https://www.ktvu.com/news/millions-of-capable-workers-are-choosing-not-to-participate-in-the-labor-force
I like how all the media hacks writing puff pieces on this issue have apparently collectively agreed not to mention that there's a fucking plague still on that has killed almost three quarters of a million people.
Biden solved covid, sweatie. Get your fauci ouchie and go back to work!
One true expert who's been tracking California for four decades, also finds himself scratching his head
how tf are they an expert if they can't come up with literally anything after 40 years of study. That's an anti-expert, I can not imagine doing something for 40 years and having literally learned nothing about it
that's how 90% of people are under capitalism are though. They don't care about what they're doing, they were okay at it in high school or college and are just waiting for a pay-check.
Which is fine, possibly good even, but that doesn't make you an expert
I don't think it's fine or good at all. There's the obvious problem that expertise is dying. Past that, everyone should at least care somewhat about what it is they do for a career. Obviously not everyone can like every job, but the majority of people should find some fulfillment and pride in their work. sewage workers should be respected and be proud their work makes it possible for people to live in cities and be healthy, people that work at restaurants or in retails should be able to feel like facilitators to the public so people can get what they want or need. Janitors or other cleaners should be able to be happy they make our complex living and working spaces possible. And of course they should be able to learn many interesting things through their work, developing into respected experts at their crafts. But instead it's just a grind so they can afford rent and food, and these vital workers get looked down on.
I agree with you completely, but the grind is out there and if you work hard, you're just gonna make your boss richer.
This is an ideal for a world after capitalism. But right now it's capitalism, so fuck it. You're not gonna overcome it by being really into your job. I mean some exceptions might apply for the public sector or w/e but even then why work above and beyond if it's not gonna get you anything
expertise is dying
Assumes there was expertise in the first time and a "better old age in which rational things reigned".
Due to being expected to only order the bare minimum, storekeepers no longer actually plan ahead for busier times and just make the same or slightly different orders all the time. People who try to order more are not selected to be promoted and will be reprimanded. Every place is a gig rather than a career, so people don't get to learn the optimum way to do their job. Lots of machines can only be fixed by the company that makes them, so it's harder to develop expertise on different machines and most end up just following the manual they were given. big box book stores killed of a lot of heavily read bookstore keepers and staff. I'm not saying it was all perfectly rational and amazing, but knowledge of the job has been intentionally killed as part of the growing disdain for any work that's not for the wealthy, mostly so it can be said that this work is low education.
Working as a substitute custodian for a school district I was able to find pride in the work I did even if it wasn't particularly pleasant because I was helping facilitate learning. It also was a very low stress job compared to nursing so I could just turn on a podcast or some music, chill while I cleaned up after everyone left and not worry too much.
There’s the obvious problem that expertise is dying
Meh. Mainstream Local Journalism is dying. If you want to get answers to these questions, they're available. You need to start parsing Bureau of Labor and Statistics data or observing the patterns of population movement and other ambient business activities or actually rolling up your sleeves and actively sampling the unemployed.
There are organizations and firms that still do this work. There are professionals that do this research. But they aren't in touch with writers, because giving people useful information isn't the business model for modern media. Certainly not some local FOX News affiliate.
Worker can’t find work: “learn to code, lol.”
Employer can’t find worker: “How could this happen to me: God’s favorite child? Surely these are the end times.”
IIRC Tim Hortons is now owned by some evil hedge fund. I mean like, especially evil even by hedge funds standards.
We really need an emoji for "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas"
Interesting to see how the capitalist narrative changes. Not long ago it was "once the stimulus payments end you proles are gonna have to get back to work for shit wages". Now that the stimulus has ended and the "labor shortage" has only gotten more acute, the capitalist media sure has shut up quick, haven't they. The narrative now is "gosh this economy is so weird right now no one understands it". They'll probably keep at this line until we hit another big downtown and then it will be "you poors should be grateful to work for peanuts, don't you know how bad the economy is right now?!"
Labor shortage is the same thing as a blue life. A farce. A choice. Intellectual corner cutting.
the capitalist media sure has shut up quick, haven’t they
Sadly, they have not. They are, if anything, only getting louder and more obnoxious.
They’ll probably keep at this line until we hit another big downtown and then it will be “you poors should be grateful to work for peanuts, don’t you know how bad the economy is right now?!”
I mean, what happens in the next big downturn? I think that's something of an open question. Like, smugly telling people "Get back to work" when there's no work to get back to is a great way to grift your patrons but also a great way to kick off a riot.
I get the sense that we're going to need a new National Enemy and quick if we're going to be able to channel all the rage from the next Enron collapse or Lehman bankruptcy.
And they say America doesn't manufacture anything anymore. Just look at all this consent!
After retaking both chambers of congress in 2022 the Republicans will pass a law banning people from living in a house, even with their family, if they do not have a job.
Sick of being fed into the plague mines while being told they're lucky they're not out on the street, most likely
When you literally cannot afford a 2 bedroom apartment in any state on minimum wage, that’s gonna happen. Fucking pay me money to do your shit work.
I don't really understand the labor shortage either, to be honest. It's fantastic that people aren't putting up with bullshit jobs for shitty pay, but what are they actually doing instead? Our society still defaults to people dying of exposure if they can't afford rent.
Well a large number of them are dead. Others I imagine are moving back in with friends and family, reducing costs by increasing numbers per household. A ton of these positions are high intensity and strenuous so I imagine it's a lot of younger people who probably arent living in established households already.
Yup tons of people moved in with family during the pandemic and now don’t have to accept such shitty working conditions. YET SOMEHOW RENT AND HOME PRICES ARE STILL SKYROCKETING, making getting jobs that won’t allow you to cover rent and bills even less attractive.
Keep going strong! The capitalists are fighting it tooth and nail but people collectively saying no to working for shitty wages feels like it has the potential for the biggest change the US has seen in a long time
