5 ms·

Every time someone mentions that they have a hard time finding qualified workers, or saying that qualified people don't apply to their company, they tend to ign

by st3v3r 10y ago

Every time someone mentions that they have a hard time finding qualified workers, or saying that qualified people don't apply to their company, they tend to ignore a very important question: Why would those qualified people want to apply at your company in the first place? A lot of people like to say they're paying "market wages", but most qualified people are already making that or more.

dragonwriter 10y ago
> A lot of people like to say they're paying "market wages", but most qualified people are already making that or more. The other thing to consider is that current market price of something is the price at which everyone willing to sell at or below that price has already sold. The next person to buy is going to have to pay incrementally more. If you define a "shortage" as " no more for sale without paying more than the current market price", then the normal shape of supply curves would mean that markets are usually in "shortage".
aub3bhat 10y ago
Because the money for salaries is not generated out of thin air. It gets determined by the profit-margin provided by the market. Your competitors are paying market wages in China to "qualified people", or have depreciated the high salaries in employees via higher-productivity and thus pricing you out.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  "Because the money for salaries is not generated out of thin air. It gets determined by the profit-margin provided by the market." While this is true, it's also very much not my problem. If your company is offering X, and another company is offering 1.25X, then most of the good people are going to go to the other company first. And it would be quite dishonest of you to say that there's a "shortage" when it turns out you just don't want to pay as much as the competition for your talent.

5 ms·

Every time someone mentions that they have a hard time finding qualified workers, or saying that qualified people don't apply to their company, they tend to ign

by st3v3r 10y ago

dragonwriter 10y ago
> A lot of people like to say they're paying "market wages", but most qualified people are already making that or more. The other thing to consider is that current market price of something is the price at which everyone willing to sell at or below that price has already sold. The next person to buy is going to have to pay incrementally more. If you define a "shortage" as " no more for sale without paying more than the current market price", then the normal shape of supply curves would mean that markets are usually in "shortage".
aub3bhat 10y ago
Because the money for salaries is not generated out of thin air. It gets determined by the profit-margin provided by the market. Your competitors are paying market wages in China to "qualified people", or have depreciated the high salaries in employees via higher-productivity and thus pricing you out.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  "Because the money for salaries is not generated out of thin air. It gets determined by the profit-margin provided by the market." While this is true, it's also very much not my problem. If your company is offering X, and another company is offering 1.25X, then most of the good people are going to go to the other company first. And it would be quite dishonest of you to say that there's a "shortage" when it turns out you just don't want to pay as much as the competition for your talent.