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The Labor-Shortage Myth
The Atlantic ^ | June 2, 2023 | Oren Cass

Posted on 06/04/2023 9:41:55 PM PDT by anthropocene_x

The unemployment rate is continuing to hold close to its lowest level in 70 years, despite a slight uptick last month. This might seem like good news, but it has two groups of Americans deeply troubled. One is the business community, which counts on a surplus of available workers to keep wages down. The other, unfortunately, is mainstream economists—and the policy makers who listen to them.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has linked low unemployment to high inflation, publicly discussing the need to restore “balance” to the labor market—meaning increase unemployment and suppress wage growth—to tame consumer prices. A director at the American Enterprise Institute, a corporate-friendly think tank, recently called for “a pretty big increase in the unemployment rate.” Republicans in several states have introduced legislation to loosen child-labor restrictions as a way to expand the labor supply.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, seems to agree that low unemployment poses a problem, and to see immigration as an answer. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas called for immigration reform on the grounds that “there are businesses around this country that are desperate for workers” and “desperate workers in foreign countries that are looking for jobs in the United States.” Apparently our own workers aren’t desperate enough.

This is a grave mistake—politically, economically, and morally. If employers are struggling to find workers, they should offer better pay and conditions. If that comes at the expense of some profits, or requires some prices to rise, well, that’s how markets are supposed to work. Only by challenging employers to improve job quality and boost productivity will we find out what the market’s awesome power can achieve for American workers.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: economy; employment; immigration; jobs; labor; unemployment
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1 posted on 06/04/2023 9:41:55 PM PDT by anthropocene_x
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To: anthropocene_x

Trump=appointed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, they should mention that.


2 posted on 06/04/2023 9:43:34 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: anthropocene_x

From what I have seen, there are is a dearth of service workers who can do the job acceptably.


3 posted on 06/04/2023 9:44:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: anthropocene_x

” linked low unemployment to high inflation,”

well geee wizzz ...you can’t link it to any thing else ..cough..corporate profits ...cough ..massive gov spending ..cough... 0% interest expansion of m2 ...cough

...just saying...


4 posted on 06/04/2023 9:50:52 PM PDT by 1of10 (be vigilant , be strong, be safe, be 1 of 10 .)
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To: nickcarraway
“dearth of service workers “

During the great covid monetary expansion ....
a lot of service workers DOUBLED their income by staying home

A lot of the smart ones (the good workers) used that time and money to ... move on up .. or out ..or on... leaving a lot of holes in the sector.
Now ... breathing without being reminded and passing a drug test can get you hired on. ... passing a drug screen is an optional requirement for most places , and really just means refraining for a week or two.

But at least most of them speak english... give that a couple more months.

The good ones still in the trade are in high demand. At least that's what I've seen.

5 posted on 06/04/2023 10:04:14 PM PDT by 1of10 (be vigilant , be strong, be safe, be 1 of 10 .)
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6 posted on 06/04/2023 10:14:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpers are Republicans the same way Liz Cheney is a Republican.)
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To: anthropocene_x
Meanwhile our labor force participation rate is near an all time low. That's the real indicator of unemployment. How are all these people who don't work surviving you ask? Most are on some kind of government benefits which are now so lucrative that they don't feel the need to get a job. In order to replace these workers that live off of benefits instead of working Biden wants to import more third worlders.

The answer is pretty simple, stop paying people not to work. We can't do that because then they might not vote democrat.

7 posted on 06/04/2023 11:46:11 PM PDT by GaryCrow
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To: anthropocene_x

First, if we needed the louts from south of the border they need to know how to do something. They don’t and they are so far behind they can’t be trained even if we needed them.

Want to increase the labor pool? Cut give aways or phase them out with increasing earnings but don’t cut them off completely for entry level workers.

What happened to the short lived workfare program?


8 posted on 06/05/2023 12:18:25 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: GaryCrow
Meanwhile our labor force participation rate is near an all time low. That's the real indicator of unemployment. How are all these people who don't work surviving you ask?

This can be a very misleading statistic because the “potential labor force” includes anyone over the age of 16 who is not institutionalized — with no maximum age. The biggest factor in our declining labor force participation rate right now is retirement.

9 posted on 06/05/2023 12:59:30 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: anthropocene_x
If employers are struggling to find workers, they should offer better pay and conditions. If that comes at the expense of some profits, or requires some prices to rise, well, that’s how markets are supposed to work. Only by challenging employers to improve job quality and boost productivity will we find out what the market’s awesome power can achieve for American workers.

There’s a major flaw in this reasoning. It’s predicated on the assumption that there are sufficient numbers of competent workers available for every position. In many advanced fields, there aren’t — at ANY wage.

10 posted on 06/05/2023 2:07:56 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: anthropocene_x

Not buying this at all.

There are help wanted signs everywhere.

We don’t have full employment or anything even close to it.

People don’t want to work for a living. Not sure how they
are surviving, but they’re grifting off someone.

Soros?


11 posted on 06/05/2023 2:38:09 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands.)
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To: anthropocene_x

“f employers are struggling to find workers, they should offer better pay and conditions.”

Hiring policies may not be as rigged as employment policies are so that an adequately skilled person can be readily found and hired but can also be terminated at any time for any reason, or no reason at all through an employer’s “at-will” employment policy. Combine at-will employment with low-profile “woke” and “cancel” corporate culture(s), an honest and hardworking recent-hire employee won’t necessarily realize what a hornet’s nest they’d be walking into. If they do know what they’ve signed up for they might be MAGA-oriented and feel the pressure to abide by dumbing down for appearances sake. More and more people are coming to the inevitable conclusion that while they still love the work of their chosen professions, they have grown to hate the business, and rightly so.


12 posted on 06/05/2023 3:25:21 AM PDT by equaviator (If 60 is the new 40 then 35 must be the new 15.)
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To: DoughtyOne

>Soros?<

Us.

It’s a 2 step solution.

Go back to the old way of calculating unemployment (pre-Obama days).

Stop paying able bodied people to not work.

EC


13 posted on 06/05/2023 3:32:34 AM PDT by Ex-Con777
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To: Ex-Con777

I’m in favor of transitioning off welfare for a large portion
of those on it.

Sunset those who can work, and get them off their duffs
losing hundreds of pounds if they can’t now.

Start with 24-36-48 months, and just reduce each month’s
payment by 1/24th, 1/36th, or 1/48th of what they are
getting now, until it hits zero in 2 to 4 years.

Retire this from the budget. Cut the new debt by over a
trillion a year.


14 posted on 06/05/2023 4:05:45 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands.)
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To: anthropocene_x
Although it’s tempting to say that the market has decided that software development pays $61 an hour while picking lettuce pays $16, that observation falters on the fact that farm owners can’t actually find workers at that low wage. (If you offered computer programmers $16 an hour and made them work in the hot sun, you would have trouble finding enough of them too.)

False equivalence/analogy. How many hours does it take to learn computer programming vs. picking lettuce? How easy is is to get a job doing either? Meaning which job requires little training and helps the unskilled? And what would many others choose: being outside in the sun and fresh air or being stuck in an office 9-5?

15 posted on 06/05/2023 4:13:54 AM PDT by daniel1212 (As a damned+destitute sinner turn 2 the Lord Jesus who saves souls on His acct + b baptized 2 obey)
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To: daniel1212
And even if picking lettuce paid $61/hour and computer programmers were paid $16/hour, the agricultural sector would STILL have a problem hiring enough workers.

The problem with any farm job like picking lettuce is that it is seasonal and temporary by definition. Very few people in a modern, affluent society are going to have any interest in that kind of instability in a job. That’s why it was mostly done by kids and family members before migrant labor became common.

16 posted on 06/05/2023 4:57:21 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: nickcarraway

From what I have seen, there are is a dearth of service workers who can do the job acceptably.


Not to worry. Bringing in more Third-Worlders who can’t speak English will fix things. [/s]

Though, who knows? The bet is that the Third Worlders have enough work ethic to do the job and will, eventually, learn how to read/write/speak English (e.g., assimilate). Can’t say that is true for some of those born here.


17 posted on 06/05/2023 5:41:09 AM PDT by rbg81
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To: DoughtyOne

credit card abuse too.


18 posted on 06/05/2023 7:24:07 AM PDT by ronniesgal (friends don't let friends be Kardashians)
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To: Alberta's Child

retirement=adults choosing not to work. older people are able to do something useful for communities/states and it’s biblical that they should keep “working” in some capacity. heck if they can golf, play tennis, pickle ball etc they can do some thing of REAL use. (I am closing in on retirement age and I see ‘retirement” as the great deception - especially those who quit working early and for decades don’t contribute efforts in some way)

God didn’t put us here just to please our self. self focus and comforts is the lie from satan so many have consumed and foolishly enjoy.


19 posted on 06/05/2023 7:28:46 AM PDT by b4me
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To: anthropocene_x
It's my understanding that those who are both unemployed and NOT looking for work are not included in the unemployment statistics. Am I right on that?

That said, unless stupid parents are still supporting their nonworking grown children then those grown children must be on some kind of taxpayer funded support i.e. WELFARE.

Pretty neat trick of Mayorkas and company. Pay people not to work, thus creating a labor shortage, import third worlders to "work", but those people also have access to welfare, thus the need for more illegals, and the cycle continues.

All for the purpose of creating more Democrat voters.

20 posted on 06/05/2023 8:46:47 AM PDT by Lizavetta
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