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posted by martyb on Saturday July 15 2017, @03:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the Stockholm-Syndrome dept.

I saw an story in Slate about stagnant wages in an economy that is growing otherwise:

There's a disturbance in the force of the U.S. economy. An airline canceled flights because it couldn't find enough pilots to steer them. Despite high demand, homebuilders in Colorado are throttling back activity because they can't find the workers to erect frames. Farmers in Alabama are fretting that crops may rot in the ground for a lack of workers to bring in the harvest.

[...] There are a whopping 5.7 million job openings (well over twice the level of eight years ago). Meanwhile, baby boomers are aging out of the workforce at a rapid clip and Mexicans, many of whom crossed the border to work, have been leaving the U.S. for years. The demand for workers is high.

Given these conditions, wages should be rising sharply. But look at this chart from the Atlanta Federal Reserve: They haven't been, and they're not. … Last week, the New York Times featured a Columbus, Ohio, cleaning company owner mystified that he couldn't find applicants for his $9.25-per-hour jobs ("I sometimes wish there was actually a higher unemployment rate," he actually said) and a Nebraska roofer who couldn't figure out why nobody applied for the $17-an-hour jobs she was offering. "The pay is fair," she said.

Actually, if not a single person applies for your job, the pay probably isn't fair. But that's where America remains stubbornly stuck: Employers won't pay enough, and workers either won't or can't demand more. There are likely a lot of reasons, but the biggest, or least most fixable, may be psychological: From an economic perspective, both sides of the hiring market should have the power to increase overall wages in the current climate—but they aren't.

[...] There could be a skills gap in which the workers out there simply don't have the training necessary to fill the open jobs. Or it could be that, as Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times ventured on Twitter, that "a lot of American businesses have lost the muscle memory of how to compete for workers." That is to say, they have literally forgotten the words to use, and the tools to deploy, when workers aren't lining up in droves to fill their positions.

I also found this in the Daily Caller. It discusses the shortage of H2B workers this year. Most folks here know about H1B workers... H2B is program for low skill seasonal workers which has seen rule changes and cuts this year.

Businesses in Bar Harbor, Maine are turning to locals to make up for a shortage of foreign guest workers that normally fill summer jobs in the bustling seaside resort town.
Because the H-2B visa program has already reached its annual quota, Bar Harbor's hotels, restaurants and shops can't bring in any more foreign workers for the rest of the busy summer tourist season.

[...] The shortage is so acute that companies are sweetening incentives for local workers. Searchfield says some businesses are offering flexible schedules that might appeal to older workers who might be interested in working only a day or two each week. And other companies have gone so far as to offer higher wages to entice locals.

Imagine that.


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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday July 16 2017, @12:44AM (9 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Sunday July 16 2017, @12:44AM (#539713) Journal

    How do you secure your gains against that your earned dollars can be worthless when it collapses?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 18 2017, @02:11AM (8 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 18 2017, @02:11AM (#540703) Journal

    How do you secure your gains against that your earned dollars can be worthless when it collapses?

    Invest in things that aren't dollars.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 20 2017, @01:38AM (7 children)

      by kaszz (4211) on Thursday July 20 2017, @01:38AM (#541741) Journal

      What things? if your capital is small as in most salaried jobs and you need to make it grow. Like stocks and dividends do?

      I have noticed that metals grow by money loosing value faster. But that doesn't seem like real growth anyway. If buying and selling shares in precious metals were possible it would be a little different. Property usually requires up front capital greater than salaried jobs admit for being a pure investment thing. And so on.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 20 2017, @01:56AM (6 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 20 2017, @01:56AM (#541751) Journal
        You mentioned three things right away, stocks, metals, and property. There's plenty more where that came from.
        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 20 2017, @03:59AM (5 children)

          by kaszz (4211) on Thursday July 20 2017, @03:59AM (#541794) Journal

          Metals and property is quite static in value increase. And stocks are bought and sold in a currency like US dollars.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 20 2017, @08:49AM (4 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 20 2017, @08:49AM (#541855) Journal

            Metals and property is quite static in value increase. And stocks are bought and sold in a currency like US dollars.

            None of the three are dollars themselves and limit harm from high levels of inflation, no matter what currency you originally purchased the investment with. Second, while metals and similar durable commodities tend to be quite static, the same is not true of property which can be improved, rented out, or merely increase in value due to other real estate growth in the location.

            • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 20 2017, @03:57PM (3 children)

              by kaszz (4211) on Thursday July 20 2017, @03:57PM (#541950) Journal

              How do you get the proper value from stocks if say the value of the US dollar plummets hard?

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 20 2017, @08:10PM (2 children)

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 20 2017, @08:10PM (#542043) Journal

                How do you get the proper value from stocks if say the value of the US dollar plummets hard?

                Either price it in a stable currency or wait for the dollar to stabilize, possibly with the issuance of a new US currency. Same goes with the other investments mentioned.

                • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 20 2017, @08:27PM (1 child)

                  by kaszz (4211) on Thursday July 20 2017, @08:27PM (#542051) Journal

                  Stocks tend to be bought and sold from a stock account noted in one currency. And the provider is tied hard to the national currency. So getting anything sold in another currency is unlikely because you will have to jump through the currency for any transaction. And if there's a crisis maybe the account provider has shut down to leaving your investment in limbo.

                  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 20 2017, @11:09PM

                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 20 2017, @11:09PM (#542097) Journal

                    Stocks tend to be bought and sold from a stock account noted in one currency. And the provider is tied hard to the national currency.

                    That would correspond to the case where I wait for the national currency to stabilize again. Moving the stock to a different broker who can handle other currencies would be the first option of the two I listed.

                    And if there's a crisis maybe the account provider has shut down to leaving your investment in limbo.

                    Something that bad will affect wealth in general, but you can still weather it by having the right of investments, such as real estate. And if you're speaking of a failure so complete that even land is lost, well, that's going to affect everyone, not just some hapless would-be middle class trying to save money.