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I believe that in the USA you would have a much harder time finding an able-bodied person who cannot find an available job vs. someone with multiple options. My

I believe that in the USA you would have a much harder time finding an able-bodied person who cannot find an available job vs. someone with multiple options. My news this week is full of stories of employers who cannot find enough labor. We are very far away from a jobs crisis.

pessimizer 6y ago
You can take a job that pays a penny an hour, but you can't live on a job that pays a penny an hour.
- barry-cotter 6y ago
  No you can’t. That would be illegal.
  - ipaddr 6y ago
    You can. I will glady pay you 0.01 an hour. I won't hire you as an employee but we'll sign a contract for a fix amount.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> My news this week is full of stories of employers who cannot find enough labor. If someone said this about employment in software dev there'd be a thousand comments about how there isn't a shortage of labor, just of labor at the price point businesses want to pay.
- justinator 6y ago
  There's a difference though. The news stories you're reading are about employees that are offering pay that's at a similar rate as unemployment benefits. Workers are not OK working on slave wages that these employees want to pay them.
- ryandrake 6y ago
  This is true for almost all labor "shortages" when there is anything less than full employment. If you struggle to find workers at a given wage, you're not paying enough. It's not like the world is out of people.
  - Nasrudith 6y ago
    A true labor shortage could exist without full employment with ramp up time issues with skilled labor. That also means a shortage across the whole scope not just a single employer. As in "even if you paid a million a year salary you couldn't suddenly get 100 people capable of proficently reading and writing a long dead language when there are only seventeen professors world wide who can". The issues would correct themselves eventually longer term with sustained demand and training though.
cbozeman 6y ago
> My news this week is full of stories of employers who cannot find enough labor. Yeah, they can't find enough labor because they want to pay people $15 an hour in an area where the median home price is $572,000. I work in logistics. I occasionally overhear some of executive staff down the hall from my office complain about being unable to keep workers in a non-climate controlled warehouse, lifting enormously heavy things, for 8 hours a day, in one of the richest areas of Texas that isn't Houston or Dallas. Gee, I can't imagine why people wouldn't want to work in a warehouse in 100 degree F weather, lifting 30-80 lbs. boxes for 8 hours. So I pulled data on that warehouse and it's location. In-N-Out is hiring just 10 miles away for $16 an hour. Yeah, it's not a great job either, but it's air conditioned. And you won't be lifting anything heavier than a box of fries. Furthermore, the cheapest rent within a 10 mile radius of that warehouse is $1700. Good luck paying that on $15 an hour. So yeah, I can understand why employers can't find workers...
- sneak 6y ago
  The market is always a negotiation between buyers and sellers, naturally. I have for years always gotten emails from recruiters trying to hire me as an FTE for SWE jobs in nothing towns in flyover states at 6x less than what I charge, too. Those positions are similarly unfilled. People pick their best options available, usually. If they can't find/keep labor for $15/hour, that means the price for labor in their market is greater than $15/hour. That's a good thing, as that's not true most places on this planet.
- zeroonetwothree 6y ago
  Surely it makes no sense to compare the median home price to the lowest paying jobs? We don’t really expect people who earn the least to be buying the median house. (And it’s silly to think that 100% home ownership is some kind of ideal, it has a lot of negative consequences so we’re better off with many people renting). This claim would be stronger if you compared to the bottom 10% of housing, say.
  - justinator 6y ago
    Not sure what the housing market is where you live, but you can't get a house here, unless you make an offer 35% over asking and have cash on hand. Could you get a house for < million? Perhaps but it'll be "a fixer upper" to put it humorously. You're more likely looking at a trailer, and those have 5 year waiting period.
ipaddr 6y ago
Do they mention that pay will be rising to attract more able-bodied people? Let us know if it's still an issue after the pay increases and work condition perks increased? What they are not raising wages? Was the article looking at justifying some political point of view?

pessimizer 6y ago

You can take a job that pays a penny an hour, but you can't live on a job that pays a penny an hour.

barry-cotter 6y ago
No you can’t. That would be illegal.
- ipaddr 6y ago
  You can. I will glady pay you 0.01 an hour. I won't hire you as an employee but we'll sign a contract for a fix amount.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

> My news this week is full of stories of employers who cannot find enough labor. If someone said this about employment in software dev there'd be a thousand comments about how there isn't a shortage of labor, just of labor at the price point businesses want to pay.

justinator 6y ago
There's a difference though. The news stories you're reading are about employees that are offering pay that's at a similar rate as unemployment benefits. Workers are not OK working on slave wages that these employees want to pay them.
ryandrake 6y ago
This is true for almost all labor "shortages" when there is anything less than full employment. If you struggle to find workers at a given wage, you're not paying enough. It's not like the world is out of people.
- Nasrudith 6y ago
  A true labor shortage could exist without full employment with ramp up time issues with skilled labor. That also means a shortage across the whole scope not just a single employer. As in "even if you paid a million a year salary you couldn't suddenly get 100 people capable of proficently reading and writing a long dead language when there are only seventeen professors world wide who can". The issues would correct themselves eventually longer term with sustained demand and training though.

cbozeman 6y ago

> My news this week is full of stories of employers who cannot find enough labor. Yeah, they can't find enough labor because they want to pay people $15 an hour in an area where the median home price is $572,000. I work in logistics. I occasionally overhear some of executive staff down the hall from my office complain about being unable to keep workers in a non-climate controlled warehouse, lifting enormously heavy things, for 8 hours a day, in one of the richest areas of Texas that isn't Houston or Dallas. Gee, I can't imagine why people wouldn't want to work in a warehouse in 100 degree F weather, lifting 30-80 lbs. boxes for 8 hours. So I pulled data on that warehouse and it's location. In-N-Out is hiring just 10 miles away for $16 an hour. Yeah, it's not a great job either, but it's air conditioned. And you won't be lifting anything heavier than a box of fries. Furthermore, the cheapest rent within a 10 mile radius of that warehouse is $1700. Good luck paying that on $15 an hour. So yeah, I can understand why employers can't find workers...

sneak 6y ago
The market is always a negotiation between buyers and sellers, naturally. I have for years always gotten emails from recruiters trying to hire me as an FTE for SWE jobs in nothing towns in flyover states at 6x less than what I charge, too. Those positions are similarly unfilled. People pick their best options available, usually. If they can't find/keep labor for $15/hour, that means the price for labor in their market is greater than $15/hour. That's a good thing, as that's not true most places on this planet.
zeroonetwothree 6y ago
Surely it makes no sense to compare the median home price to the lowest paying jobs? We don’t really expect people who earn the least to be buying the median house. (And it’s silly to think that 100% home ownership is some kind of ideal, it has a lot of negative consequences so we’re better off with many people renting). This claim would be stronger if you compared to the bottom 10% of housing, say.
- justinator 6y ago
  Not sure what the housing market is where you live, but you can't get a house here, unless you make an offer 35% over asking and have cash on hand. Could you get a house for < million? Perhaps but it'll be "a fixer upper" to put it humorously. You're more likely looking at a trailer, and those have 5 year waiting period.

ipaddr 6y ago

Do they mention that pay will be rising to attract more able-bodied people? Let us know if it's still an issue after the pay increases and work condition perks increased? What they are not raising wages? Was the article looking at justifying some political point of view?