Is there a labor shortage?

Why are so many part-time workers struggling to find full-time work during a labor shortage?

David Leonhardt spoke with NYTimes reporter Noam Scheiber about worker shortages. He discovered many corporations do not want to move part time workers to full time positions to fill the gap of the labor shortage. The biggest reason they may not be getting hired fulltime, it's cheaper to have a labor force that does not qualify for benefits. 

There are people willing to do the work. Does this mean corporations are creating the labor shortage to keep from paying people a fair wage for their labors?

The bottom line

The increasing inequality of the U.S. economy over the past half-century is unlikely to end because of a temporarily tight labor market. “Labor shortages may be a necessary condition for changing the nature of these jobs,” Noam says, “but they’re generally not a sufficient condition.”

Effects of income inequality, researchers have found, include higher rates of health and social problems, and lower rates of social goods, a lower population-wide satisfaction and happiness and even a lower level of economic growth when human capital is neglected for high-end consumption. (International Monetary Fund)

The National Equity Access reports, The percentage of working poor has increased overall since 1980 from 8 percent of workers to 10 percent of workers although Mixed populations and Black populations experienced slight decreases. Since 1980 the share of Latinx people who are working poor increased from 17 to 21 percent.

Meanwhile the middle class share of income is diminishing. Middle-class workers are earning a national income share that is 8.5 percentage points lower, which translates to a 16.0 percent reduction. And the middle class is shrinking. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to further accelerate these trends. May 14, 2021     https://www.rand.org › blog › 2021/05 ›

Once upon a time, this was a problem for reserved minorities, but now the plight of a working class cuts across all sectors. The anger of the white middle class is a product of an unwillingness of those in power to share the wealth. The deck is stacked. PARTISAN politics on the right is blinding people to the real reasons for their plight.

Rani Molla and Emily Steward wrote an article for Vox, Why Everybody's hiring but Nobody is Getting Hired. In it they explain it's a difficult undesirable job market. "A lot of what people are seeing are low-paying jobs with unpredictable or not-worker-friendly scheduling practices, that don’t come with benefits, don’t come with long-term stability,” Shelly Steward, director of the Future of Work Initiative at the Aspen Institute, told Recode. “And those are not the types of jobs that any worker is eager to take on.”

The jobs available do not offer a future. That problem did not begin with the pandemic, but it got worse because of it. "A survey of workers actively searching for a job on FlexJobs, a jobs website that focuses on remote and flexible work, found that about half of job seekers said they were not finding the right jobs to apply for. Some 46 percent of respondents said they were only finding jobs that are low-paying, while 41 percent said there weren’t enough openings in their preferred profession."  And many workers do not have the skill necessary for the newer highly skilled positions. 

Too many Americans feel left behind. The dream of a better future has faded away.

Cable News Coverage Can Distort (Update)

Are we missing the point in Baltimore? 

That would seem to be the case based on early coverage on cable news. So much of the coverage was based on speculation...looking for somebody to blame. The use of video wallpaper (The Burning CVS) shown for days distorts what is really going on. Politico's Jack Shafer points out that running the continuous loop of a burning store or burning car distorts coverage. The riot is real news, and it's good for ratings, but there is so much more depth to this story.

Poverty in Baltimore affects one in four, according to Census figures. 

More than 37 percent of Baltimore's children were living in poverty in 2011, up from 28 percent in 2007, according to Census Bureau estimates. The city's childhood poverty rate is unchanged from 2010.Sep 20, 2012

Unemployment in the poorer sections of Baltimore is around 19%.  Forbes published an article by Dan Diamond about why Baltimore burned, and it's really about the two Baltimores. There's a stunning graphic in the article that shows the difference between the two.

The issues surrounding poverty in Baltimore go back a long way. An article published by the Washington Post and Post tv found the roots of Baltimore's ills dating back to the 1950's when high paying jobs started leaving the city.

The riots are en expression of frustration. Martin Luther King, Jr. called riots the language of the unheard. King was not condoning riots, but he understood why they happen.

It Could Happen Anywhere

The poor conditions found in Baltimore exists in many urban centers in the United States. That means the potential for riots are embedded in communities across the country. For example, The median household income in Hartford is around $29,000. The median household income in Connecticut is around $69,000. It's a huge disparity in the richest state in the country. These statistics are based on figures published by the US Census Bureau in 2013. You can look for figures for your community at their website. I found Hartford's statistics on their Quickfacts page.

Some Go Deeper

Forbes, the Washington Post, NPR and others are taking a deeper look at the causes to the riots in Baltimore. It is easy to see it is about more than just race. It's about grinding poverty and the feelings of powerlessness that go along with poverty.

The Power of the Podium

Local public radio stations can take on the opportunity this presents to be involved in a meaningful way with their community. We have a bully pulpit and we can make a difference while serving the our listeners and the needs of the communities we cover. This issue calls for sustained coverage long after the cable networks have moved on to the next plane crash or back to Hilary Clinton's email or Benghazi.

News Coverage - Going Deeper

Looking For Depth

There are stories that lend themselves to in depth coverage. In depth coverage is something public radio listeners expect. They want to look beyond the headlines. These stories also lend themselves to continuing coverage.

After the crash of 2008, listeners looked to public radio and television to give a broader perspective to the great recession. Because of the slow recovery and other issues, this story is still with us.

Disappointing Numbers

Lower than expected job numbers came out last Friday. The number of new jobs was about half of what was expected. NPR reports that 126,000 new jobs were created. Experts were thinking the economy would add 245,000 new jobs in March.

March Employment Report Shows Growth — But Disappointing Numbers

For U.S. Workers, The March Of Progress Slows Down

Contributing Factors

Some are saying the weather had a lot to do with the disappointing numbers. Because of the series of storms that rolled through in February and March...the construction industry took a hit. So did oil drilling.

Taking the Long View

There might be something deeper according to Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight. The economy has been expanding for six years. The thought is this might be a cooling in the economy after a period of sustained growth. Looking further at the longer trend, unemployment over the past year has improved from 6.6% to 5.5% in one year. March may have been a blip...or it may be the tip of the iceberg. Either way, the story lends itself to coverage that goes beyond the headlines. It can go beyond the two in depth stories linked to above.

Something Bigger

As I look through the story ideas below, it occurs to me I'm defining APM's Marketplace's Sustainability Desk. or Marketplace itself. I'm also thinking in terms of using station resources to create something that will have a lasting impact on the listeners we serve. There needs to be a place where overarching stories come to live. A program where these big issues can be discussed. A destination program where we can go deeper. You might be thinking, "No way. We don't have the resources." Think again, You don't have to go it alone. There are partnerships and alliances that can be created to find the resources.

Depth

There are other issues that are effected and effect the employment figures including:

• Unemployment in your region
• The real jobless rate.
• Have people given up?
• Underemployment/Temporary employment.
• The working poor.
• Discrimination. (Estimates of the cost of racism reach as high as two trillion dollars a year.) 
• Unemployment and race 
• Sexism.    
• Ageism.
• Faithism.
• Low wage jobs.
• Job training.
• SNAP benefits.
• Unemployment and social services.
• Unemployment benefits.

These are just some of the issues that could be explored, but I think you get the idea. Jobs matter to our listeners. The economy matters to our listeners. I think we owe it to them to cover this with more than the headlines or just one three-and-a-half minute feature.