first, how much are they paying?
Edit: looks like 50K a year from google… guess they need to start paying 60 or 70. To get someone qualified and mature, you probably also want someone interested in starting a family. And I don’t think I would start a family on 50K nowadays.
I find a lot of older people struggle with the idea that good workers are smart enough to find good paying jobs with non-shitty working conditions and a reasonable income.
Most people don’t need to do a job for minimum wage with long hours and poor working conditions. Employers aren’t struggling to find workers because people don’t want to work anymore. They’re struggling to find workers because they are paying below market rates for that type of work. O&G and mining companies don’t struggle to find people to work in inhospitable conditions (e.g. 12 hour days, 14+ days straight, outdoors, in severe heat/cold, a long ways away from home), but they also pay well and provide benefits. Why take the near minimum wage rates without benefits farmers are offering?
Yep, only one paragraph in the long piece that mentions wages:
Many Americans aren’t interested in factory jobs because they often do not pay enough to lure workers away from service jobs that may have more flexible schedules or more comfortable working environments.
Also, the problem is not enough “skilled” applicants. I wonder how many years it takes to get up to the skill level that these employers want.
Its not the skill itself that is the problem. Its the geographical dispersion of people with those skills relative to where the jobs needing it that matters.
Poor geographical labour mobility due to cultural factors, high housing costs, and poor local transport options results in exactly these issues.
Thats why immigrants tend to do so much better vs locals. They are willing to move to where the jobs are.
that willing mobility of immigrants alone doesn’t address the “skill” they claim is required. the main skill sought is to do that demanding job under demanding conditions without the employee demanding to be paid more. that is the main skill sought in most cases IMO - willingness to do it where it is and gain experience and skill.
So you’re saying there is no nationwide “shortage” of skilled workers, they just happen to be in the wrong places. So, there should be places where there aren’t any open factory jobs. It seems the BLS would have statistics on that.
When I changed actuarial jobs, my employer paid my moving costs. I wonder if that ever happens for factory jobs.
Its more rare (I have seen it a few times). A sign-on bonus could have the same effect (don’t see why they couldnt use it in factory jobs as its a one off and not pensionable).
Managerial level and above? Probably. Peon level? I cannot envision any company doing this. How good is that factory worker such that the company will pay for them to move to another of their factories? Would that worker leave the company if they don’t get moving benefits and if so, what is the loss in productivity for the company?
I’ve already spent too much time and energy typing out this paragraph about cost versus the benefits.You think someone in a company would waste their time?
These mostly don’t make sense to me. And mostly seem like excuses if people are using them as reasons not to work at all.
Both my parents and my grandparents on one side moved for jobs. I let where I live be dictated by where I could get a job (primary consideration, there were others).
The only scenario I’ve heard of which could possibly prevent you from moving to work, is being way underwater on your current home due to a large drop in home prices. Anything else related to home prices, transportation, etc. shouldn’t stop people from working some job. Not to mention culture? Now if they’re not paying enough in a specific area to justify people living there and working there, that’s on the would-be employer.
I’ve spent way too much time contemplating this…and modifying my opinion as my perceived mobility has declined.
(25-35 years ago, I would have moved…and did move… cross-country at the drop of a hat; now…my wife and I five years ago set a goal of moving in five years; such a move is probably still at least five years off)
Here are some reasons I could see people being unable, or at least peceiving being unable, to move:
All that being said, I have wondered if our social benefits program needs to include relocation assistance and some additional re-training benefits if there’s enough of an imbalance between (under-employed people in one region) and (unfilled jobs in another region) that such benefits would be beneficial…and perhaps address the problem of demand for some forms of labor being so great that there’s been an added incentive to facilitate undocumented economic migration from abroad.
You properly placed this number one. Most people/families do not have the financial resources to make a speculative move to get a marginally higher wage.
For those people thinking my forefathers did that in similar situations, how is that perceived today?
I moved several times when my kids were young as they moved with me. I could not move away later after the kids moved out and started having grandchildren that I would have had to move away from.
I don’t think anyone expects a move due to marginally higher wages. It’s more when there’s a large disparity or the person isn’t working at all.
Most of this stuff are good reasons not to move if already employed and the wage/salary difference is not that large:
These are smaller reasons, and it’s fine if anyone has these, but I don’t want my taxes to subsidize unemployment as a result of this:
These are either temporary (only a couple years) or can be worked around (find a new doctor willing to continue the old one’s treatment):
These last 2 can be serious reasons though
So how do people with no savings and not working at all move to where the jobs are?
Why aren’t they working at all?
We just actually loaned a family member 6K so they could move for a job (no interest, pay back when you can type loan). They’d already been working and commuting 3 hours each way. If we weren’t around, they probably could have gone to a community fund of some kind. Obviously we are happy we could provide it so they don’t have to be beholden to strangers or pay interest.
I think there are usually ways for people to scrounge up the money to move, but I’m open to there being a person out there who can’t actually… just find it doubtful.
Ah, just have a family member that can loan/give you thousands. Why haven’t these people thought of that? Maybe we can give them your number.
What percent of individuals in the US do you think can get a family gift of several thousand dollars?
Obviously in addition to the community fund route - there are numerous other ways people borrow money.
Give me 6k right now. I might pay it back later.
Median net worth of people in their 50s is about 300K… 6K is not that much in comparison
So I’d guess, probably half, to answer you.
This is assuming you just have one family member in their 50s… Most people have more than that.