US Labor Shortage

a reply to: Propagandalf

Yup couple that w the fact kids these days have zero work ethic and would rather spend their time playing fortnite and trolling the internet

a reply to: toysforadults

You can get health insurance and tuition reimbursement working at McDonald's people just don't want to work because of ego and sheer laziness.

a reply to: conspiracy nut

No need to get into generational warfare that in and of itself is a conspiracy to prevent unification of the people.

Especially considering it has been institutionalized, via easier to access social welfare programs.

Furthermore as a person who has young employees, I actually see the opposite. The young people I have hired (gen Z) work harder and longer than Boomers or Gen Y who almost always wash out completely in spite of me paying far higher than the average wage in the field. Of course I am a millennial, so what do I know, I'm just a "millennial" who runs a business that is mostly physical labor that requires a lot of travel (in which the expenses are paid for).

The reality is that the generational differences come down to differences in approach to how the work is done, and it ruffles the feathers that different generations have a different approach to the work they are doing even if the end results are the same.

For reference my business mostly does work in a rather niche application, restoration of log buildings, which due to it's niche requires a lot of travel between work sites. Basically the reason older generations appear more "lazy" and thus wash out is because they have roots in an area and are averse to traveling much for work as they have different commitments that prevent them from taking on more lucrative work further afield, while the younger workers really enjoy getting to see a lot of the country and don't have anything pinning them down to a local making them more likely to stick around longer. Then there is the flexible nature of the younger generation. I give them a deadline of when they need to be at a specific site and a deadline when they should be done. This gives them flexibility and lets them enjoy the area they are visiting if they choose. Where as the older people just work 8 hours and return to the hotel rather than the 12-16 hours the younger guys put in so they have time to see the sites in their allotted number of days in the area of the work site.

originally posted by: drewlander
a reply to: JAGStorm

Choice A:
Collect 8.00/hr, pay fica, health benefits. Go home with $45 per day for your labors after a hard day of putting up with peoples bull#.

Choice B:
Sit on your dead ass and collect welfare. Get $25 per day after healthcare benefits, snap benefits, section 8 housing / rent assistance. Earn money off paper in all your free time if you are so inclined.

Why do you think there is a labor shortage?

Choice C:
Do what I did. Collect disability and make use of Pell Grants. Use said Pell Grants and later scholarships to fund a good education, while living in poverty for awhile. Get a real education (roughly 500 semester credit hours worth), and walk directly into a high paying job (100k to start, in a very low cost of living area) getting off assistance. I'm now 2 years into it and just got my first raise, of 50%.

originally posted by: wdkirk
Where I am at, you top out at $24 per hour in 2 years. All the overtime you would want. Midwest is where to live. Cost of living is low as well. It is all about where you live and the cost of living. Illinois residents are leaving en mass because of the high property taxes and coming to Indiana.


We are low for the wage rate as well. Several large manufacturing plants pay 2-3$ per hour more.

$24/hour is literally less than what an entry level position should be paying. It is literally impossible to have financial security on that wage. That's about $38k after taxes. Minus your $18,500 401k (if you want to have any hope of ever retiring) that leaves you $20k/year to live on. 20% of that to rent (the absolute max percent of your salary you should be putting towards rent/mortgage) leaves you with $4000/year to spend on that. So, unless you're able to find a place to rent for $333.33 per month, that salary leaves you with one of two choices. Homelessness or not retiring.

originally posted by: seeker1963
If you can't live on $19 am hour? It isn't the wage that is your problem, it's your ability to make wise choices in how you spend your money.

No, it really can't be done long term. Short term it can be done while you let some things slide, but there are long term costs that need to be paid that $19/hour will not cover.

For starters there's your 401k which you should be putting the max in per year, and even that is just meant to be supplemental, you should have additional investments on top of that.

Then there's health insurance and getting enough doctors visits to effectively prevent major illnesses in the future. The costs on this vary wildly based on if you're going through an employer plan, marketplace plan, are getting a subsidy, etc... but good insurance is not cheap. In the current climate, proper health care should be costing you around $5000 per year. If it is costing you less, you aren't getting enough treatment.

Then there's things like housing. Houses cost money and that means saving up for a downpayment of 20%, while paying rent, and then after you buy making 4 payments per year (on a 30 year with no prepayment penalty) so that the house is paid off in 7.5 years. All while also contributing money to a fund to handle random housing expenses. And remember that those 4 house payments should be no more than 20% of income (so a mortgage no more than 5% of your income)

Then there's your childrens college funds. For those to be sufficient you really need to start saving for them before your children are born. This will run you around $5000 per year on it's own.

And I haven't even mentioned things like transportation, food, and utilities.

In the midwest, just the few things I've mentioned so far require $60,000 per year. Throw those in and you're up to needing a good $70,000 per year after taxes.

That's just for the bare necessities in life.

a reply to: Aazadan

And I'm trying to do all that from 10,000 dollars in debt on 10 dollars an hour while taking care of another person while I'm at age 40 in July. Have maybe 30ish years til retirement. My car is a junker and my job requires driving all over for my job.

Now I choose to do this because people have to or our elderly don't get the care they both need and deserve. Many would say to take classes and become a nurse or get a different job. I could do that. There, however, is not enough good people doing my job as is. People need to do it.

Many, however, would say it's my choice, and not give a crap about all the needful people that would suffer if everyone thought like them, and refuse to acknowledge how it's the system that's the problem and not the choice I'm making.

I'm doing a good and right thing. It's the system that doesn't result in caregivers being paid a reasonable wage that's the issue. Is why there's not enough and many of those who are, are of questionable character.

a reply to: RealityIsAbsurd

I'm sorry, but your story is complete BS. While I'm sure it's true, your perception of it is totally warped. Working 20 hours a day and you barely made any money, it sounds like the story of someone in poverty who finds $50 and thinks they're suddenly rich.

You didn't give any numbers but some can be inferred, such as your military pay. You didn't goto college so you weren't an officer, I'm guessing you topped out at E5? That's currently $40,000/year. So before that, you were working a good 100 hours/week if not more, and you weren't even making $40k? And you think that's successful? Then you over leverage on a car, falling for one of the oldest scams in the book (dealers outside military bases who rip off soldiers), and for all that you still couldn't afford a place to live? You say you own a home, but you still don't have your own place? That means you can't even afford a mortgage despite all of that really good pay.

This is a blantant example of how wages have not kept up. You're working long hours, with a decade of experience, and have absolutely nothing to show for it. In the 60's and 70's minimum wage had the purchasing power of $28/hour ok. That's about $60,000/year, so congratulations, you're making less than what used to be minimum wage despite all of your hustling.

Maybe I can go to work at McDonalds. So say additional earnings...