What does a "labor shortage" mean?
It is folly to lay this at the feet of the pandemic.
Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly are considering a Wisconsin Senate-approved bill that will allow workers under the age of 16 to work as late as 11 p.m. Federal child labor laws currently set quitting time for teens at 7 p.m. during school, and 9 p.m. during other times.
Supporters of the Wisconsin bill say that lengthening the work day for teenagers will help counter a labor shortage, which is notable and not just in Wisconsin. From CNBC:
The most recent U.S. Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey…showed there were 10.4 million job openings in August whereas the number of people leaving their jobs (the so-called “quits rate”) rose to 4.3 million, the highest level seen on records dating back to Dec. 2000.
Early in the pandemic, naysayers wanted to blame labor shortages on people choosing to receive increased unemployment benefits over going to work, but the shortage precedes the pandemic, and at this point it’s more a result of several demographic shifts, not the least of which is the worker-vacuum left by people my age, who are retiring from the workforce. There’s no Boomer-type behemoth of a generation to take our place, so…
But you know what else would get people back to work? Decent wages. Safe and supportive working conditions. Those strategies seem more humane than letting the kids work longer hours, but I don’t write policy. I just make fun of it.
Yes. All workers need Decent wages, safe working conditions AND AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE!
Exactly! It's so annoying to hear people chalk today's labor shortages up to increased unemployment benefits. I worked FT for 51 years. More than once when I was in a position that was under threat of being eliminated I moved to a better paying more secure position. During those 51 years I worked on a few youth employment projects so can't believe anyone thinks the way to solve today's labor shortages is to roll back child labor laws. That's about the worst idea they could come up with.