# labor shortages in your area?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 23, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955 "2019-04-23T21:27:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/1 "2019-04-23T21:27:43Z")
I live in South Louisiana.
I just went to the local Walmart for some car service. They close their shop early now because they can’t find anyone to work in the shop. So I went to Pepboys. Their shop was still open because both managers were working on the cars. They can’t find anyone either. McDonald has signs out again.
I have seen the labor situation here tight before (and slow as well of course), but never this tight.
How is the labor situation where you are?
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### Author:  [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/2 "2019-04-23T22:19:25Z")
I had a hard time finding anyone to shovel my sidewalks last winter. There are a lot of companies that advertise snow removal services on the net, but when I called, few would return my calls and, of those who did, they said they weren’t doing it this year because they couldn’t find workers. I finally found one guy who did the shoveling himself.
I also found that at the California north bay farmers’ markets, a lot of farmers were substantially reducing the variety of crops they brought in or dropping out of the markets altogether. They all say that they use only legal workers but those are getting so hard to find that they have to cut back on operations.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/3 "2019-04-23T22:33:45Z")
Based on my kid having to fight for hours at his large retail store job (he’s well regarded by his managers so it’s not that) it doesn’t feel like that labor market is too tight around here.
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### Author:  [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/4 "2019-04-24T00:26:45Z")
The only labor shortage I’ve noticed in my area is the constant need for qualified medical personnel. Everything from certified nursing aides to registered nurses to licensed social workers and therapists.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/5 "2019-04-24T00:55:47Z")
Tennessee–shortages of medicals, & skill labor/construction workers. Building trades in general.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/6 "2019-04-24T19:11:46Z")
A friend of mine runs a small hotel. He told me last weekend that he has rooms that can’t rent because he can’t get enough people to clean them. He said he was up to $20/hour for maids and still having trouble finding enough.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/7 "2019-04-24T19:33:14Z")
Yes and no; I live in a touristy area, so for half the year there’s a job shortage, the other half there’s a staff shortage. It’s currently just starting to swing towards staff shortage, which is fine for me, as I’ll be looking for another job in about a month when my course ends for the summer.
Having said that, I’m working as a part time cleaner, but they often have real trouble getting enough staff, there being only Fridays and Saturdays on offer- it’s year round jobs that are more than a few hours a week that are in truly short supply.
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### Author:  [@neutro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutro)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/8 "2019-04-24T20:26:42Z")
Super hard to hire people here. Everyone is hiring for almost every kind of job at the moment.
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### Author:  [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/9 "2019-04-24T21:07:45Z")
I was just noticing this. The local shopping center built around Krogers has “now hiring” signs in nearly every business, including Krogers.
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### Author:  [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/10 "2019-04-24T21:12:34Z")
I think every local business has a help wanted sign in the window right now. If you want a job every single service company is hiring. Heck, I even think my optometrist had a sign up last night looking for people.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/11 "2019-04-24T21:41:11Z")
The industry from which I never see people in job networking clubs here (Mpls) is technology, especially programmers. Rarely do I see salespeople looking for work. There is always a demand for them. Right now, there’s a huge need in retail, and service industries. Tech colleges appear to be full of people learning skilled trades, for which there is still demand.
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/12 "2019-04-25T00:48:14Z")
Can somebody link this thread to the one in the Pit about how the US job market is a joke?
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### Author:  [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/13 "2019-04-25T01:01:44Z")
There are many signs posted around here from businesses hiring. Many are for CDL drivers. The school I work at has 3-4 unfilled positions, but I haven’t been there long enough to know if there’s no one to hire, or if the district refuses to fill them.
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### Author:  [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/14 "2019-04-25T01:16:10Z")
yes, school bus drivers. My school district, for my son that is, had to adjust the daily start finish times school schedule for the year because they were or are so short of bus drivers.
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### Author:  [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/15 "2019-04-25T01:18:29Z")
thanks for all the replies.
skilled workers seem to be in demand in most places. Some places are short on all types of workers.
Yet another sign that the economy is reaching full steam. Since nothing lasts forever, the only way to go is down. The million dollar question of course is when. Six months? A year? Two?
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/16 "2019-04-25T17:31:33Z")
There has been a sign out near a State of Maryland Highway Maintainence Office looking for highway cleanup workers - $14.96 / hour
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/17 "2019-04-25T18:00:58Z")
From my perspective, jobs that don’t offer health insurance are going to be hard to fill. Or if they offer health insurance but you have to pay a portion plus a high deductible. If you make too much to get a ACA subsidy, or getting a job ends up lowering your subsidy, that lowers your pay rate in a way.
If you have to get childcare because of your job, that also lowers your pay. It’s hard to find a job that matches up with your kids’ school schedule, or doesn’t require weekends and holidays. And what about the summer?
To move up to a skilled position, you need to first get the skills, which costs time and/or money. I helped a friend look for jobs a while back and everything needed a CDL, tow motor certificate, machining certificate, welding, etc etc. He had a job already and there was no way he could have done the training and gotten the certifications without taking time off from his existing job (or afford the training, really).
It’s a jungle out there, I tell ya. You have to weigh a lot of factors to be able to step into a job.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/18 "2019-04-25T18:06:48Z")
> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> Can somebody link this thread to the one in the Pit about how the US job market is a joke?
I think that thread is largely about the difficulties of job search and job matching for high-skilled professionals.
Like, if you’re a salaried professional with specific skills making $60k+ with good benefits and you lose your job, it can be hard to find another job like that. The fact that all the Krogers are hiring or that you can pick up trash at the side of the road for $15 an hour means you won’t starve, but it’s not a great career move.
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-shortages-in-your-area/832955/19 "2019-04-25T18:16:58Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> A friend of mine runs a small hotel. He told me last weekend that he has rooms that can’t rent because he can’t get enough people to clean them. He said he was up to $20/hour for maids and still having trouble finding enough.
Same on the north Oregon coast. The problem being the cost of housing for the people you need to work. The industries that service the tourism cannot find people to employ because those workers cannot afford to live in the area.
The north Oregon coast is still heavily forested around the tourist towns like Cannon Beach, Seaside and Astoria. If you can’t find someplace local to live then you will need to drive for hours to get from where you live to where you work, and back, each day. Are you going to do that for $15 an hour? Or how about renting a local 1 or 2 bedroom apartment for $1200 to $1400 per month on that wage? If you can find one that is available.
On a personal note, my tight fisted government contractor just gave out $1 to $2 per hour pay adjustments to retain people. They not only can’t fill the empty positions that they have (and are required by contract to have these staff), they are losing employees for various reasons.
The job marketplace is undergoing a needed adjustment due to wages being held too low for too long. And the cost of housing all up and down the west coast is an aggravating factor.