Do People Just Not Want To Work Anymore?

[TheOtherMe]

The Iowa State Fair, which starts tomorrow, is still desperately looking for workers.  

[movingforward]

Aug 11, 2021 9:15:00 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

Hm. On last night's local news we were told all about how there are hundreds of thousands of jobs open in the state and were shown pix of businesses with help wanted signs. Yup. Everything shown was for food service of one kind or another.

Just for shits and giggles, I looked up clerical jobs available with our county government. I found one. Part time. Pays $9.06/hour and calls for GED or HS diploma. Hours are carved in stone. Also found one "administrative" job that pays $9.50. It's full time and also calls for GED or HS diploma and two years' related experience.

The job descriptions for both jobs sound like jobs that would be done by someone with a 4-year degree. The administrative job for $9.50 requiring two years' related experience? Tell ya what: at that pay, they'll be damn lucky to find an un-qualified applicant with any experience at all.

Geez, I pay my part-time clerical person $19 an hour.

[pulmonarymd]

Aug 11, 2021 9:16:21 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

The Iowa State Fair, which starts tomorrow, is still desperately looking for workers.  

Sounds like people don't want to work at a superspreader event. Where are all those people who think Covid is over or not a big deal? They can work there

[daisylu]

Aug 11, 2021 9:15:00 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

Hm. On last night's local news we were told all about how there are hundreds of thousands of jobs open in the state and were shown pix of businesses with help wanted signs. Yup. Everything shown was for food service of one kind or another.

Just for shits and giggles, I looked up clerical jobs available with our county government. I found one. Part time. Pays $9.06/hour and calls for GED or HS diploma. Hours are carved in stone. Also found one "administrative" job that pays $9.50. It's full time and also calls for GED or HS diploma and two years' related experience.

The job descriptions for both jobs sound like jobs that would be done by someone with a 4-year degree. The administrative job for $9.50 requiring two years' related experience? Tell ya what: at that pay, they'll be damn lucky to find an un-qualified applicant with any experience at all.

Wow. McDonald's in the small city closest to me is starting people at $15/hr with a sign on bonus.

[Deleted]

McD's two doors down from my Biscuit Bitch job pays $11/hr. No sign-on bonus that I know of. But still more than those county jobs, and McD's has a tuition reimbursement program as well.

Speaking of...I was promised a sign-on bonus after six weeks. It's been two months. I. Want. My. Money!!!!

[giramomma]

Aug 11, 2021 9:16:21 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

The Iowa State Fair, which starts tomorrow, is still desperately looking for workers.  

Our State fair didn't find enough workers, either. Ours started last week.

Our unemployment rate is also 3.8-3.95 state wide. So, I'm comfortable saying it's not because of the extra unemployment benefit that is available to folks.

Perhaps, there just might be a worker shortage.

Oh, if we only did something about immigration so that we'd have access to a bigger pool of workers. I think that would be preferable to loosening up child labor laws, so that middle school kids can get a work permit and start working as w-2 workers.. But, that's not going to be a big enough pool to draw from, either.

I'm actually quite serious, but maybe they should also enact tax breaks for folks who work 2-3 jobs. Perhaps if one only paid state/federal income tax on the the job they log the most hours in, that would help encourage folks to work multiple jobs. 

[Deleted]

Aug 11, 2021 9:15:00 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

Just for shits and giggles, I looked up clerical jobs available with our county government. I found one. Part time. Pays $9.06/hour and calls for GED or HS diploma. Hours are carved in stone. Also found one "administrative" job that pays $9.50. It's full time and also calls for GED or HS diploma and two years' related experience.

If the FT one includes decent health insurance and little or no employee contribution it night be worth a heck of a lot more than $9.50/hour.

[Opti]

Aug 11, 2021 10:52:56 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

McD's two doors down from my Biscuit Bitch job pays $11/hr. No sign-on bonus that I know of. But still more than those county jobs, and McD's has a tuition reimbursement program as well.

Speaking of...I was promised a sign-on bonus after six weeks. It's been two months. I. Want. My. Money!!!!

When do you get paid? If its 8 weeks on Friday maybe it will be in that check.

[NoNamePerson]

Aug 11, 2021 10:52:56 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

McD's two doors down from my Biscuit Bitch job pays $11/hr. No sign-on bonus that I know of. But still more than those county jobs, and McD's has a tuition reimbursement program as well.

Speaking of...I was promised a sign-on bonus after six weeks. It's been two months. I. Want. My. Money!!!!

Call J. G. Wentworth.  Sorry I couldn’t resist. 

[Deleted]

It was two months last Sunday. And my paycheck is already showing up in pending activity online. Anyway, when I was hired, I was told it would be a separate payment from a paycheck.

NoNamePerson LOL! I've always wondered if Looney ever called them!

[azucena]

Aug 11, 2021 12:16:44 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Aug 11, 2021 9:15:00 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

Just for shits and giggles, I looked up clerical jobs available with our county government. I found one. Part time. Pays $9.06/hour and calls for GED or HS diploma. Hours are carved in stone. Also found one "administrative" job that pays $9.50. It's full time and also calls for GED or HS diploma and two years' related experience.

If the FT one includes decent health insurance and little or no employee contribution it night be worth a heck of a lot more than $9.50/hour.

This is part of the problem with employment tied to healthcare.  Having benefits doesn't overcome the fact that someone can't live on $9.50/hour.

[Deleted]

azucena Exactly. Health insurance doesn't do a whole lot for you when you can't afford food, utilities, rent. About the rent...no address? No job; therefore, no health insurance, either.

[Opti]

Aug 11, 2021 12:33:02 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

It was two months last Sunday. And my paycheck is already showing up in pending activity online. Anyway, when I was hired, I was told it would be a separate payment from a paycheck.

NoNamePerson LOL! I've always wondered if Looney ever called them!

Have you asked them when the bonus money will arrive?

[TheOtherMe]

The Field of Dream MLB game is also having problems finding workers.  They don't have nearly enough restaurants to handle the expected demand for food so they planned on Food Trucks.  Now Food Trucks are cancelling because they can't find workers and this is for 2 days.

It's another super spreader event.

[azucena]

DH found out yesterday that he's getting a $2/hour raise.  This is an effort to keep existing preschool teachers as turnover always runs high, but they've been losing people going to other centers who's starting pay was higher.  This is the second salary bump this year.  He went from $13.50/hr to 15 to 17.  This means he will now make just over $32k/yr.  He will also get a $500 loyalty bonus in Oct and another in Jan - this is to keep people from leaving.

He was both happy that this employment regime has forced his employer's hand and frustrated that it's taken so long.

[teen persuasion]

Another library in my system is advertising for a Children's Librarian: $32k/yr. MLIS required, evenings, weekends. No mention of benefits, and they are probably not in the state retirement system.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I looked up the production job for our company and they now want a bachelor's of science with my level of skill for a job that according to the person who actually runs the department is slinging 60lb jugs six days a week.

$18/hr isn't bad here the problem is you aren't going to get people with that skill set to sling jugs. They will go off to the university where they can do research and possibly get published. Yanno the stuff they went to school for.

You can't lure someone in with a misrepresentation of the job and not expect them to either rescind or leave in a few months.

I commented maybe our company should hire for the actual job not what they wish it was.

But nope the position remains open while they complain nobody wants to work.

My employer is probably not the only one.

[Deleted]

I remember when I worked for a bank. I worked in an operations building, not a branch. Data entry, that was really only 10key. I was shocked to learn that the starting pay for bank tellers was lower than my pay. I could wear jeans and t-shirts to work, bank tellers have to dress nice. They also had to deal with customers, be responsible for large sums of money, and risk getting a gun shoved in their face. It didn’t make sense to me to not pay them well.

I would also see jobs posted that required a college degree, and a lot of them didn’t pay much more than I was making, like less than $1 more per hour. It wasn’t like I was well paid, so that didn’t make sense to me either.

That was over 20 years ago, so maybe things have changed now. Somehow I doubt it though. It seems that what’s coming to a head now with so many in the workforce rebelling has been brewing for a very long time.

[TheOtherMe]

The first time I audited a bank, I was shocked by their pay.  Totally shocked.  This was before all the big banks came in to being and were small rural Colorado banks.  They made nothing.

I also was paid the least amount ever when I worked preparing tax returns at a CPA firm in Iowa.  $10.00 the first year and 10.26 the 2nd year.  I made $20 an hour doing that in Colorado.

[bobosensei]

Aug 11, 2021 12:24:06 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Aug 11, 2021 10:52:56 GMT -5 @missrigby said:

McD's two doors down from my Biscuit Bitch job pays $11/hr. No sign-on bonus that I know of. But still more than those county jobs, and McD's has a tuition reimbursement program as well.

Speaking of...I was promised a sign-on bonus after six weeks. It's been two months. I. Want. My. Money!!!!

Call J. G. Wentworth.  Sorry I couldn’t resist. 

877 CASH NOW!!!!!!!

[Deleted]

It could be that I'll actually see some $$ in the next week or so. I'm not going to hold my breath, though.

Wondering if I'll have a job much longer. There were only seven people at work yesterday. With one cook out with covid and most employees both unvaccinated and unmasked working in close quarters, it would seem that people will be dropping like flies. (Hope I'm not one of them.) If we get down to a staff of just a couple of people, there's no way to stay open.

Aside from not wanting anybody to be sick, I really want to work. It's nice to have a place to go four days a week.

[nidena]

Was reading an article in a national magazine last night...another factor that is contributing to a reduction in the worker pool: overdoses.
Nearly 100,000 people died from overdose in 2020.  This number has been ticking up for years.  Last year just upticked it a bit faster than in previous years.



I wonder how much last year contributed to increased addictive drug use.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

So I was reading a local news article about how people are not taking jobs in Nebraska.  Standard coin of phrase here is people are just milking UE which the extended benefits ended in June so ha ha now you have to work.

UE in Nebraska is at 2.2% which the lowest it's been since the 1990s.   So I'm pretty sure the reason they can't find workers isn't because people are sitting around sucking on the government teat.

Now they are trying to say it's because of the eviction ban.   People aren't enticed to work via fear of becoming homeless so they are just not working.

Wow.  Or maybe it's Nebraska employers haven't come out the 1950s', pretend COVID isn't real and in general is a stereotypical conservative white bread Midwestern state?  You know the same reasons you can't get anyone to move here and young people are leaving in droves.

[TheOtherMe]

Is it true that some Nebraska counties are not reporting numbers because the Nebraska government says there county population isn't high enough to count?

[violagirl]

This thread made me check out the local job board for postings as people are also complaining about having nobody willing to work here. From going through the job postings - most are in the service industries and most of them are around $14/hour, which is only about 28k per year. After taxes etc it is about 1900/month net. 

I live in a LCOL area but people have been snatching up real estate here during covid. Especially - apartments are in short supply and older ones are being purchased by foreign buyers who think 1200/month for rent is a steal. 

I don't even know how a person who is working 40hours a week could afford to live. Let alone have childcare or take a day off. 

I never really thought about just how fortunate I am. I mean I realize I make more than average around here, but I didnt' realize just how much more.  

[TheOtherMe]

That's about the same situation here.  Jobs for $14-$15 an hour in service industry or factories.  Not great jobs.  In the factories, usually start on 2nd or 3rd shift and they require a car.  

Apartments and houses for rent have increased to the point that I could not make it on that money and I don't have small kids who would need day care.

[giramomma]

Here's an interesting article..

www.cnn.com/2021/10/08/success/quit-job-pandemic-feseries/index.html

The opening:

In July, four million people quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

People can quit for many reasons: Some want a better work-life balance or higher pay, while others realize their job is just not the right fit anymore, or they want to do something completely different with their time. But not everyone can afford to quit their job, and it often requires planning.

[nidena]

I imagine BoA doesn't have a terrible time finding workers.  They raised their minimum wage to $21/hr.

www.axios.com/bank-of-america-raises-minimum-wage-9e03d837-529f-4a27-b75d-f08da04d6d38.html 

[wvugurl26]

I was trying to call today to confirm wheelchair assistance at the airport for several elderly family members. I marked the tickets when I bought them and according to the airline that's all I need to do. The airport's website gave a number to call and book the service. I called and it didn't even ring forwarded straight to voice-mail.

I searched the company's name to see if they had a website. I found their job postings on several sites. Wheelchair attendants make a whole $8.88/hour. It is considered a tipped position but I wonder how many people don't tip? I can't imagine you'd get full time hours unless maybe you worked seven days a week.

For COL reference it is a locality area on OPM's pay scale. It's about 10% lower than DC's 30% adjustment. I see average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment reported between $900-$1100.

I think a lot of places that can't get employees are paying these kinds of wages. Locally I'm seeing reports of people applying for jobs at places with now hiring signs all over, plastered on Facebook, etc and can't even get an interview. Probably being screened out by the auto tools everyone uses these days. And no one wants to do any training.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Oct 8, 2021 18:39:35 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I was trying to call today to confirm wheelchair assistance at the airport for several elderly family members. I marked the tickets when I bought them and according to the airline that's all I need to do. The airport's website gave a number to call and book the service. I called and it didn't even ring forwarded straight to voice-mail.

I searched the company's name to see if they had a website. I found their job postings on several sites. Wheelchair attendants make a whole $8.88/hour. It is considered a tipped position but I wonder how many people don't tip? I can't imagine you'd get full time hours unless maybe you worked seven days a week.

For COL reference it is a locality area on OPM's pay scale. It's about 10% lower than DC's 30% adjustment. I see average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment reported between $900-$1100.

I think a lot of places that can't get employees are paying these kinds of wages. Locally I'm seeing reports of people applying for jobs at places with now hiring signs all over, plastered on Facebook, etc and can't even get an interview. Probably being screened out by the auto tools everyone uses these days. And no one wants to do any training.

Best to do this at check in.  That is the point where you will be directed to where you need to park.  However, I have yet to make a wheelchair reservation when booking where it hasn’t been available for me.  

I normally tip $5-20, depending upon time and distance.  For the most part, $5 between gates at connections, $10 to get through security and $20 for collecting luggage and going to transport.  Be aware in some airports you may go from wheelchair to cart to wheelchair (MSP).