5 ms·

"Labor Shortage" is just another example of framing. The word shortage suggests a problem. While there is no problem at all. "Labor Shortage" is actually very g

"Labor Shortage" is just another example of framing. The word shortage suggests a problem. While there is no problem at all. "Labor Shortage" is actually very good for the majority of the population. I enjoy the shortage of software developers every day of my life. It's great.

4ntonius8lock 7y ago
I'm surprised we don't hear about 'cheap iphone shortage'. Somehow the laws of supply and demand are well fitted to price products (produced by those holding capital) but not labor (produced by ordinary people)
- damnyou 7y ago
  Yep, that's exactly right. Labor does not behave like ordinary goods.
damnyou 7y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy It's ok to be mistaken about this, the way labor markets behave isn't very intuitive. The important thing to note is that the higher order effects of labor supply overwhelm the first order ones.
badpun 7y ago
> "Labor Shortage" is actually very good for the majority of the population. It sort of depends. You could argue that in the US there is a (artificially created) shortage of doctors, which makes them great money, while inflating everybody else's medical bills. So, if the labor shortage is experienced in an industry serving mostly for the local (US) and not the global market, it's not good for the people.
- perfunctory 7y ago
  > (artificially created) shortage of doctors, which makes them great money, while inflating everybody else's medical bills Good point. I was just referring to the common usage of the phrase. When media talks about "labor shortage" they usually don't mean doctors.
- dominotw 7y ago
  > You could argue that in the US there is a (artificially created) shortage of doctors What is stopping govt/reps from fixing this? I don't think there is strong doctors lobby strong enough to oppose that.
  - danharaj 7y ago
    The AMA is very powerful
duxup 7y ago
And at least as far as recruitment goes companies want X years experience on 12 different things ... and their recruiters spam me constantly, and then humm and haw when they find out I have 1 year experience, they don't know java /= javascript .... but they were totally impressed with my resume .... Not that I need them as I have a job, but if their search / recruiting is garbage maybe not finding someone says more about their requirements / process than the market, meanwhile they don't hire even a noob.
lopmotr 7y ago
Not good because the population is consumers who indirectly pay those workers. In my country there's a relative shortage of builders. So house prices are higher so tenants pay more rent than before. The western world also has a chronic shortage of engineers so we have to pay more for engineering services than for, say, babysitting services. But you're still right, the term is just framing. Like when the exchange rate or property prices go up or down, it's presented as either good or bad depending on their priorities.

4ntonius8lock 7y ago

I'm surprised we don't hear about 'cheap iphone shortage'. Somehow the laws of supply and demand are well fitted to price products (produced by those holding capital) but not labor (produced by ordinary people)

damnyou 7y ago
Yep, that's exactly right. Labor does not behave like ordinary goods.

damnyou 7y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy It's ok to be mistaken about this, the way labor markets behave isn't very intuitive. The important thing to note is that the higher order effects of labor supply overwhelm the first order ones.

badpun 7y ago

> "Labor Shortage" is actually very good for the majority of the population. It sort of depends. You could argue that in the US there is a (artificially created) shortage of doctors, which makes them great money, while inflating everybody else's medical bills. So, if the labor shortage is experienced in an industry serving mostly for the local (US) and not the global market, it's not good for the people.

perfunctory 7y ago
> (artificially created) shortage of doctors, which makes them great money, while inflating everybody else's medical bills Good point. I was just referring to the common usage of the phrase. When media talks about "labor shortage" they usually don't mean doctors.
dominotw 7y ago
> You could argue that in the US there is a (artificially created) shortage of doctors What is stopping govt/reps from fixing this? I don't think there is strong doctors lobby strong enough to oppose that.
- danharaj 7y ago
  The AMA is very powerful

duxup 7y ago

And at least as far as recruitment goes companies want X years experience on 12 different things ... and their recruiters spam me constantly, and then humm and haw when they find out I have 1 year experience, they don't know java /= javascript .... but they were totally impressed with my resume .... Not that I need them as I have a job, but if their search / recruiting is garbage maybe not finding someone says more about their requirements / process than the market, meanwhile they don't hire even a noob.

lopmotr 7y ago

Not good because the population is consumers who indirectly pay those workers. In my country there's a relative shortage of builders. So house prices are higher so tenants pay more rent than before. The western world also has a chronic shortage of engineers so we have to pay more for engineering services than for, say, babysitting services. But you're still right, the term is just framing. Like when the exchange rate or property prices go up or down, it's presented as either good or bad depending on their priorities.