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Is it possible a reason behind the lack of people is also that a ton of our essential workers (aka service people) have died during the pandemic? Seriously, lin

Is it possible a reason behind the lack of people is also that a ton of our essential workers (aka service people) have died during the pandemic? Seriously, line cooks was one of the most fatal job positions during this time…

h2odragon 5y ago
Yes, the drifts of corpses in the less wealthy areas of town have been so vexing this last year. We'll probably have to import more servants, the lower classes aren't breeding fast enough anymore.
- HarryHirsch 5y ago
  We'll probably have to import more servants, the lower classes aren't breeding fast enough anymore. Let's just mention that the Biden administration undid the Trump restrictions on immigration and instituted the child tax credit.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > Let's just mention that the Biden administration undid the Trump restrictions on immigration and instituted the child tax credit. The second part is not true. As part of COVID stimulus, Congress instituted a temporary increase in the pre-existing child tax credit, and as part of making that stimulus timely made it so that a portion of the credit would be paid out monthly this year.
dredmorbius 5y ago
Given a near-total lack of search results for numerous terms related to this, most likely not. Avoidance of such positions for perceived risk seems more likely, as well as low pay and high stress.
ashtonkem 5y ago
I do genuinely doubt that the “labor shortage” is directly caused by the fatalities, but: 1) It seems obvious that the high fatality rate among line cooks and other “essential workers” has driven them out of that line of work. If my colleague died for a line cook job, I’d strongly consider changing careers. 2) We’re running into the consequences of spending a year calling these people “essential workers” and “heroes” after decades of treating them like garbage. They’ve had a taste of dignity and recognition that they’ve been denied for a long time, good luck taking it back away. 3) In many ways this looks less like a labor shortage and more like a capital strike. Unless if you’re in an area where there has been significant migration, the workers do exist and are willing to work … but not at the rates that capital is demanding that they work.
blululu 5y ago
Very unlikely. The death rate for someone under 65 is still pretty low (less than one percent last I checked). Even with an elevated infection rate it would be unlikely for that to make a big dent on the labor pool. Especially when the price of housing has gone up double digit percentage points for the area in question.
B2B_human 5y ago
I live in Truckee, it's a town of 16,000 people. We'd see deaths on facebook, etc. but that deaths weren't nearly high enough to cause a problem with finding any sort of staff. The prblem, as the article states - there IS NO HOUSING. In Truckee - this is the problem: Sure, you can live in Reno 40 minutes away and make $15-20 an hour there(but rents are rising - I know someone paying $3200 for a place now), but then why would you commute to a small town 45 minutes away for the same $17 if you can't live there and enjoy the mountains?

h2odragon 5y ago

Yes, the drifts of corpses in the less wealthy areas of town have been so vexing this last year. We'll probably have to import more servants, the lower classes aren't breeding fast enough anymore.

HarryHirsch 5y ago
We'll probably have to import more servants, the lower classes aren't breeding fast enough anymore. Let's just mention that the Biden administration undid the Trump restrictions on immigration and instituted the child tax credit.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > Let's just mention that the Biden administration undid the Trump restrictions on immigration and instituted the child tax credit. The second part is not true. As part of COVID stimulus, Congress instituted a temporary increase in the pre-existing child tax credit, and as part of making that stimulus timely made it so that a portion of the credit would be paid out monthly this year.

dredmorbius 5y ago

Given a near-total lack of search results for numerous terms related to this, most likely not. Avoidance of such positions for perceived risk seems more likely, as well as low pay and high stress.

ashtonkem 5y ago

I do genuinely doubt that the “labor shortage” is directly caused by the fatalities, but: 1) It seems obvious that the high fatality rate among line cooks and other “essential workers” has driven them out of that line of work. If my colleague died for a line cook job, I’d strongly consider changing careers. 2) We’re running into the consequences of spending a year calling these people “essential workers” and “heroes” after decades of treating them like garbage. They’ve had a taste of dignity and recognition that they’ve been denied for a long time, good luck taking it back away. 3) In many ways this looks less like a labor shortage and more like a capital strike. Unless if you’re in an area where there has been significant migration, the workers do exist and are willing to work … but not at the rates that capital is demanding that they work.

blululu 5y ago

Very unlikely. The death rate for someone under 65 is still pretty low (less than one percent last I checked). Even with an elevated infection rate it would be unlikely for that to make a big dent on the labor pool. Especially when the price of housing has gone up double digit percentage points for the area in question.

B2B_human 5y ago

I live in Truckee, it's a town of 16,000 people. We'd see deaths on facebook, etc. but that deaths weren't nearly high enough to cause a problem with finding any sort of staff. The prblem, as the article states - there IS NO HOUSING. In Truckee - this is the problem: Sure, you can live in Reno 40 minutes away and make $15-20 an hour there(but rents are rising - I know someone paying $3200 for a place now), but then why would you commute to a small town 45 minutes away for the same $17 if you can't live there and enjoy the mountains?