Posted on 06/17/2016 4:08:44 AM PDT by expat_panama
Throughout the seven-year old U.S. expansion, as the unemployment rate tumbled from a peak of 10% in 2009 to a low of 4.7% last month, policy makers have been focused on the slack in the labor market. Yes, slack....
...surprise to read this week that the problem facing companies is a shortage of workers, both highly skilled and entry-level.
Why not offer them a higher wage?...
...the Roaring ‘90s? That’s what a tight labor market looks like: signing bonuses; offers of free cars, even for mid-level managers; and a sufficiently attractive wage to entice some criminals...
...plenty of business owners who will tell you that they can’t find workers...
...Janet Yellen on Wednesday cast doubt on a significant interest-rate increase in the near future...
...monthly JOLTS report (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) revealed a record number of job openings...
...Can’t businesses tempt labor-force dropouts with a higher real wage? There is no sign of it....
...a wishy-washy attempt to fill the reported number of job openings.
Many economists have been waiting for that beast known as “wage inflation” to boost prices...
...Businesses do not bid up the price of labor (wages) only to find their profits squeezed...
...A more compelling argument to explain the large number of reported job openings going unfilled is that demand isn’t strong enough to support economy-wide price increases...
...6.4 million Americans working part-time for economic reasons...
...wake of the truly awful May employment report, did Yellen concede...
...pointed to the low level of unemployment claims, high level of job openings and modest wage increases as signs “of a healthy labor market.”
Maybe. Until I see signs that businesses are satisfying their stated demand for labor by luring labor-market dropouts with a higher real wage, I remain unconvinced.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
No.
Thanks for posting.
Businesses can’t find enough qualified workers to whom they can pay unqualified wages; that is the problem.
Is this satire? My old friends at NYC investment banks say they’re cutting away still.
Why would someone work when welfare offers the equivalent of a $25/hr job in many places? The residual effect of people seeing that is another discouraging factor, albeit unquantifiable.
Many of those job openings are false. Some companies are like the auto parts store close to me that has been known to run an ad in the paper every day for years claiming they need someone to work the counter but when anyone inquires they say they have no opening. There have been numerous examples of that sort of thing around here. Don’t ask me, I don’t know why they do it.
1. Employers are very reluctant to hire new staff because the salary/wage compensation is only a small part of the actual cost of employing someone. When you add the benefits and administrative costs (including all of the defensive measures that must be taken to protect the employer from legal problems down the road), there is a significant "wage inflation" that doesn't show up in the base compensation figures.
2. Employers are also reluctant to take on employees on anything more than a contract basis, since they have no long-term confidence in their prospective labor needs.
3. Even "unskilled" labor is hard to find, because too many Americans lack even three basic attributes an employer wants to see in any prospective employee: a sense of self-respect, a good work ethic, and a desire to learn and improve on the job.
What’s the real unemployment number. I haven’t heard in awhile.
or as the requirement for workers that actually come to work, don’t use drugs, and can cope with the increasingly absolute need to deal with the computers with which they must use, don’t have the language skills required to communicate (American born Americans), the employers have learned that the task of finding workers is very hard.
Workers have learned that the constant and increasing rate of change means that he who finds a comfortable rut will be in trouble when that rut is bypassed by change and is no longer required.
Your number 3 is dead on. What is lacking is reliable labor.
And skilled labor is an entirely different thing. Bidding up the wages doesn’t suddenly make competent welders appear.
Concur. Given what today’s schools turn out, it is surprising that businesses aren’t having even more problems finding qualified people.
I’ve seen ads that have been online forever and there’s no way they could have waited a year or more to fill some of those positions.
My friends who have great qualifications get interviews that are rather quick and curt and they never hear back.
Whole country’s gone nuts.
Bill Gates gives away billions but Microsoft SAYS it can't find domestic technical help. So why doesn't Bill and Co. pay better wages and attract US workers if he has billions to give away? Because running around the world playing God with a big check book is more fun. That's why.
It promotes young people to get the training. It is called supply and demand and market forces. Get it?
I've been at the bottom. You learn and try to do more, twice as much as when you were hired, and you get rewarded with a paltry 3% raise. I usually start looking for a new job the same day.
The truth is most small businesses are run by greedy incompetents. Big Corps are managed by go along get alongs. I have had maybe 2 supervisors/bosses in 40 years I thought competent.
U.S. businesses need to bring all the Indian tech workers over here who will work cheap, while American sons and daughters with college degrees can’t find a job.
Wonder why Trump beat 16 Republicans for the nomination…….
One of the biggest problems faced by both employers and prospective employees today is specialization. There are so many different sets of skills needed for many businesses to manage effectively.
My own company is looking to lay off staff in some departments, even while other departments have a desperate need for talented workers. The simple problem is that the employees in Group A don't meet the company's needs for Group B.
The Obamacare effect.
Fixed. There is no labor shortage only a wage shortage.
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