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We have a labor crisis -- or should we say a labor shortage -- in America.
And throwing more money at it won't solve the problem.
We need more people … to work.
From Our View, there has been a fundamental shift in the labor "force."
Fewer people filling -- or wanting to fill -- critical jobs that drive our economy.
Here are some recent statistics we gleaned from various labor studies:
From the Keystone Research Center: The shrinkage of the Pennsylvania labor force--some 2 percent compared to pre-pandemic, a modest, more than "great" resignation--contributed to a fall in the number of Pennsylvania jobless looking for work (i.e., unemployed people) below the number of job openings in August 2021.
Today, there are only six unemployed for every 10 Pennsylvania job openings.
5 The number of people quitting each month in Pennsylvania is now more than double the number laid off or fired by employers.
"Our report finds that workers collectively, as well as individually, do not want to build back the same--to accept jobs as they were before the pandemic," said report co-author Claire Kovach. Evidence of workers' desire to collectively improve their jobs pre-dates the pandemic: in 2018, roughly half of non-union workers surveyed said they would join a union if they could, up from a third in 1995 and 1977 surveys. The pandemic further elevated workers' desire to improve U.S. jobs--the share of Americans who approve of unions in September 2021 reached its highest level since the mid-1960s.
5 More from the Keystone Research Center: Despite faster inflation, Pennsylvania workers continued to enjoy wage increases across the first two years of the pandemic. From 2014 to 2021, inflation-adjusted, hourly pay rose 9 percent to 19 percent for workers near the bottom, the top, and in the middle of the wage distribution, the first period of broad-based wage increases since the long 1990s economic expansion.
5 Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is now 4.3 percent, well below February 2020's 5.0 percent.
"Our tight labor market explains both the low unemployment rate and still-rising wages; worker supply is down and employer demand is high. As of July 2022, the Pennsylvania labor force was 131,000 people below its pre-COVID peak," the KRC said.
What's it all mean?
We need more people working -- eligible, ready, willing and eager -- to fill jobs in health-care, manufacturing, education, dining & entertainment, trades, technology and more.
If that doesn't happen, we will -- and perhaps we already are -- see a shrinking of services and supply of goods.
The challenge is here and now this Labor Day Weekend 2022.