Not enough employees too many jobs -severe labor shortage

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I had ten years experience as a printer, and never got above that $9 an hour... although if I didn't use my sick days and vacation days and took as much overtime as I could.. I didn't do bad... if we didn't use those days by the end of the year, we were paid for them, plus a yearly bonus, well, that was really a nice check..
at one point, I figured that that nine dollars an hour could possibly support me and my three kids, which was my goal, get myself in a position where I could hold us if needed. by the time I got to that nine an hour, the goal had moved and it wasn't enough.
at one point, a few decades ago, reader's digest ran an article that calculated the value of all those handouts that they were handing out to the families that had no income.. I believe it was for the family of three or four. it was the equivalent of a $10 an hour job. I wasn't working at the time, my son was having a bad time with his asthma and there was no way I could have handled a job along with that. my husband was earning nine an hour at that time.....
we didn't qualify for crap!! my suggestion then, as well as now, if for those in the federal and state gov't to sit down and find a way to actually figure out just what the value of all those hand outs are, look at the income levels they are using to decide who is qualified for the programs, and slowly, very slowly, try to get those two numbers matching up, or better, make working a worthwhile venture by making the qualification amount a little higher than the value. and then try to bring the low wages up (and cost of living down) and bring them all back into alignment.
when that reader's digest article came out, another article came out in the syracuse newspapers about some hud subsidized housing. the apartments were rat infested, had sewage building up in the basement....
and the rent that they were charging, that the gov't was subsidizing was $1000 a month. my guess is that anyone who could have afforded that apartment would have found themselves a nice home in the burbs without the rats and the sewage. this is what I mean when I say that our economy has become badly distorted. if it wasn't for the social safety net (and those within the gov't and industries that were on the receiving end of those benefits so eager to exploit them) along with the banks with their easy credit offerings, we would have noticed long before now just how unsustainable our economy was becoming.

a reply to: highvein

if you are talking about getting people off welfare, you are talking about single mothers more than you are about men.
for some reason, I don't think that construction would be a good fit for many of them???

originally posted by: ThirdEyeofHorus
" We should " used in this manner indicates the conditioning of expecting the government to intervene because most people think that's the only way it can happen. I happen to think that the Fed tends to control much of things because it creates a hidden tax and consequent inflation. People really could study this more.

The context I'm using it in, is that people should hold themselves to a higher standard. Introductory classes by their very nature don't go deep into any sort of theory. They're designed to express an opinion for the everyman. Not for the expert in the field. Discussion based on those principals is rule by ignorance.

originally posted by: dawnstar
my husband was earning nine an hour at that time.....
we didn't qualify for crap!!

That's why we need a social safety net. People can take greater risks like work in the fields they want to work in, or try and start a home business, or get an education, why their daily needs are taken care of. When you can't afford to try and take a risk, you get dragged down.

Still plenty of jobs in sales. Selling on commision is great if you have "people" skills and a nice product.

It also helps to be able to speak decent English and don't smell like a goat.

Take the classes and get your real estate credential....no univ. degree required.

originally posted by: SR1TX
Keep complaining.


You're all going to be replaced by AI anyway.


That's fine, I'm sure A.I. will be glad to spend its received wages...Oh wait...

Cheers

a reply to: Aazadan
my husband was a machinist at the time... it wasn't long till he opted to do to his second career choice and went back to driving truck which made more money but he was never home.
but one of the occupations they are now complaining they can't find work in now are the machinist trades. after my husband passed on, me and two of my sons had to go pick up his tools from the shop. I mentioned that I might decide to keep them if one of the kids voiced an interest in the trade. his boss told me straight out, he discouraged his own sons from going into the trade and continuing the business. he wasn't even sure he would hire anyone to replace my husband who was the only other person working at the shop outside of the boss and his wife. the small shops often are doing work for the large corporations, who often seem to have high expectations and want to pay lower and lower amounts of money for the work that is done for them. my husband was getting paid rather well there, he was making as much as he did back in the early 80's, before the reagan years. although then he was just a machinist, still learning, and he ended his career as a tool and die maker with decades of experience and we were still struggling really. so, well, I've sold some of the machinist tools mostly to hobbyist, the rest sit here waiting. occasionally me or one of my sons might find a use for something but well, maybe one day I will run across an up and coming hopeful machinist and help him build up his own tool collection. I don't know.

originally posted by: olaru12
Still plenty of jobs in sales. Selling on commision is great if you have "people" skills and a nice product.

It also helps to be able to speak decent English and don't smell like a goat.

It really depends on what you're selling, there's also quite a bit of commission fraud going on right now, both from the company and the seller.

You don't even really need great skills if you become a salesman for a company selling to other companies. You just establish yourself over time as a company contact and enjoy what essentially becomes passive income. Where sales are brutal, and horrible to be in are retail sales, or worse, MLM's.

I've been reading many stories lately however of companies not honoring sales contracts. This seems to be on the rise, and when that happens a company will revoke your commission, and even make you pay it back if they've already paid it out. Sometimes this can be on contracts that were supposed to last for say 5 years, and the other side backed out 2 years in.

Commissions are very unstable right now, because until the contract duration is complete, you don't have any idea if that money is actually yours or not.

a reply to: whereismyusername
lol... you sure it won't cost more money to maintain the AI than a human??
or are our tax dollars gonna go to maintaining them like they are now to keep the humans living and working?

a reply to: Aazadan

Where sales are brutal, and horrible to be in are retail sales, or worse, MLM's.

Retail can be brutal but that's part of the challenge. Even though I own the store; I love to be on the floor weekends and give my people time off so they can be with their friends and families.

MLM's must be an total nightmare.

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: mblahnikluver
Welcome to Florida! Pay here is ridiculous as is the cost of living. Average 2/1 where I live is $1200 which means you need to make at least $22/hr to qualify to rent. It is INSANE! I absolutely hate this state for so many reasons. I am actively looking to move out of state or the country.

I make $13/hr in service which i have 20 years of experience in. I have ZERO benefits. No health, no dental, no holiday or sick and no 401k.

Small town Ohio here. I live in a 2/1 in a nice neighborhood and it costs me $600/month. Most jobs pay around $10/hour, so that would be a bit more than 1/3 of income to rent. Less if you had a roommate or made more money.

I have actually looked at places in Ohio. I absolutely hate Florida. It is overpriced and the pay is terrible.

I am a 39 year old single mom I do not do roommates.

originally posted by: mblahnikluver

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: mblahnikluver
Welcome to Florida! Pay here is ridiculous as is the cost of living. Average 2/1 where I live is $1200 which means you need to make at least $22/hr to qualify to rent. It is INSANE! I absolutely hate this state for so many reasons. I am actively looking to move out of state or the country.

I make $13/hr in service which i have 20 years of experience in. I have ZERO benefits. No health, no dental, no holiday or sick and no 401k.

Small town Ohio here. I live in a 2/1 in a nice neighborhood and it costs me $600/month. Most jobs pay around $10/hour, so that would be a bit more than 1/3 of income to rent. Less if you had a roommate or made more money.

I have actually looked at places in Ohio. I absolutely hate Florida. It is overpriced and the pay is terrible.

I am a 39 year old single mom I do not do roommates.

You should sell shoes and other highend accessories in Palm Springs or the Hamptons.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

I think if you moved to the midwest you'd have a lot more options.

I hate to say it, Illinois for example. You could get a decent paying job. I just don't know about buying a house there. Renting is the route I'd go right now, or work in Illinois and live in Wisconsin or Indiana. Lots of people do it.

a reply to: dawnstar

The bean counters have already figured it out. AI doesn't strike, Ai doesn't sue you for workers comp, AI doesn't sue you for discrimination. There is no way on earth it would cost more to maintain than humans.

It's already happening at pretty much every store where I live.

There are kinks, like the machines at Mcdonalds running out of ticket paper. I assume they will always have one or two workers for things like that. Have you seen the giant robot at Walmart. You place your order online and you go to the giant robot and it retrieves your order. I hate to say it but that was the fastest service I ever received at that store.
I've noticed even more grocery stores having self checkout.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Anyone notice in the last year so many places lack employees. We are talking about low wage gigs, like fast food, service industries, grocery, etc. Some of these places have never had problems like this before.

I'm not sure where everyone else lives, I'm in the midwest and when you do a job search there are over 22K job openings within a 15 mile radius from me. There are more job openings every day.

I've called four places to have my driveway sealed and it took weeks for me to hear back from one. In the past these places would be pestering you for business. Our local landscape companies don't have enough workers for the sales they are making. I hear the same story from a lot of my friends. Construction has come to a standstill because there just aren't enough workers. I've seen a small house take well over a year to finish, normally it would take 4-5 months.

Right now it seems like the economy is bustling, but when does this turn painful? At some point these companies will have to decide to pay more, or close or raise prices. Are companies willing to share the wealth or will they keep trying to push things, will they just continue to price things higher and higher?
Where do you see this going?

Baby boomers are getting old and need care, there simply isn't enough care. This is going to get to crisis mode very soon.

I know a lot of people think that raising minimum wage will cure this, but I don't think it will.
I hate to say it but I think there are only two ways to fix things. Get rid of welfare except for the bare bone basics so all working adults work, and to really do some kind of immigration reform.

I think I'm seeing this trend too at my logistics job.

Seems pretty significant because it's like the supporting base of the economies won't be able to hold up everybody else if sales pick up anymore.

I keep praying for the economy to collapse before I do... 😱

a reply to: dawnstar

When I was younger and single I had a little loft apartment in the middle of town. Just down the street from me was a job training facility. I always thought it was strange that I never saw any people there. I never knew why. At one point I was between jobs and was looking to add to my skill set. I went there to get some basic information just for the heck of it.

It turned out that in order to qualify for the training programs you had to net less than $350 a month, not be a dependent to anyone else, and have proof of your own residence and utility bills to show financial need for the program.

Here is the thing: the absolute cheapest apartment you would ever find anywhere near that place was $300 a month. That would leave you $50 for everything else. In other words, no one qualified for the program. It was impossible to live in that area on that income. I asked the people working there how anyone could qualify with those restrictions. One woman said, "Believe it or not, we actually get one once in a while."

I asked if I could take a class if they had an open seat. She said it was a waste of time asking because they wouldn't end up running the class anyway - because they didn't have the state required minimum number of students!

The program was probably started with good intentions but, as you indicated, these programs need to keep up with the real world or they end up serving no meaningful purpose at all.

Slave labor?

Am i allowed to suggest that?

a reply to: JAGStorm

lol I sometimes order my groceries at wal mart and go pick them up. don't know who or what collects the groceries, but it's a human that brings them to the car and well, I help them load them into it, but I really don't have to they will do it for you.
Considering that I've gotten so I can walk through a grocery store without limping and being in pain... I do like their service!!! and ya, I know, they have their little carts you can ride around in, but you haven't seen me drive.... lol... I wouldn't want to hit anyone with one. besides, I am stubborn... more likely to push myself and well, when it gets too bad, decide my grocery shopping is done.

all machines need to be maintained. moving parts wear out, ect. and they will need someone with specialized skills occasionally to keep them running. not to mention they are expensive to purchase. and, well, unless someone is keeping a close eye on them, when they screw up, they really screw up at a much faster pace than a human could. ain't saying that AI won't be a good replacement for some jobs, might even be cost effective. but I think for many they might prove costly.

a reply to: Vroomfondel

my guess is that they didn't consider food stamps, hud, ect as income.
so, well, they were created mainly to serve the welfare people...

a reply to: dawnstar

Yes they are starting to do the grocery order pickup. I think that is all done by humans.
I'm talking about this thing:

www.youtube.com...

You can start watching at :24