While we're here ... Today's WaPo has this headline: "Faced with GOP criticism, attorney general defends school board memo." How about, "Congressional Republicans defend threatening people's lives"?
It's the same old fairytale I used to hear when I was a kid growing up in the 60s. Lazy people don't want to work because all they have to do is stay home and collect welfare. Of course we know what the code for "Lazy" was and still is. The Republicans have always been against Social Security and any safety net that a true democracy puts in place to defend and help its people. Of course however, they hide behind this inane argument that if the government just gives people money they won't want to work. What they really mean is the workers won't want to work at menial jobs at absurdly low wages to help maintain and expand the wealth of their owners. The pandemic has had an impact on this country in many ways. What we are seeing is something long overdue. It's a worker revolt. They're as mad as hell and they are not going to take it anymore. I could never understand how people of moderate means could agree with the argument made by wealthy folks, and stoked by the MSM, that unions were the problem. These same working class people often bitched and moaned about their longer hours and shrinking pay and yet could not see the connection between those facts and having an advocate for their rights as workers. Thankfully and hopefully the American worker is starting to wakeup. I'm not saying that business owners that accept a lot of risk are not entitled to make a lot of money. But when CEOs makes 321 times (2020 stats) more than the average worker, something is not right.
How easily people forget about life before unions: 12+ hour days, 6 day weeks, no sick days, no vacations, no minimum wage, no workplace safety rules. "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it."
"Of course however, they hide behind this inane argument that if the government just gives people money they won't want to work."
And at the same time they pass legislation to make it easier for the wealthy to not only keep their wealth, but pass it down to Future generations who are able to live off of it without having to do anything themselves. One of the many reasons I could no longer stand living in South Florida was because I grew tired of seeing trust fund babies living lavish lifestyles while behaving like spoiled, selfish, entitled assholes.
Actually I grew up in Appalachia so the lazy people were overwhelmingly white. Manchin’s latest statements about not wanting an entitlement society reminded me of that. He knows his poor white constituents would benefit greatly from the proposals he is trying to cut. It’s mind boggling.
Of course in recent years Republicans have managed to convince low income white people that it’s those brown people who are getting things they don’t deserve. The fact that the media — both news and entertainment — has ignored poor white people even though they vastly outnumber poor minorities just reinforces that belief.
And hypocrites like J.D. Vance don't help the narrative either. I read the book back in the day before his true colors were revealed. But watch --- the idiot class in his district will vote for him.
Totally agree!!! A young (20-something) friend of mine worked this past summer at his nearby Amazon fulfillment center. He expressed absolute shock at seeing so many "old people" (boomers like me) working in the center, when -- in his sheltered belief -- they should be enjoying a cushy retirement. I certainly hope this was a wake-up call for him! I suggested that he watch Nomadland, the new Netflix series MAID and read Barbara Ehrenreich's still painfully relevant masterpiece Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. I hope he does -- his future depends on it.
"There is a cultural bias that has been instilled as part of the American Dream myth - the idea that if you work hard, you will be rewarded.
The reward is always framed in terms of becoming rich. We measure status by how much money someone has.
When we talk about education, the emphasis is always about preparing people for the workplace. The goal is all about getting an education that will ensure a path to prosperity. If someone is stuck in a job that doesn’t pay well, they are told to go out and get training for a better job - meaning one that pays more.
It even extends to religion. The prosperity gospel proclaims if you are truly a righteous person of faith, you will be rewarded in this world with material wealth. If not, there is something wrong with you.
This is great for people with wealth who need a steady supply of worker drones who will not question a system that treats them as disposable. It’s a system that excuses massive inequality on the grounds that the rich are harder workers, are smarter, are being rewarded for their virtues - and not because they have been able leverage their wealth to become even wealthier, accumulate it, and pass it on to their children as a birthright, not something they earned.
Nowhere in this is regard for becoming a better person, a good parent, a good neighbor, a good citizen, a well-rounded person with broad interests. None of this is about fully realizing human potential - just cranking the money machine around in a rat race."
Yep. I have a Bachelor’s degree, a background in journalism, and just completed a three-year Paralegal Studies program and am preparing for the certification exam. This is only one level below a law school education in terms of qualifications, and yet I found out when I got lunch last week that Taco Bell pays their employees only $1.50 less per hour than I made at my last paralegal job, and it included benefits. I did not get benefits. The sign displayed in front of the restaurant was for regular line workers, not management, making ALMOST a livable wage, and what is considered in my hometown a professional wage, instead of the usual three-jobs-for-poverty wage. It is still despicable all around, but the unheard of increase in pay is a direct result of this worker revolt. I seriously considered applying. (Lol!)
Thank you. I have been saying this for years. I am old enough to remember when many people considered education a value in itself and didn’t disdain the liberal arts but now far too many Americans seem to see schools as basically vo-ed training. People need to be reminded that our Founding Fathers were broadly educated men with a strong interest in philosophy. That broad base of knowledge is the reason they were able to create a government based on enlightenment ideals but without ignoring human nature.
I meant to add that a few years ago I watched an American show that visited Australia. In one segment young Aussie adults were asked how they differed from Americans. The all agreed that we are very similar except for the fact that Americans live to work but Australians work to live.
When I was growing up back in the Dark Ages most of the parents were like the Australians. Dads and those moms who worked were home for dinner most nights and had plenty of time for their families.
It has been my experience that if you work hard, it isn’t reward you get, what you get is taken advantage of, with more work piled on you until you’re overwhelmed and miserable, while the slackers in the office resent you and manipulate and undermine you to put you in your place for having the nerve to do your job well and get noticed in any way.
I really hate working and living in a red state, where you’re treated like you should be grateful they allow you to work for them, instead of doling off the government. The people truly suck here and employers are the worst you can get in this “debate.”
The industrial revolution prompted an economic debate about how much labor should be paid. One of, if not *the* most prevalent theories was that wages should be basically subsistence level so workers literally couldn't afford to quit. An alternative justification for low wages was the theory that higher pay would remove the incentive for hard work. One setback for low wages was the fact that workers who were barely surviving on their own could not afford to have a family and produce the next generation of cheap labor. The debate over how much is too much (or not enough) has never ended, and today's rabid capitalists still believe that people are inherently lazy and won't work unless they are kept desperate. Always comforting to know 18th century economics are guiding conservative economics.
In NEPA, companies are offering $15-$18, especially for warehouse workers, while the minimum wage remains a paltry $7.25 despite Gov Wolf's and the Dems' efforts to change it. Infuriatingly, the GOP say, look, we don't need an increase because business is already offering workers more. GOP audacity is enraging.
I know this to be true. I live in a red state, in a family filled with Trump Republicans and old-school conservative one percenters. You should hear the batshit crazy arguments my 1% sister uses to defend poverty wages and no safety nets.
My one wish is that when election time rolls around all the workers remember every word spoken by repugs and newspapers and TV reporters. That every student of age to vote 🗳 sends a clear message to the repugs you are running out of time and we the people are going to send you home for not doing your job for the people. The newspapers and TV personalities who tell lies everyday they open their mouths your day is coming. Because we the people no longer believe anything said by you and that's sad you've gone from respected journalists to entertainment news reporters who lie.
The Times has long been anti labor. They love to bash the teachers’ unions and blame them for the ills in education.
I support Unions but all were tarnished by the widespread corruption among leadership in a few sectors during the 60s and 70s, which made the public receptive to the GOP’s union bashing message. Then Reagan came along and broke labor’s back during the air controllers’ strike. It’s been downhill ever since. Such a proud and bloody history—people died fighting for workers’ rights—yet too many allowed them to slip away, voting for the GOP, helped by more anti labor stories written by journalists and shaped by editors who (many but certainly not all!) are well paid and receive nice perks and good benefits.
No unions - in general - are more myopic than the police unions that work against their membership's best interest when they loudly defend bad cops and vote for the party that would break all unions - including their union - in a heartbeat.
OMG they are the WORST. Not only working against their membership, but against the public they are sworn to protect. Like in Wisconsin, GOP govt rolling back the rights of all unions except police and fire.
Totally agree about the POA-type unions, and also about the corruption in other unions. The AFL-CIO still has a pretty hefty payroll https://www.unionfacts.com/employees/AFL-CIO
Have none of these people experienced hard times in their lives? Lord forbid workers’ wages should be more than adequate to meet employee/family needs while dinging the profits of big business. Rabid capitalists indeed, Charley. There is something terribly wrong when it’s the middle class and poor who are willing to help his/her neighbor while the entitled and privileged among us, politicians too, turn their backs on doing good vs making money. All evidence tells us that the msm touts Republican talking points to blame the victim. I for one am thrilled workers are saying no to crappy jobs and wages and that unions might be making a return to power. If the press won’t tell the truth about this story of profits and greed while giving cover to their bosses, union leaders and members will. Pray that the tide is turning in favor of workers, who finally have some leverage with which to challenge the powers that be.
The converse is frauds like Joel Osteen and Jerry Falwell who live in mansions and wear Rolex watches to show the rubes that God rewards the pure of heart.
Yep, the attitude of British Victorians who happily let the Irish starve to death during the famine. "It's their own fault and charity will only make them indolent and dependent." That this kind of attitude is still acceptable among so many in our society today is shocking.
Or they DID experience hard times and are embarrassed by that/themselves for ‘being on the dole.’ In therapy speak, self hatred projected outward, too painful to ‘own’ that pain/those circumstances, too shameful.
The press is married to big business and furthers their narratives. As far as the latter are concerned, working people should simple take what they are given and shut up. I know of people who've worked decades in broadcasting who have never gotten anything more than a meager raise no matter the amount of work they do. They are told, "Where are you going to go if you quit," and "I can get anyone off the street to do what you do." They can get someone off the street to do what someone working for 20 years does? Hardly.
Much of Europe changed its tune after its run of labor strife. Turn out a happy workforce is a productive one. Glad you cited Krugman. He's been making that point for years. Where's the DNC on this? Too busy findraising?
You can’t win elections if you don’t have money and the point of the DNC is elections. BBB is all about helping workers and the nation and 99 percent of Congressional dems support all of it.
There is a bible of what Dems have done for labor. Yes, they made some grievous mistakes because of the political atmosphere in the 80s and especially the 90s. And when the GOP was touting this stupid line, Dems did push back but media scoffed as they always do.
I’ve mentioned it before, but to me the big tell about the medias corporate bias is that there is NOT a Workers section of the papers and there is no workers equivalent of business news channels.
I actually pitched an idea like this a couple of weeks ago to a business magazine, to write a weekly column from the perspective of the worker, not to bash business/employers, just to inform and create a bridge for common ground, empathy and understanding. I did not get a response and have no idea if they did anything with it, just not with me, or if they laughed and said “no way!” But I still think it has a valuable and necessary part to play in this.
“Between mid-June and mid-September, the number of people who said they couldn’t work because they were sick with Covid or were caring for someone who had the virus rose by 2.5 million,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
And let's not forget that 700,000+ Americans have died from the virus. Many of them worked too. Have all of those vacancies been filled? I doubt it.
I have read that it’s mostly women who haven’t returned to work mostly because of lack of child care. The media has undercovered that fact leaving the impression that it’s the benefits that caused the worker shortage.
There is an odd flip side to the labor shortage story, albeit anecdotal. I have seen more than 1 person post that they have applied for 50 jobs and not gotten a response from any of them. These are not competitive, high paying jobs - just retail and service jobs. Has anyone else heard these tales? Hard to fill jobs if you don't respond to the applicants, eh?
Just as the press doesn't interview workers, they aren't interviewing job seekers. I found 2 articles that address this phenomenon but only for skilled workers. I'm pretty sure this is happening in non-skilled jobs, as well.
Just last night I came across a reply to a comment regarding this same difficulty. What they posited was that too many companies are still relying on old, automated ways to sift through the thousands of resumes they may receive. They'll kick out absurd numbers of resumes solely based on key words they've deemed counter to what they're looking for, negating the human aspect (or possible uniqueness) of a person's work record or aspirations.
"... cut off benefits, which costs the states nothing..." what happened to the money for those benefits? were the states allowed to keep it? please say No.
I claim “lazy worker” journalists. Why interview workers, especially why interview out-of-work workers, when business owners are so much easier to find? Where do you even find out-of-work workers? And wouldn't it piss of business owners to interview their workers when they are supposed to be working?
On Saturday, visiting a (progressive) friend who lives in ultra-conservative Woodland, California, we went to a Starbucks for coffee. We were served, but told we wouldn't be able to stay because they were closing early (3:30ish) because they were short-handed and it appeared nobody was coming to work the evening shift. Even in bucolic, right-wing Woodland, Starbucks wages are poverty.
While we're here ... Today's WaPo has this headline: "Faced with GOP criticism, attorney general defends school board memo." How about, "Congressional Republicans defend threatening people's lives"?
everything is always couched in GOP attacks
It's the same old fairytale I used to hear when I was a kid growing up in the 60s. Lazy people don't want to work because all they have to do is stay home and collect welfare. Of course we know what the code for "Lazy" was and still is. The Republicans have always been against Social Security and any safety net that a true democracy puts in place to defend and help its people. Of course however, they hide behind this inane argument that if the government just gives people money they won't want to work. What they really mean is the workers won't want to work at menial jobs at absurdly low wages to help maintain and expand the wealth of their owners. The pandemic has had an impact on this country in many ways. What we are seeing is something long overdue. It's a worker revolt. They're as mad as hell and they are not going to take it anymore. I could never understand how people of moderate means could agree with the argument made by wealthy folks, and stoked by the MSM, that unions were the problem. These same working class people often bitched and moaned about their longer hours and shrinking pay and yet could not see the connection between those facts and having an advocate for their rights as workers. Thankfully and hopefully the American worker is starting to wakeup. I'm not saying that business owners that accept a lot of risk are not entitled to make a lot of money. But when CEOs makes 321 times (2020 stats) more than the average worker, something is not right.
also, worker efficiency has surged as have profits, but not worker pay until the last couple years
And even then the actual dollar increase is not as much as it seems on paper.
How easily people forget about life before unions: 12+ hour days, 6 day weeks, no sick days, no vacations, no minimum wage, no workplace safety rules. "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it."
we're also seeing an uptick in union strikes as workers say enough....and feel they have new leverage now
"Of course however, they hide behind this inane argument that if the government just gives people money they won't want to work."
And at the same time they pass legislation to make it easier for the wealthy to not only keep their wealth, but pass it down to Future generations who are able to live off of it without having to do anything themselves. One of the many reasons I could no longer stand living in South Florida was because I grew tired of seeing trust fund babies living lavish lifestyles while behaving like spoiled, selfish, entitled assholes.
Yes, absolutely correct!
Actually I grew up in Appalachia so the lazy people were overwhelmingly white. Manchin’s latest statements about not wanting an entitlement society reminded me of that. He knows his poor white constituents would benefit greatly from the proposals he is trying to cut. It’s mind boggling.
Of course in recent years Republicans have managed to convince low income white people that it’s those brown people who are getting things they don’t deserve. The fact that the media — both news and entertainment — has ignored poor white people even though they vastly outnumber poor minorities just reinforces that belief.
And hypocrites like J.D. Vance don't help the narrative either. I read the book back in the day before his true colors were revealed. But watch --- the idiot class in his district will vote for him.
Totally agree!!! A young (20-something) friend of mine worked this past summer at his nearby Amazon fulfillment center. He expressed absolute shock at seeing so many "old people" (boomers like me) working in the center, when -- in his sheltered belief -- they should be enjoying a cushy retirement. I certainly hope this was a wake-up call for him! I suggested that he watch Nomadland, the new Netflix series MAID and read Barbara Ehrenreich's still painfully relevant masterpiece Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. I hope he does -- his future depends on it.
Exactly. Well said.
I offered up the following comment at The NY Times on a Farhad Manjoo column titled "Even with a dream job, you can be antiwork. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/opinion/work-resignations-covid.html
"There is a cultural bias that has been instilled as part of the American Dream myth - the idea that if you work hard, you will be rewarded.
The reward is always framed in terms of becoming rich. We measure status by how much money someone has.
When we talk about education, the emphasis is always about preparing people for the workplace. The goal is all about getting an education that will ensure a path to prosperity. If someone is stuck in a job that doesn’t pay well, they are told to go out and get training for a better job - meaning one that pays more.
It even extends to religion. The prosperity gospel proclaims if you are truly a righteous person of faith, you will be rewarded in this world with material wealth. If not, there is something wrong with you.
This is great for people with wealth who need a steady supply of worker drones who will not question a system that treats them as disposable. It’s a system that excuses massive inequality on the grounds that the rich are harder workers, are smarter, are being rewarded for their virtues - and not because they have been able leverage their wealth to become even wealthier, accumulate it, and pass it on to their children as a birthright, not something they earned.
Nowhere in this is regard for becoming a better person, a good parent, a good neighbor, a good citizen, a well-rounded person with broad interests. None of this is about fully realizing human potential - just cranking the money machine around in a rat race."
This scene from Star Trek: First Contact offers a competing vision. https://youtu.be/8rh3xPatEto
i think more and more people during the pandemic realized their work did not "reward" them
Yep. I have a Bachelor’s degree, a background in journalism, and just completed a three-year Paralegal Studies program and am preparing for the certification exam. This is only one level below a law school education in terms of qualifications, and yet I found out when I got lunch last week that Taco Bell pays their employees only $1.50 less per hour than I made at my last paralegal job, and it included benefits. I did not get benefits. The sign displayed in front of the restaurant was for regular line workers, not management, making ALMOST a livable wage, and what is considered in my hometown a professional wage, instead of the usual three-jobs-for-poverty wage. It is still despicable all around, but the unheard of increase in pay is a direct result of this worker revolt. I seriously considered applying. (Lol!)
Thank you. I have been saying this for years. I am old enough to remember when many people considered education a value in itself and didn’t disdain the liberal arts but now far too many Americans seem to see schools as basically vo-ed training. People need to be reminded that our Founding Fathers were broadly educated men with a strong interest in philosophy. That broad base of knowledge is the reason they were able to create a government based on enlightenment ideals but without ignoring human nature.
I meant to add that a few years ago I watched an American show that visited Australia. In one segment young Aussie adults were asked how they differed from Americans. The all agreed that we are very similar except for the fact that Americans live to work but Australians work to live.
When I was growing up back in the Dark Ages most of the parents were like the Australians. Dads and those moms who worked were home for dinner most nights and had plenty of time for their families.
It has been my experience that if you work hard, it isn’t reward you get, what you get is taken advantage of, with more work piled on you until you’re overwhelmed and miserable, while the slackers in the office resent you and manipulate and undermine you to put you in your place for having the nerve to do your job well and get noticed in any way.
I really hate working and living in a red state, where you’re treated like you should be grateful they allow you to work for them, instead of doling off the government. The people truly suck here and employers are the worst you can get in this “debate.”
The industrial revolution prompted an economic debate about how much labor should be paid. One of, if not *the* most prevalent theories was that wages should be basically subsistence level so workers literally couldn't afford to quit. An alternative justification for low wages was the theory that higher pay would remove the incentive for hard work. One setback for low wages was the fact that workers who were barely surviving on their own could not afford to have a family and produce the next generation of cheap labor. The debate over how much is too much (or not enough) has never ended, and today's rabid capitalists still believe that people are inherently lazy and won't work unless they are kept desperate. Always comforting to know 18th century economics are guiding conservative economics.
as employers are forced to boost wages to $15 and beyond it's astonishing to think how long it languished around $10....like for a decade
In NEPA, companies are offering $15-$18, especially for warehouse workers, while the minimum wage remains a paltry $7.25 despite Gov Wolf's and the Dems' efforts to change it. Infuriatingly, the GOP say, look, we don't need an increase because business is already offering workers more. GOP audacity is enraging.
I know this to be true. I live in a red state, in a family filled with Trump Republicans and old-school conservative one percenters. You should hear the batshit crazy arguments my 1% sister uses to defend poverty wages and no safety nets.
My one wish is that when election time rolls around all the workers remember every word spoken by repugs and newspapers and TV reporters. That every student of age to vote 🗳 sends a clear message to the repugs you are running out of time and we the people are going to send you home for not doing your job for the people. The newspapers and TV personalities who tell lies everyday they open their mouths your day is coming. Because we the people no longer believe anything said by you and that's sad you've gone from respected journalists to entertainment news reporters who lie.
The Times has long been anti labor. They love to bash the teachers’ unions and blame them for the ills in education.
I support Unions but all were tarnished by the widespread corruption among leadership in a few sectors during the 60s and 70s, which made the public receptive to the GOP’s union bashing message. Then Reagan came along and broke labor’s back during the air controllers’ strike. It’s been downhill ever since. Such a proud and bloody history—people died fighting for workers’ rights—yet too many allowed them to slip away, voting for the GOP, helped by more anti labor stories written by journalists and shaped by editors who (many but certainly not all!) are well paid and receive nice perks and good benefits.
And here we are.
No unions - in general - are more myopic than the police unions that work against their membership's best interest when they loudly defend bad cops and vote for the party that would break all unions - including their union - in a heartbeat.
OMG they are the WORST. Not only working against their membership, but against the public they are sworn to protect. Like in Wisconsin, GOP govt rolling back the rights of all unions except police and fire.
Toxic masculinity dressed up as saviors of law and order.
Totally agree about the POA-type unions, and also about the corruption in other unions. The AFL-CIO still has a pretty hefty payroll https://www.unionfacts.com/employees/AFL-CIO
Have none of these people experienced hard times in their lives? Lord forbid workers’ wages should be more than adequate to meet employee/family needs while dinging the profits of big business. Rabid capitalists indeed, Charley. There is something terribly wrong when it’s the middle class and poor who are willing to help his/her neighbor while the entitled and privileged among us, politicians too, turn their backs on doing good vs making money. All evidence tells us that the msm touts Republican talking points to blame the victim. I for one am thrilled workers are saying no to crappy jobs and wages and that unions might be making a return to power. If the press won’t tell the truth about this story of profits and greed while giving cover to their bosses, union leaders and members will. Pray that the tide is turning in favor of workers, who finally have some leverage with which to challenge the powers that be.
They don’t care about people who experience hard times because they think it’s their own fault they are struggling.
The converse is frauds like Joel Osteen and Jerry Falwell who live in mansions and wear Rolex watches to show the rubes that God rewards the pure of heart.
Yep, the attitude of British Victorians who happily let the Irish starve to death during the famine. "It's their own fault and charity will only make them indolent and dependent." That this kind of attitude is still acceptable among so many in our society today is shocking.
Yep. If only they’d just get a second job, or third or fourth, then they wouldn’t be struggling! [sarcasm]
Or they DID experience hard times and are embarrassed by that/themselves for ‘being on the dole.’ In therapy speak, self hatred projected outward, too painful to ‘own’ that pain/those circumstances, too shameful.
The press is married to big business and furthers their narratives. As far as the latter are concerned, working people should simple take what they are given and shut up. I know of people who've worked decades in broadcasting who have never gotten anything more than a meager raise no matter the amount of work they do. They are told, "Where are you going to go if you quit," and "I can get anyone off the street to do what you do." They can get someone off the street to do what someone working for 20 years does? Hardly.
more and more employers are now finding out what it's like to watch their workers just up and leave. it's a facinating shift
Much of Europe changed its tune after its run of labor strife. Turn out a happy workforce is a productive one. Glad you cited Krugman. He's been making that point for years. Where's the DNC on this? Too busy findraising?
You can’t win elections if you don’t have money and the point of the DNC is elections. BBB is all about helping workers and the nation and 99 percent of Congressional dems support all of it.
There is a bible of what Dems have done for labor. Yes, they made some grievous mistakes because of the political atmosphere in the 80s and especially the 90s. And when the GOP was touting this stupid line, Dems did push back but media scoffed as they always do.
So tired of the Dem bashing.
Ditto!
I’ve mentioned it before, but to me the big tell about the medias corporate bias is that there is NOT a Workers section of the papers and there is no workers equivalent of business news channels.
It’s baked into the DNA of our media.
I actually pitched an idea like this a couple of weeks ago to a business magazine, to write a weekly column from the perspective of the worker, not to bash business/employers, just to inform and create a bridge for common ground, empathy and understanding. I did not get a response and have no idea if they did anything with it, just not with me, or if they laughed and said “no way!” But I still think it has a valuable and necessary part to play in this.
“Between mid-June and mid-September, the number of people who said they couldn’t work because they were sick with Covid or were caring for someone who had the virus rose by 2.5 million,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
And let's not forget that 700,000+ Americans have died from the virus. Many of them worked too. Have all of those vacancies been filled? I doubt it.
I have read that it’s mostly women who haven’t returned to work mostly because of lack of child care. The media has undercovered that fact leaving the impression that it’s the benefits that caused the worker shortage.
The GOP loves this—they get to keep women home and use their absence from the workforce as a cudgel to bash Dems.
That too!
There is an odd flip side to the labor shortage story, albeit anecdotal. I have seen more than 1 person post that they have applied for 50 jobs and not gotten a response from any of them. These are not competitive, high paying jobs - just retail and service jobs. Has anyone else heard these tales? Hard to fill jobs if you don't respond to the applicants, eh?
Just as the press doesn't interview workers, they aren't interviewing job seekers. I found 2 articles that address this phenomenon but only for skilled workers. I'm pretty sure this is happening in non-skilled jobs, as well.
https://www.vox.com/recode/22673353/unemployment-job-search-linkedin-indeed-algorithm
https://www.businessinsider.com/job-seekers-frustrated-sending-hundreds-applications-resumes-no-response-shortage-2021-9
unskilled workers too:
"A FL Worker Applied to 60 Jobs to Show Employers Are Driving US “Labor Shortage”"
https://truthout.org/articles/a-fl-worker-applied-to-60-jobs-to-show-employers-are-driving-us-labor-shortage/
Just last night I came across a reply to a comment regarding this same difficulty. What they posited was that too many companies are still relying on old, automated ways to sift through the thousands of resumes they may receive. They'll kick out absurd numbers of resumes solely based on key words they've deemed counter to what they're looking for, negating the human aspect (or possible uniqueness) of a person's work record or aspirations.
I also wonder how many of the HR people are sifting through and discarding resumes with ethnic names attached. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-29/job-applicants-with-black-names-still-less-likely-to-get-the-interview
yep - I worked in HRIT before I retired so I am very familiar with Applicant Tracking Systems. They can do very bad things.
"... cut off benefits, which costs the states nothing..." what happened to the money for those benefits? were the states allowed to keep it? please say No.
I claim “lazy worker” journalists. Why interview workers, especially why interview out-of-work workers, when business owners are so much easier to find? Where do you even find out-of-work workers? And wouldn't it piss of business owners to interview their workers when they are supposed to be working?
On Saturday, visiting a (progressive) friend who lives in ultra-conservative Woodland, California, we went to a Starbucks for coffee. We were served, but told we wouldn't be able to stay because they were closing early (3:30ish) because they were short-handed and it appeared nobody was coming to work the evening shift. Even in bucolic, right-wing Woodland, Starbucks wages are poverty.
Here is a variation on the theme...a rather painful truth, I daresay: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/lectures-from-limousine-liberals