[Alberta's Child]

I see it all the time with my clients. They can't hire enough people to fill their manufacturing jobs. Two factors are driving this:

1. Locally, the cost of living is very high and nobody who works in a manufacturing job can afford to live here.

2. Nationally, the manufacturing sector has lost a lot of potential workers to other industries over the years. The energy sector was a huge factor since fracking and shale extraction began to accelerate in the late 2000s.

[ExTxMarine]

Nationally, the manufacturing sector has lost a lot of potential workers to other industries over the years. The energy sector was a huge factor since fracking and shale extraction began to accelerate in the late 2000s.

TRUTH! And what's worse is when the oil industry starts sliding, these people who were making $25 an hour as an electricians helper in the oil fields expect to make that same amount wiring houses - NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!

In the past, many of them would sit on their butts until the industry kicks back up or their unemployment runs out! They wait because they make more on unemployment than on minimum wage, and more than working at the UPS shipping warehouse or in some foundry somewhere, as an inexperienced helper!!

However, when the economy is growing like this, these employees can find relatively similar income with overtime, incentives, etc... so they go right back to work. Some of them can even find long-term stable futures outside the volatile markets of the oil industry, so they settle down to a more "normal" life!

[ichabod1]

Plus those that can’t pass the drug test.

[rey]

That I can buy. Here, north of SF Bay, I have a customer complaining he can’t find anyone for his security business. He pays $15 an hour where average rents are $2-4K a month. I can also understand your second assertion.

Here is my point, the number of permanently unemployed, as far as I know, hasn’t changed since the election (I believe that it was around 92 million). During Obama’s last months, they were claiming unemployment around 4%, which most of us knew was nonsense, as most people had simply given up looking, hence the 92 mil out of the work force. The unemployment rate is still being counted in the manner in which it was counted under Obama. This is favorable to Trump too. WHile things are better under Trump, I still don’t buy that unemployment is all that low. I do believe it will improve. I also don’t buy what they were saying on the news that with the already low unemployment rate, that a tax cut, if it has an expansion effect on the economy, will cause serious problems as there isn’t enough labor to go around. Letting people keep what they earn is never a bad thing.

[central_va]

I guess they are not offering enough money.