The Great Worker Shortage Lie is Alive and Well

[FA_Q2]

Starting next year 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65.

At some point in the future we will have a labor shortage.

There will never be a labor shortage. It is impossible. What would a labor shortage even look like in real terms of problems it would generate. As far as I can tell, the more jobs available with fewer workers to fill the slots the better the pay and overall economy is going to be....

Simply put it's the theory of supply and demand. Yes, IMO there will be a bit of a labor shoratge but probably not as bad as some make out. But you're 100% correct that companies will increase their pay and benefits in order to attract workers that will become more scarce. But that could also lead to an inflation issue that could develop as a result of that increased pay and benefits.

A lot of variables have been predicated on the Baby Boomers. That is the biggest reason for the predicted shortages in SS. As the baby boomers die off the ratio of workers to retirees will again be more favorable toward being more self sustaining.

Yes, there are more complexities but I fail to see there ever being a problem with a smaller labor pool. The issue of grater retirees to laborers is another story but the OP did not mention anything about the problems SS and Medicare is going to go through. That is another story.


As I said before, a labor 'shortage' means nothing. In that scenario, we would have a far better economy.

 

[Sallow]

Well surprise, have you seen the unemployment rate?

Well what sort of "communications" are you talking about? You know what CCNA is?

Cisco Certified Network Associate.

Signal testing for all the phone companies, rewriting software etc.

And there are plenty americans that can do that.

 

[Sallow]

There will never be a labor shortage. It is impossible. What would a labor shortage even look like in real terms of problems it would generate. As far as I can tell, the more jobs available with fewer workers to fill the slots the better the pay and overall economy is going to be....

Simply put it's the theory of supply and demand. Yes, IMO there will be a bit of a labor shoratge but probably not as bad as some make out. But you're 100% correct that companies will increase their pay and benefits in order to attract workers that will become more scarce. But that could also lead to an inflation issue that could develop as a result of that increased pay and benefits.

A lot of variables have been predicated on the Baby Boomers. That is the biggest reason for the predicted shortages in SS. As the baby boomers die off the ratio of workers to retirees will again be more favorable toward being more self sustaining.

Yes, there are more complexities but I fail to see there ever being a problem with a smaller labor pool. The issue of grater retirees to laborers is another story but the OP did not mention anything about the problems SS and Medicare is going to go through. That is another story.


As I said before, a labor 'shortage' means nothing. In that scenario, we would have a far better economy.

It would be a better economy over all..as it would flatten out top end salaries. Which is not what corporate heads want.

 

[Full-Auto]

Well what sort of "communications" are you talking about? You know what CCNA is?

Cisco Certified Network Associate.

Signal testing for all the phone companies, rewriting software etc.

And there are plenty americans that can do that.

I dont question that.

But, The company tells me that cant get Americans that are qualified.

This isnt my argument, I happened upon this getting a remodeling contract.

Not a single American on staff.

 

[Sallow]

Signal testing for all the phone companies, rewriting software etc.

And there are plenty americans that can do that.

I dont question that.

But, The company tells me that cant get Americans that are qualified.

This isnt my argument, I happened upon this getting a remodeling contract.

Not a single American on staff.

While I don't know all the details, it sounds fishy. What we are running up against in my state is ALOT of h1bs competing for the tech jobs. And they will say ANYTHING to get them. Once your in..unless your are a complete screw up..you stay.

My former employer fired many American programmers and hired from India. The Project lead..who was also a programmer..had to fix their coding almost every day. And not trivial fixes either..he had to reverse engineer alot of it. And it was made all the more difficult because they didn't include comments in the source code (Job security?).

It use to be that an HIB couldn't fill jobs if a qualified American was available...but that's changed.

 

[FA_Q2]

That would include eliminating Eisenhower's tax breaks on overseas profits, attaching tariffs on many products made overseas and changing the status of an "American" company with more foreign based workers then domestic ones.

Those are opposite answers and make no sense at all together. The right is completely correct in wanting to bring back overseas profits and this should be encourages as much as possible. As a matter of fact, increasing our exports should be a central push. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to do when the second part you mentioned, tariffs, needs to be enacted to de-incentivize imports as other countries will respond in kind.


I will say that one thing the blame Obama, blame Bush crowds do miss is that one of the major reasons that we were hit so hard is the complete lack of a diversified economy. Trade wars may hurt us in the short but brining back a diversified economy will be of far greater benefit in the long.

 

[Sallow]

That would include eliminating Eisenhower's tax breaks on overseas profits, attaching tariffs on many products made overseas and changing the status of an "American" company with more foreign based workers then domestic ones.

Those are opposite answers and make no sense at all together. The right is completely correct in wanting to bring back overseas profits and this should be encourages as much as possible. As a matter of fact, increasing our exports should be a central push. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to do when the second part you mentioned, tariffs, needs to be enacted to de-incentivize imports as other countries will respond in kind.


I will say that one thing the blame Obama, blame Bush crowds do miss is that one of the major reasons that we were hit so hard is the complete lack of a diversified economy. Trade wars may hurt us in the short but brining back a diversified economy will be of far greater benefit in the long.

Yeah? And why is that. One of the "missions" of Eisenhower's tax breaks were to encourage investment in foreign markets. Well it worked. Good job. Both India and China have began manufacturing their own cars..along with stealing US jobs.

So instead of new markets...what we have is new competition. And fierce competition at that.