How To Fix America's Labor Shortage

The U.S. economy still has a massive labor shortage. The American Health Association reports 600,000 nurses plan to leave the field by 2027. Even the construction industry will need another 540,000 workers on top of the normal pace of hiring to meet the demand for labor, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors. That's where apprenticeships come in. Last summer the White House passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which grants funding to several industries that rely heavily on skilled labor like infrastructure, manufacturing and more. As the U.S. economy faces skill shortages in a wide range of industries, these on-the-job training programs could become essential to the new American economy.

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:53 — History of apprenticeships
04:18 — The evolving labor market
06:37 — How apprenticeships work
09:20 — What's next?

Producer: Christian Nunley
Editors: Dennis Donovan, Christian Nunley, Jeff Morganteen
Graphics: Christina Locopo
Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen
Additional Camera: Jeniece Pettitt

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How To Fix America's Labor Shortage

[IdgaradLyracant]

There is no, and I mean NO, labor shortage. There is a shortage of people willing to be abused for low pay.

[Striker_]

*Remember: Businesses won't pay you properly until they DESPERATELY need you*
Businesses loathe labor costs, and if possible they will give only the bare minimum

[itsgarrettblake]

Corporations will always favor short term profits. No one wants to play the long game and invest in their employees and treat customers right. Until then, they will continue see short term labor.

[jh]

The labor shortage problem is largely driven by corporations. They have outdated or non-existent training programs for people that do get hired, they largely don't invest financially in their employees via benefits and pay, and their expectations for many entry level jobs is for you to already have some experience. WHY CAN'T WE FIND EXPERIENCED EMPLOYEES WILLING TO WORK FOR NOTHING!? - US Corporations

[mikepwillis]

I'm 35. My generation were told not to go into the trades. They were looked down on as menial work. Now there's a shortage (and therefore prices are rising) they're "desperately needed".

[mdaaaa]

It's simple, companies need to start paying people a living salary... No amount apprenticeships or On-The-Job training is going to change the shortage unless you address the real issue, wages.
Otherwise, even if you trained them, you will still have a retention problem. They are not going to stay in the trade. They will seek better paying and easier jobs.

[BlacknoteStaggerfoot]

"We don't have enough workers"
Their job ad:"need someone with 470000 years experience, a perfect credit score, a car no older than 5 years old, must work overtime starting at 16$ an hour"

[jerryrichardson]

American business did this to itself. There was several times I tried to get a job like this and was turned down because I had a BA, or they didn't want to train anybody. Years before the pandemic I warned people there would be a serious shortage of skilled and educated labor, few cared. Nothing about training or retraining old workers in this report, either.

[Jimwenten]

i can find thousands of people looking for a livable wage every day. there is no labor shortage in any profession. the labor shortage is created by large companys not wanting to pay a livable wage, i help people start their own business

[yaotly]

I was in a situation similar to Tapia. My dad worked in construction, and I followed the same path. Eventually, I decided to go back to college and pursue a career in software engineering. Now, I receive praises for my hard work, but honestly, I don't work as intensely as I did in construction. I typically work around 40 hours a week and I am treated with respect and decency. I make three times the income without having to work weekends. While robots may not do carpentry now, it's likely they will before you retire.

[mattcarrillooo]

They said nursing, teaching and construction have the most labor shortages. All low paying jobs that we NEED. So the easy solution is to just pay these roles higher wages. Low supply of something? Increase the price to match demand

[Hollowsmith]

We experienced the peak of our era, and now it is gone. Recession is tanking everything including 401K. After the pandemic, things became extremely difficult, which is precisely when I sought a Financial advisor. I've been investing with the help of my FA for nearly a year and have built up a stagnant reserve of $180K to $570K in just over 11 months.

[justinjones]

A lot of these jobs should have never required degrees to begin with most of these jobs used to be done by apprenticeship programs it's ridiculous to require a degree for manual labor

[hunterxcraft]

It’s not a labor shortage never has been. It’s a wage shortage. They don’t pay enough money to make it worth it. Like they said highschoolers don’t wanna do trades. Nothing to do with them not wanting to have a career in a trade it’s that they don’t want to be POOR. Or they don’t want to be poor for years and years and years to work your way up to a fair pay when an “equal” amount of work can lead to much higher paying work through higher education. So just pay more 💁

[shinlanten]

*_"Getting your 4 year degree is the best way to guarantee a good paying job"_*

That's been the mantra in this country since the 90s when I was in high school.

[rudagata]

All these shortages have solutions. Here are few options:

1. Pay a living wage
2. Make College/University cheaper. No one wants to risk getting a degree just to graduate with a $100, 000+ debt
3. There should be more temporary visas available every year. Many skilled hard working people come from other countries.

At the same time though the younger generation is not interested in any profession because is easier to make alot of money being a social media influencer. And let's not forget how many people during the pandemic started their small businesses and are successful now. Of course they will not be interested in getting a profession. I don't blame them 🤷‍♀️

[safuu]

Translation: Private Companies arent paying the workers they have fair wages and arent interested in investing in otj training either.
Therefore, in the aftermsth of a global pandemic, alot of current employees are voting with their feet and either on their way out thru premature retirement or leaving to search for for greener pastures.


These companies want experienced workers out the gate that they can pay next to nothing. Therefore new university graduates are no longer going to be able to coast by finding jobs willing to hire them without internship/co-op experience and watch said companies also outsource for skilled immigrants (or undocumented migrants for jobs that are labor intensive)

If the US is smart theyll try to make it easier for skilled immigrants to come over bc the government has no interest in making private corporations shape up and citizens are having less and less babies to supply the labour force after those who d!e or retire. Its only going to get harder before it even gets close to getting better.

[mack-uvgn]

On the job training is a must. Investing in people.

[SquizzMe]

The labor shortage is a myth. The labor supply exists in abundance. Workers just don't wanna sell their labor for the current market price.

[maxb]

I think it's US cultural issue. If people look down on blue collar/manual labor jobs and consider them menial and lowly, then people won't go into these roles. Where I'm from in US, these careers are definitely looked down upon and young people are taught to achieve great things and follow their dreams (whatever that means), but it usually doesn't mean manual labor, which is a shame.