What’s behind the US labour shortage? | The Bottom Line

Businesses in the United States say they are desperately looking for new employees; there are more than nine million available jobs across the country, and the labour crisis is slowing down economic recovery.

So, are people reassessing their lives because of the global pandemic, and deciding that low-paying jobs are simply not worth the cost and effort, especially when child care or elder care is involved? Or are they simply content to stay at home and receive an unemployment cheque and other government benefits?

Host Steve Clemons talks to employment experts Melissa Swift and Jeremy Robbins about transformations in the post-pandemic workplace.

[rootsm]

People don’t want to be degraded and screamed at for $12/hour while CEOs are living like kings.

[Randomcharacters_]

Companies: we made Billions of dollars in profits last year
Employees:can we get a raise
Companies: sorry, there’s no money in the budget

Truck driving isn’t a low skilled job. That’s easy for someone to say who works in a office pushing buttons. Try driving a 53 foot tractor trailer down a city street without hitting anything let me know how well that works out. It’s not as easy as these pencil pushers think

[nioxa]

Even if they offer “low wage” workers $15, they will only give them 10-15 hours a week and expect them to have an open schedule.

[jdavi]

No one want to do the Job of 5 people for the same pay 🙄. People want to work, but not under life threatening conditions for penny's on the dollar.

[antnam]

Companys sacked people during the pandemic and probably think they can hire back on the same contract, but the workers moved on. Sucks for them, no one feels sorry for them.

[menguardingtheirownwallets]

As a DZ truck driver, the pay for drivers like me is only $16 per hour. With the cost of food and rent skyrocketing I cannot afford to work for less than $20 per hour. I have sent out applications to 50 of the closest trucking companies offering my services for $20 per hour and NOTHING, no takers. They are crying that they cannot find drivers but they are not willing to pay a fair wage. I've had it, I'm going to start working in construction next month.

[stupifyingstupedity]

3:53 love how the wisdom is to conclude that "we truly need immigrants", no, bob, you need more human and appealing job conditions, not more slave labour to abuse.

[adrianmejia]

Shame on the workers who don’t want to earn scraps just to make their employers richer right? 🙄

[coolbreeze.-mortemadfasc]

People got laid off, now you want them to come back for poverty wages.

[fremontpathfinder]

I remember the recession of 2008. Employers were laying off even if they didn't have to. So many people lost everything. It's time that employers realized they are also expendable.

[yannip]

The pandemic is THE awakening for Corporate America! They need to start treating employees like REAL HUMAN BEINGS in America!

[flowbe]

I don't plan on returning to work anytime soon, especially for cheap wages. I'm tired of making others rich. You have these greedy CEO's making more than 10 million dollars in bonuses/comp pkgs, even if their companies are not doing well. It's a racket I don't want any part of.

[crystalsswtor]

You've all had staffing issues way before COVID, and you dont deal with them at all you just take advantage of a dependable employee instead of dealing with your issues

[cosmicllama]

You can't let rents quadruple in a decade and expect
people to make it.

If business owners want low wage workers they should fight for affordable housing and get mad at the corporations buying up all housing andmaking minimum wage obsolete

[beautifulspirit]

My 20 yr old rising college Junior daughter is making $25 an a hour as a nanny. My 18 yr old daughter is making $18.50 an hour working at a Taiwanese Boba shop.
You expect grown adults with a family to work for $15-17 dollars an hour with skills like truck driving and cooking? These people from the upper class are completely clueless.

[deenanthekemoni]

"Some places you get $50.00! That's Alot!"

Who tf wrote this? That's ridiculous to say. $50 is half a cellphone bill or a single tank of gas. 🙄

[jlcii]

Rich/privileged: "the working-class is lazy and entitled. If you want better pay, get a better job that isn't general labor. Don't expect a living wage flipping burgers and waiting tables."
* Working Class People get better jobs / better opportunities that involve them making more money*
Rich/ privileged: "the working-class is lazy and entitled. They won't go back to general labor jobs that we need for the economy to survive. Someone needs to work these jobs!"

So, in short, they want you to stay at labor jobs that paid next to nothing and have terrible working conditions because "well, someone needs to suffer to make sure the rest of us are taken care of and served." Screw them.

[roster]

The only worker shortage are the $12 an hour jobs. All the higher paying jobs have been more competitive and have higher requirements than ever.

[blktauna]

Who even has "water cooler" chats anymore. When I was in the office, you'd be reprimanded for wasting time if you did that. My workload was also such that there was no time for that. Companies are too worried about how to give the CEO and extra 2 million a year but won't pay their people. Also no one wants to be working 10-12 hours a day or more for no money and no advancement along with hour long commutes... Why why would anyone stand for that? The employers broke the social contract of caring for their employees so no the employees are awake and not falling for it.