from Hacker News

Why America Has a Long-Term Labor Crisis, in Six Charts

by meany on 9/26/23, 3:19 AM with 54 comments

  • by Animats on 9/26/23, 5:15 AM

    All those charts look pretty good. “A carpenter now is making 20% to 25% more than they did 24 months ago, and that is not sustainable.” - some employer. This is a feature, not a bug.

    This is the usual employer whine. Can't get exactly the employee they want, right now, where they are, for what they want to pay, without investing in training or guaranteeing long term employment. World's smallest violin plays.

  • by jdkee on 9/26/23, 4:19 AM

  • by JumpCrisscross on 9/26/23, 4:24 AM

    "Labor shortages can be eased by funneling more people into the labor force or making the current workforce more productive. That can be done through immigration; outsourcing more work overseas; tapping underutilized labor pools such as people with disabilities and the formerly incarcerated; and improving productivity through automation, training and refining business and production processes."

    Another underutilized labor pool: parents. Specifically, mothers. Universal childcare couldn't come quickly enough.

  • by fred_is_fred on 9/26/23, 1:22 PM

    Paradoxically the Republicans in this country hate both raising wages for workers and immigration. The result is a labor pool issue in the end.

  • by nine_zeros on 9/26/23, 4:43 AM

    Labor exists, just not at the wages offered by employers.

    Unsurprisingly, none of the solutions involve lower share of income for execs and shareholders in favor of larger share for workers.