It used to be that the father could work one job and support a family. My dad got a job in the 60s making 72.00 a week, my mom didn’t work, yet we never went hungry, were never homeless or naked. Supported a wife and three kids… The point is not his wage, but when and more importantly WHY did it become necessary for both parents to work? If you understood this, you would understand why the government will NEVER EVER actually help families out. THEY are the ones who created the problem to begin with.
Compensating low-skilled jobs as career jobs just makes everything more expensive. The “career salary” for a dishwasher (for example) can never happen. Economic principles dictate that.
Before Covid (2019 “BC”), that was a common paradigm. $200 net for that second career. (And even more of that $200 was eaten by the cost of having the job! Commuting cost. Wardrobe. Etc.)
COVID forced people to reexamine what they were actually doing to their lives. The $200/month reality finally became evident.
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Well, I submit that even a $500 or $1000 net per month is not so attractive to a lot of people in the face of the rat race alternative. Each person (and each family) has their threshold point where the extra money is not worth the effort. On top of that, the factor of the randomness and suddenness of remote schooling for their kids changes things, and the second parent recognizes the need for parental availability in those circumstances.
COVID has prompted people to reevaluate what their values really are (or really should be.)
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Nods eagerly.
Not only do I accept that, I know that’s the way it should be (and always has been.)
The pandemic created a perfect storm of people rethinking the rat race.
Early retirees.
Multi income homes, switching to single income. People who had multiple jobs, switching to a single job with higher income.
Gen Z and younger millennials moving back in with their parents, affording them the chance to be choosy about their job, or going back to school.
700k in deaths, and those who had good life insurance payouts for their families
If businesses want to end the labor shortage, they need to pay and offer better benefits.
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If raising the price of burgers hurts sales, McDs has another option -
The chain’s total CEO compensation in 2019 ended up topping $18 million.
Kempczinski’s 2020 pay is 1,189 times higher than that of the median McDonald’s employee, who made $9,124 last year, based on company estimates. McDonald’s includes part-time and seasonal workers in its estimates for the pay ratio. Kempczinski told CNBC in November that the company is open to discussing the minimum wage.
Executive pay cuts and the lack of a performance-based bonus mean that McDonald’s pay ratio was actually much closer than that of years past. In 2019, the median worker made 1,939 times less than the total CEO compensation,
McDonalds has a gross profit of 9.7 Billion dollars last year.
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We were in the beginnings of a labor crunch before the pandemic.
2020 just made that crunch worse.
Everything is the year zero. It doesn’t make any sense. Gas prices were also going up…. It’s like offense is easier or something
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Price hikes are one response. If companies are worried that will cost sales, they could lower exectuive pay. The McD CEO makes 1,100 times the average worker. They profited 9.7 Billion last year.
Perhaps there needs to be compromise there to ensure their work force has better lives - which in turn makes america stronger, which in turn would drive their sales higher…
love that…very funny.
They could use those tax cuts that they got a few years ago to pay people better.
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Let’s just starve them out! They’ll come crawling back to the fry station eventually!
Bad bosses exist at all levels. So do good bosses. No one is forcing someone to stay at a job where they are treated badly, but your broad brushing low skill jobs and bosses doesn’t negate the fact that they ARE low skill jobs that were never meant to become family supporting careers.
Anyone know the current state of H-1B visas? That is a big deal for seasonal resort areas.
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What sort of communist are you?
True, the governments actions are unnecessarily hurting jobs in EVERY sector. Maybe the government should BUTT-OUT!
And that’s the market in action.
Already the de facto minwage averages $15/hr, even where no governmental requirement sets it there. And often $18 for basic laborers.
Changes don’t happen overnight. Things will re-settle eventually. (Note: Prices will have to rise in response to increased labor costs. That will settle out too.)
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Just have to comment on that lead sentence - “CEO made 10.8M despite missing performance targets…”
Now, of course he missed them because of a global pandemic, but jeez…10.8…poor guy flipping burgers drops too many on the floor and he gets fired. This guy misses his target and he gets 10.8 Million…
