So a few things and this isn’t just labor type jobs being impacted. Also office jobs are seeing the same things. The real issue isn’t a lib vs con thing. #1 neither side is 100% right all the time. Always keep that in mind. The left is right sometimes too. That being said, the left is correct on this one (and I generally loath the left).
1. Folks are just fed up with the way things are/were. If I can pay my bills and have a little extra, why kill myself at a job more than I have to?
2. Folks realizing there is more to life than their careers and wanting more from life than the work until I drop. Could be all the social media showing people doing amazing things and traveling all the time, living interesting places, etc. there’s a big paradigm shift that’s taken place.
3. Can’t hire folks? Well, it’s likely that wage you think is good, really isn’t. You pay enough, people will apply like crazy. Supply/demand here.
4. Based on #3, conversely if you haven’t given a big raise or done something to retain your current employees, then you are about to be in for a shock when they leave. Don’t think they don’t know about the new guy making more than them because you had to up the starting salary to hire? Well, buckle up. You better be taking care of your star players or you won’t have them too much longer.
5. The unemployment benefits have been so high for so long, people are happy sitting at home getting $15/hr to do nothing. Why would I work for min wage? Also, why would I work for you paying me 12, 15, 20 or even 25/hr when I can sit at home. This one will sort itself out sooner than later.
6. Wages haven’t kept up or haven’t moved much in decades. Yet prices have gone up tremendously. Company profits have been at all time highs. They shatter their workers for far too long and made everyone do 2, 3, 4 x the work. Yeah people are sick of that, which brings you back to points 1 and 2.
Bottom line - folks are sick of things. I predict a massive world war, civil wars and revolutions to happen all over the world soon. These always preceded historical events like what we just went through.
yep. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. If employers pay higher wages who’s gonna take the hit. Owner or consumer? I think I know the answer. I think another thing to keep in mind is innovation. How long before a lot of the minimum wage jobs are automated? That eliminates millions of jobs across the country. It will leave those mostly without a valuable skill or trade jobless. I say get yourself trained up in a valuable skill now while you can.