The pandemic has forced us to change. Seems to me that there were aspects of our system that were long overdue for some revamping. Over the previous two years the weaknesses of our systems have been exposed. Some aspects of the system need tweaked and others need completely dismantled and rebuilt. We are still in the phase of evaluating which ones need remodeled and which ones need demolished and rebuilt. This phase will likely last a while and come with turmoil, but there is no way forward other than confrontation of these fledgling systems.
Currently companies are finding it hard to hire low wage workers. There are a number of reasons for this. If you lean to one political side it is solely because the government has been making people lazy – though most of those benefits have expired and we are still in the midst of a massive labor shortage. If you lean to the other side it is because people are being cautious and don’t want to get sick or spread the virus. Both of those play a roll, but it seems the real reason for the labor shortage is a shuffling of priorities.
So much of our culture had been on autopilot for years. The machine hummed along quite well. People were working longer hours and being more productive than ever. Wages had stayed pretty flat for the past two decades while the cost of living continued to rise. It worked really well for those in charge. There was no reason, or time, to question the system for the average worker.
The pandemic changed that. It gave most folks a respite from work, which afforded them an opportunity. They were forced to re-evaluate their lives and the things that make up their existence. A very effective way of keeping people in-line is to keep them busy. Our model of work did just that in America until the pandemic forced a widespread shutdown.
When all of your efforts are focused on paying the next round of bills then you don’t have time to think critically about your situation. The forced shutdown of our economy gave some people the longest break of their lives. They were able to scrutinize aspects of life in a way that they never had before.
The government unemployment insurance and workers’ concerns for their health and safety are indeed components of the labor shortage. But the major reason that we are experiencing a labor shortage is because so many people were afforded the opportunity to critically evaluate their lives. Many of those had an awakening – they saw life as more than just a series of wage-hours strung together to buy stuff.
The demographic that is most impacting the labor shortage is those around retirement-age. Many people of these people decided to step away from their jobs within the past two years. Whether that be for health concerns or a realignment of values matters very little. What happened was a lot of older Americans were given hard proof that life was short. They then decided they’d prefer to spend their remaining time on the things that actually mattered to them. This created a vacuum that we aren’t able to fill.
That is why we have seen so many shortages at the lowest wage jobs. Most people are leveling-up to fill the jobs left vacant by retiring people. Think of it this way, not many older folks had low-level jobs. So when they left their jobs many younger people had an opportunity to be promoted. If everyone is being bumped up a level then the bottom level is going to suffer the most because there won’t be as many people left to fill those positions.
Wages have been quite flat at those lower levels for a long time. The pandemic has created a set of circumstances that will force those wages to tick upward if the companies offering those positions want them filled. The market will correct itself, but this is one of the few times the market is on the side of labor.
When the pandemic was looming in early March of 2020 I recall a conversation I had with some family members. We were speculating on what this all could mean, and none of us had any real ideas. I remember suggesting that the pandemic will likely expose the weak spots of our society. It seems to have done just that.
So many of the systems that were buzzing along fine were actually doing so because they were holding people hostage. People felt their was something wrong or missing but didn’t have the time to figure out what that was. The pandemic forced people to shift perspective. It exposed antiquated systems and processes. It changed how we define work and the way we work. There are still lot of lingering questions raised by this shifting perspective. We will see where we land.
I am certainly not a history buff, but I have studied enough of it to know that our existence is full of surprises. When we as a species think we have things figured out is usually when something comes along to force massive change. We are in the midst of a great change right now.
The opportunity for almost everyone to break from their normal routines during the early days of the pandemic resulted in a bit of a widespread awakening. That awakening will echo through history. We are only beginning to put society back together. We are only beginning to see what that awakening will mean moving forward. We still have a very long way to go, but we won’t be reassembling things exactly as they were before. Let’s hope that we choose wisely on which aspects of our society get rebuilt and which ones become relics to history.
I appreciate your attention and hope you’ve found some value in this.
Thanks for reading.
Billy's Briefs 