The Labor Shortage and Your Career

[MrMan]

They say there is a labor shortage. Some of the fast food restaurants are drive-thru only. They claim it is because of a lack of employees. Service is slow. The labor shortage is supposed to be one component of the supply chain issues we are having.

I have heard different explanations. The extra unemployment has supposed to have dried up in the US, so that isn't the sole reason. They say Baby Boomers are retiring. Maybe there were two or three years worth of Baby Boomer retirements that we noticed all at once as stuff opened up after COVID. It could be that many Baby Boomers who'd planned on retiring in a two or three year window all decided to do so at once. Then lower ranked employees could have been rotated around to take their places, leaving labor shortages. I don't remember a lot of Baby Boomers working fast food a few years ago, though. But if there is a labor shortage, some of the fast food workers may have found decent jobs.

Unions have leverage to negotiate contracts now. There seems to be a worker focus in the market now.

For years, I have seen posters complain about the lack of job opportunities. Well, this is your chance?

Has anyone gotten a better job due to the labor shortage? How has it affected your life?

I'm in a niche where it doesn't affect me that much, except for slow deliveries for online products, not enough products in stores, and slow service at restaurants.

[flowerthief00]

I think only unskilled positions have gotten easier to find. Skilled (read "high-paying") jobs are as difficult to land as ever, based on my recent experience.

[jamesbond]

I think only unskilled positions have gotten easier to find. Skilled (read "high-paying") jobs are as difficult to land as ever, based on my recent experience.

I agree, good paying jobs are just as hard to find now as they have ever been. However, low paying jobs like retail, fast food and restaurant jobs are easy to get.

[Outcast9428]

I think only unskilled positions have gotten easier to find. Skilled (read "high-paying") jobs are as difficult to land as ever, based on my recent experience.

I agree, good paying jobs are just as hard to find now as they have ever been. However, low paying jobs like retail, fast food and restaurant jobs are easy to get.

That's been exactly my experience. Low paying jobs everywhere are desperate, you see signs all over the place advertising for those jobs. The office type work is the same though.

Personally, I'm kind of glad the labor shortage is happening if its real. A labor shortage means the power of companies will be broken a little and workers will get back some of it.

[jamesbond]

Personally, I'm kind of glad the labor shortage is happening if its real. A labor shortage means the power of companies will be broken a little and workers will get back some of it.

I agree, even if the labor shortage is only in low paying jobs, it will force employers to increase their pay and start offering better benefits.

[publicduende]

I agree 100%. I live in the Philippines and want to stay here. I was hoping that, with the so-called "shortage of senior IT talent" in the US and UK, I could easily land a well-paid, fully-remote job from a company in one of those two countries.

As it turns out, there is no shortage at the upper end of the job market, those jobs paying $200K and above. Plenty of people are already living in the US or UK, with a permanent or business visa, and are available to work. The way I see it, it's also a matter of the labour market not being ready to accommodate the fiscal and regulatory hassle that comes with hiring someone in a jurisdiction where they do not have a registered office.

The irony of this is that many of these top jobs don't require the employee to turn up to an office anymore. They suggested me I move to Switzerland or Australia just so I can rent a small apartment there and work from there. What matters to them is that I am a resident of that country and can pay taxes there.

Then, of course, there's the subtler matter of many employees not liking a colleague who makes almost as much as they do, but lives in a country with much lower cost of living.