Krugman, defying all the odds, is always wrong!
An employer pays what is prevailing in the community for the skills involved.
I would certainly expect a surgeon to get paid more than a janitor...even it the janitor has 9 kids.
Their biggest problem is that vocational classes have been gone from the high schools for a number of years and it is starting to hit home with employers.
More & more kids are being pushed into loans to attend college and they still do not have a marketable skill. They then also demand an unreasonable wage to start their ‘career’, because they have the loans to pay, their new BMW payment & the cost of their high end apartment. Don’t forget the clothes, jewelry & the entertainment costs, either. They think they are entitled to a starting salary of over $90,000 a year and they don’t understand why they cannot get that.
Meanwhile, there are over 238,000 known manufacturing jobs going begging in the USA because the companies cannot find persons with a high school diploma, a GED, or who can clearly write & can read simple information.
I don’t know where the plumbers, carpenters, auto mechanics and other tradesmen ware going to come from. IF Obama thinks he can assign all those jobs to the illegals, he is in for a surprise. I will roof my own house before I allow an illegal on my property.
Meanwhile, employers have no obligation to bankrupt themselves to ‘pay a living wage’ like San Francisco thinks is necessry. The living wag crowd and the union crowd doesn’t get it.
IF I am starting a company from scratch with my own funds & efforts, I will NOT hire & pay for more useless bodies just to have them off the unemployment rolls. Telling me to pay $6000 a year in Obamacare costs per employee will make me lay off enough people to escape this cost & to put in more time myself. I can use that $6000 per employee in my own bank account and I know the value of every dollar—I own the business!!!!
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>>>It’s amazing that even here in Free Republic land so many see only one side of the equation - THEIRS. But why should I be surprised - it is a fact of life that people worry about their self-interest first and foremost
Very true.
And that is the heart of Frederic Bastiat’s (and Henry Hazlitt’s) Great Lesson in economics.
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