Low unemployment is the logical consequence of a labor shortage.
That said, I don’t believe we’re in a labor shortage. We are experiencing the natural consequences of decades of stagnant wages and rising costs. Higher wages would pull more people into the market, but that would cut into profits so business leaders invent an imaginary “labor shortage” which requires government intervention.
There is also a problem that most of the jobs right now are unable to pay rent on their own, so some people are starting to work 2 jobs.
So whenever I hear record employment, I wonder what that statistic would be if it only counted people that worked a single job. How many people in our workforce only need one job to survive in this economy?
Unemployment rates are the rate of people looking for work, and higher rates usually indicate a lack of open jobs. Lower rates mean there are more jobs available. It does not necessarily mean there are more people in the labor force. That’s a separate metric. But even if more people are working, a labor shortage is still possible. Why? A shortage happens when there is more demand for something than there is supply, so it can happen at any level of supply, if there is enough demand. So even if there are more workers, if employers want to hire even more, there could be a shortage.
Low unemployment is the logical consequence of a labor shortage.
That said, I don’t believe we’re in a labor shortage. We are experiencing the natural consequences of decades of stagnant wages and rising costs. Higher wages would pull more people into the market, but that would cut into profits so business leaders invent an imaginary “labor shortage” which requires government intervention.
Also… we had this pandemic thing and a shitton of people died and it is so weird to me how everyone seems to just pretend that didn’t happen.
There is also a problem that most of the jobs right now are unable to pay rent on their own, so some people are starting to work 2 jobs.
So whenever I hear record employment, I wonder what that statistic would be if it only counted people that worked a single job. How many people in our workforce only need one job to survive in this economy?
And how many people that work two jobs are still living paycheck to paycheck?
I dont see what the logic is. Low unemployment means more labour
Uh, no. I don’t even know how you came to that conclusion. Low unemployment means a smaller pool of people to fill open positions.
Theres a pool of eligible workers, and low unemployment means more people in that pool are working. More total actual workers rather than potential.
Unemployment rates are the rate of people looking for work, and higher rates usually indicate a lack of open jobs. Lower rates mean there are more jobs available. It does not necessarily mean there are more people in the labor force. That’s a separate metric. But even if more people are working, a labor shortage is still possible. Why? A shortage happens when there is more demand for something than there is supply, so it can happen at any level of supply, if there is enough demand. So even if there are more workers, if employers want to hire even more, there could be a shortage.