Talent shortage, not human shortage. There’s been a severe talent shortage for many years. When we post jobs, we don’t have a lack of applicants, just a lack o

Talent shortage, not human shortage. There’s been a severe talent shortage for many years. When we post jobs, we don’t have a lack of applicants, just a lack of decently qualified applicants, let alone stand-out ones we’d like to hire. People want the job, but are not qualified for the job. That seems more like a labor shortage in that paying more money is only going to rob talent from company A to Company B, but not somehow magic up more workers with the skills needed at both. I’m not sure I buy the idea that there are immensely qualified people who are choosing to “not work”. If that’s the case - presuming they were paid such inflated numbers that they are basically retiring decades too early, it doesn’t buttress the wage shortage argument either. Now burnout is very real, but I’d argue that what’s driving burnout is lack of talent to spread the load across. People pay good money for talent - I always say that in America, there’s more money than there is talent. If you want that money, it’s there for you. The barriers are extraordinarily low. And granted that’s my view from professional services. In the basic service industry you may be right. Reliable labor is not cheap, and on top of that, we (as consumers) are not terribly interested paying more for it. Not sure what the fix for that is. Many answers I’ve heard seem far too simplistic, or come back to a talent shortage on the top end (pay CEO less).