This is the real scoop on why we have a labor shortage.
I’ve read lots of articles written by people who don’t labor on why nobody wants to labor. Seen posts complaining about how nobody wants to work, all written by people who don’t labor. They work, yes. But they don’t labor, and they don’t create wealth. Some work very hard. Some enable wealth creation, while others perform very necessary services. Still others move wealth around, keeping a portion and getting paid very well. And the rest of us noticed.
We have a caste system in America, and the used and abused caste woke up and discovered we are necessary.
During the lockdown, some of us still went to work everyday. We appreciated that the rest of you weren’t on the roads with us, because you were home. Not only were you home, but you were watching videos and playing guitar and talking walks and playing with your dogs during your workday. Your pay didn’t suffer. You got raises and promotions and wonderful self-actualization, and we saw your posts. Your groceries got delivered, you ordered prepared meals, and we made it happen. Us, the people who still commuted (although it was easier), and risked exposure to a deadly disease so you could stay home and be safe. And you didn’t appreciate us.
Some of us died. Some got sick. Some of you lost jobs, and the unemployment pay was higher than that of the jobs nobody wants to fill now. We were “essential,” but your pay was better. Laid off, some were worth more than us. And the injustice didn’t stop there. Following the lockdown, the government gave a boost to the ACA subsidies of people who collected unemployment. But the “essential” workers who kept everything running for everyone else? Nope.
Some, like the closed group I was working with, managed to not get sick, but we aren’t the bottom of the caste system. I’m a catering pastry chef. I don’t work with customers. We took all deliveries outdoors, even in the rain. Only repair people were allowed to be in the building with us, and we all masked up when they came. Our company tried to keep up safe. Nobody argued about the protocols, even delivery people who thought they were stupid, like the truck driver who tried to give me a pen to sign for a delivery from six feet away. That doesn’t work when one of the people is 4’ 11”. I laughed, he rolled his eyes, but neither of us took off our masks. Nobody spit on me, or waved phony mask exemption cards. Nobody shot me. Those were other people’s experiences, and they don’t want to work those jobs.
Then came the vaccine. Health care workers first, of course. Nursing home residents next. Then teachers, so they could open schools. After that should have been where the other essential workers had access. It’s not what happened, not by a longshot. Next came older people, all retirement age and able to stay home another week or two. As the age levels dropped slightly, they invited anyone of any age who claimed any type of illness at all. Following that group, the county I live in offered vaccines to food workers because the businesses couldn’t find a staff without it. That was about the businesses. Nobody cared about the workers.
We noticed.
And that’s why nobody will fill these jobs. Are these workers really essential? Then pay them. Pay like you mean it. Benefits too. Vacations, sick pay, everything white collar workers automatically expect on a job. These people are necessary, and they are real people with real bills, real families, real desires and hopes and dreams. Will it make the cost of living go up? Probably, but you know what? So does having other jobs that pay well.
Labor creates wealth. It is essential. Treat it like gold.
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