Labor Force Participation

[Bubba]

Good analysis from Business Week Magazine

Mystery of the Missing Workers

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... child-care

There are temporary factors related to Covid‑19 that are holding back the jobs recovery, such as enhanced federal unemployment benefits, reduced availability of child care, and worries about the highly infectious delta variant—though some of these will dissipate in the coming months. When the dust settles, U.S. businesses and policymakers will have to grapple with longer-term shifts, including a shrinking population of workers and the adoption of technologies that are making some jobs redundant. Many of these trends predated the pandemic but have since sped up. “Labor force participation has basically been falling monotonically—it’s pretty much been rotating around a downward trend for 30, 40 years. That accelerated a lot during the pandemic,”

[deadheadskier]

IMO we are in need of massive increases in immigration to assist with worker shortages in the service sector and trades. Only way to counterbalance an aging population and people having fewer kids.

[Fancypants]

IMO we are in need of massive increases in immigration to assist with worker shortages in the service sector and trades. Only way to counterbalance an aging population and people having fewer kids.

Right on comrade!

[deadheadskier]

The demographics are what they are in this country Fancypants.

We simply are not "breeding" and then training the quantity of workers needed to support business growth in this country. We either import more workers or face eventual economic contraction.

What's your plan?

[Bigjohnski]

Incentivize the people who work with TAX CUTS.


SIMPLE SOLUTION. It worked before Biden the fraud

[Fancypants]

The demographics are what they are in this country Fancypants.

We simply are not "breeding" and then training the quantity of workers needed to support business growth in this country. We either import more workers or face eventual economic contraction.

What's your plan?

We are breeding but at the same time aborting many......

The Education system is indoctrinating the young and not training them in the skills that would support business growth and personal responsibility. More than happy to open immigration up to record numbers but it needs to be done legally and until the situation on the southern border is resolved and the flow of illegals is halted, there is not a conversation to be had.

[deadheadskier]

We are breeding less AND aborting less exactly because our education system has been improving young people's knowledge of what parental responsibilities entail. Young people are realizing that kids cost a crap load of money, so perhaps waiting until they are more financially and professionally established is a good thing. Young people are realizing churches pushing back on contraception efforts for decades was BAD advice.

Increasing legal immigration and reducing illegal are not mutually exclusive concepts.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Young people are realizing that kids cost a crap load of money, so perhaps waiting until they are more financially and professionally established is a good thing.

There’s some truth to this. As a millennial, what I’ve seen is that my generation doesn’t want to make the personal / financial sacrifices necessary to have kids.

[Dickc]

Increasing legal immigration and reducing illegal are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Exactly. We need to get the better and brighter to come. I remember some 15 to maybe 20 years ago a couple of news stories about some kids who had just earned their doctorate from MIT, Harvard, etc., and the like who applied for permanent resident status and they were told, NO, GO HOME. The quotas were filled. I always thought that policy was pretty stupid and shortsighted. We NEED those type of people!!!!

[deadheadskier]

Young people are realizing that kids cost a crap load of money, so perhaps waiting until they are more financially and professionally established is a good thing.

There’s some truth to this. As a millennial, what I’ve seen is that my generation doesn’t want to make the personal / financial sacrifices necessary to have kids.

That's an anecdotal take. If you plot the data of educational and financial achievement vs age of parenthood, you will find a linear relationship. But even for those that don't go that route, teen pregnancies and abortions continue to fall and I credit the focus on sex and economic Ed in middle and high school on those trends.

[deadheadskier]

Increasing legal immigration and reducing illegal are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Exactly. We need to get the better and brighter to come. I remember some 15 to maybe 20 years ago a couple of news stories about some kids who had just earned their doctorate from MIT, Harvard, etc., and the like who applied for permanent resident status and they were told, NO, GO HOME. The quotas were filled. I always thought that policy was pretty stupid and shortsighted. We NEED those type of people!!!!

I agree with that, but I'm thinking about it a little bit differently.

Our labor shortages in this country purely from a numbers stand point are largely in the service and trades sectors.

We don't just need for the MIT grads to stick around. We need plumbers and carpenters and cooks too. For a lack of a better term, laborers. And we really don't have a vehicle to make that happen legally. So what do all those industries do? They end up hiring illegals and paying them under the table. That just exasperates the illegal immigration problem.

What if instead of sending international aid to foreign governments and hope they do the right thing by their people, we instead divert much of that aid to setup international trades schools that also provide language services. Those that attend and excel can "graduate" with a one year Visa that domestic companies can legally employ and if the workers prove themselves, they get to stay. Those that don't excel in those schools, now have a more marketable skill in their native home and maybe feel less desperate to caravan up from Central America or wherever with little chance to survive without the dole we all don't like paying to support.

There's a tremendous need to invest in developing domestic trade schools as well.

Again, not mutually exclusive needs.

[Fancypants]

Increasing legal immigration and reducing illegal are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Exactly. We need to get the better and brighter to come. I remember some 15 to maybe 20 years ago a couple of news stories about some kids who had just earned their doctorate from MIT, Harvard, etc., and the like who applied for permanent resident status and they were told, NO, GO HOME. The quotas were filled. I always thought that policy was pretty stupid and shortsighted. We NEED those type of people!!!!

I agree with that, but I'm thinking about it a little bit differently.

Our labor shortages in this country purely from a numbers stand point are largely in the service and trades sectors.

We don't just need for the MIT grads to stick around. We need plumbers and carpenters and cooks too. For a lack of a better term, laborers. And we really don't have a vehicle to make that happen legally. So what do all those industries do? They end up hiring illegals and paying them under the table. That just exasperates the illegal immigration problem.

What if instead of sending international aid to foreign governments and hope they do the right thing by their people, we instead divert much of that aid to setup international trades schools that also provide language services. Those that attend and excel can "graduate" with a one year Visa that domestic companies can legally employ and if the workers prove themselves, they get to stay. Those that don't excel in those schools, now have a more marketable skill in their native home and maybe feel less desperate to caravan up from Central America or wherever with little chance to survive without the dole we all don't like paying to support.

There's a tremendous need to invest in developing domestic trade schools as well.

Again, not mutually exclusive needs.

Not terrible ideas/thoughts but what about all the able body people in this country freeloading off the Government refusing to take those "jobs" you reference, shouldn't there be requirements to the benefits they receive? (work effort, community service, etc.) Maybe some attention should be focused on the scam that the higher education system and associated student loans are presenting in terms of ROI. That would surely sway many Americans to the consider the trades. Why are you always looking for solutions outside our country? We have everything we need right here!

[deadheadskier]

We have everything we need right here?

No we do not.

We have a rapidly aging population and are not replacing the workforce via birth. That is 100% fact. Small businesses whether restaurants or trades have been struggling to find help for FAR longer than the recent employment crisis and it should be viewed as such. A crisis

I was managing restaurants in the early 2000s at ski resorts and it was hard as sh*t to find good help. I left the industry because it forced me as a manager to work 70-80 hours a week.

This idea that you believe that somehow our governmental subsidies has allowed a domestic culture of freeloaders is total bullcrap and not backed up by the facts.

I was just up in North Conway for a family vacation this past week. Went out to grab coffee at Dunks for my wife and MIL. 2 of the 3 stores in town were closed due to lack of staff. The one that was open had it's lobby closed due to a lack of workers. This despite offering $14/hr starting plus an $800 signing bonus. To pour coffee and bag donuts!

The federal unemployment bonus is over. The unemployment rate is only 5 4%. We do not have the workers to fill the jobs our growing economy requires. That is 100% fact and will only get worse as the boomers age out of the workforce.

We do not have the resources domestically to meet employment demand. Not even close.

China and India have populations of a billion plus and both of their economies are going to eat our lunch over the next 30 years without serious change to immigration policy and attracting more workers than what we are replacing domestically.

You are a fool to think otherwise

[XtremeJibber2001]

Young people are realizing that kids cost a crap load of money, so perhaps waiting until they are more financially and professionally established is a good thing.

There’s some truth to this. As a millennial, what I’ve seen is that my generation doesn’t want to make the personal / financial sacrifices necessary to have kids.

That's an anecdotal take. If you plot the data of educational and financial achievement vs age of parenthood, you will find a linear relationship. But even for those that don't go that route, teen pregnancies and abortions continue to fall and I credit the focus on sex and economic Ed in middle and high school on those trends.

Agreed that it’s anecdotal.

Why do you think we’re breeding less? Is it primarily a money thing? We went from an average of 3 children per family in the 80s or so and trending towards 1 child per family. I don’t think that’s purely financial.

[daytripper]

We have everything we need right here?

No we do not.

We have a rapidly aging population and are not replacing the workforce via birth. That is 100% fact. Small businesses whether restaurants or trades have been struggling to find help for FAR longer than the recent employment crisis and it should be viewed as such. A crisis

I was managing restaurants in the early 2000s at ski resorts and it was hard as sh*t to find good help. I left the industry because it forced me as a manager to work 70-80 hours a week.

This idea that you believe that somehow our governmental subsidies has allowed a domestic culture of freeloaders is total bullcrap and not backed up by the facts.

I was just up in North Conway for a family vacation this past week. Went out to grab coffee at Dunks for my wife and MIL. 2 of the 3 stores in town were closed due to lack of staff. The one that was open had it's lobby closed due to a lack of workers. This despite offering $14/hr starting plus an $800 signing bonus. To pour coffee and bag donuts!

The federal unemployment bonus is over. The unemployment rate is only 5 4%. We do not have the workers to fill the jobs our growing economy requires. That is 100% fact and will only get worse as the boomers age out of the workforce.

We do not have the resources domestically to meet employment demand. Not even close.

China and India have populations of a billion plus and both of their economies are going to eat our lunch over the next 30 years without serious change to immigration policy and attracting more workers than what we are replacing domestically.

You are a fool to think otherwise

The federal unemployment bonus is certainly not over. It runs thru September and with the current scare over the delta varient it will probably be extended again. So much for your 100% fact.