A recruitment war is coming: Low unemployment, rising expectations and economic reality are causing a recruitment war to begin

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: FOX NEWS

URL: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/20/recruitment-war-is-coming.html

As Washington debates what actions to take to rev up economic growth, the free-market private sector, which waits for no one, is witnessing the beginning of a new trend.

For a decade, America has been a tale of two economies: a strong one for skilled workers and a worrisome, poor one for workers without skills.  The gap, however, is now diminishing, as low unemployment, rising expectations and economic reality are causing a recruitment war to begin, a war that’s good for workers, including those with no skills.   

I hear it from employers across the country – if they don’t raise wages, offer more opportunities for training and career advancement or improve their work environments, they can’t keep their workforce.

At long last, the marketplace is shifting from an employers’ market to a workers’ market.  The implications run deep.

Up until now, times have been tough and wages have been low for workers who don’t have a college degree or any specialized form of training.  The growing number of able-bodied, prime working-age people who have left the workforce is the underbelly of our economy.  Many men, especially blue collar workers who lost their jobs years ago, have abandoned their hopes of finding a new one.  It’s part of the reason why the labor force participation rate is so low.

But as the recruitment war takes off and wages rise, there is evidence already that these unskilled workers will respond and jump into the workforce in greater numbers. The labor force participation rate dropped steadily for the last fourteen years, bottoming out in September 2015 at 62.4%.  It’s risen now to 63.0%.   Society can’t give up on these people, and these would-be workers can’t give up on themselves.

Across the board, wage growth has been low until now, despite the drop in unemployment from 10 percent in 2009 to 4.5 percent today. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, real weekly earnings for the median full-time worker increased just over 1 percent from 2009 to 2016.

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[jmyrlefuller]

That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment.

If there is some sort of abundance of good-paying jobs, I have yet to see it where I'm at. Unless, of course, holidays and weekends are your thing, but if that's the case, you can forget having any sort of social life.

[geronl]

That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment.

If there is some sort of abundance of good-paying jobs, I have yet to see it where I'm at.

They don't want to hire us, they want foreigners I guess

[mirraflake]

That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment.

If there is some sort of abundance of good-paying jobs, I have yet to see it where I'm at. Unless, of course, holidays and weekends are your thing, but if that's the case, you can forget having any sort of social life.

If you can pass a drug test (i'm not saying you do drugs don't take it wrong) I can get you $20-25 per hour and you would start by the end of this week. 60-70 pr hour weeks with time and half. get a cdl and make $30 hr. to start.

You will pull in $100-125,000 first year no problem. Gas field jobs in my area-NO EXPERIENCE. They cannot find people because no one can past the drug test.

Move out out that little  town you are in and get real money and opportunities. There is a reason small towns are small- no opportunities


@jmyrlefuller

@geronl

[geronl]

A real worker shortage would cause pay and benefits to increase.

[Fishrrman]

J Myrle wrote:
"That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment."

You're up in western NY state, right?
Southern Tier, or above it?

The place is slowly dying -- the democrat/communists are strangling it (I'm sure you know that).

There isn't a lot to expect up that way (even though it's often beautiful country)...

[Smokin Joe]

That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment.

If there is some sort of abundance of good-paying jobs, I have yet to see it where I'm at. Unless, of course, holidays and weekends are your thing, but if that's the case, you can forget having any sort of social life.

If you can pass the physical, get a Class A CDL (Semi-truck commercial driver's License). Seriously. The problem with college degrees is you have to have the right one. If you can drive truck, there are jobs.

[Smokin Joe]

...despite the drop in unemployment from 10 percent in 2009 to 4.5 percent today...

Does anyone believe this piece of cooked book BS?

More like: '...despite the number of people who could find a job long enough to draw unemployment when they got laid off dropping from 10 percent in 2009 to ....'

[thackney]

That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment.

If there is some sort of abundance of good-paying jobs, I have yet to see it where I'm at. Unless, of course, holidays and weekends are your thing, but if that's the case, you can forget having any sort of social life.

I've moved multiple times to get/keep work.  Before I was 30, I went overseas both for the income and the job experience.  After marriage, stayed in the US, but we have sold the home and dragged the family 4,000 miles for work.  We survived and enjoyed the experience.

[rodamala]

That's funny. All I ever seem to find are salesman jobs, health care worker jobs and minimum wage employment.

If there is some sort of abundance of good-paying jobs, I have yet to see it where I'm at. Unless, of course, holidays and weekends are your thing, but if that's the case, you can forget having any sort of social life.

[Fishrrman]

You got that right.

I was reflecting on that just a day or two ago -- how after I hired out on the railroad in 1979, holidays, weekends and such pretty much lost all their importance and meaning, because the trains rain 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And I was the guy who ran them.

The only holidays I saw (in my later years) were when the holiday in question fell on one of my relief days. Otherwise, I'd be out there working it, for the "double-time and a half".

For several years, my days off were Wed/Thur, so I actually DID have Thanksgiving Day off.. :)

[Smokin Joe]

You got that right.

I was reflecting on that just a day or two ago -- how after I hired out on the railroad in 1979, holidays, weekends and such pretty much lost all their importance and meaning, because the trains rain 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And I was the guy who ran them.

The only holidays I saw (in my later years) were when the holiday in question fell on one of my relief days. Otherwise, I'd be out there working it, for the "double-time and a half".

For several years, my days off were Wed/Thur, so I actually DID have Thanksgiving Day off.. :)

When the oil patch is up and running, it is the same 24/7/365, add a day in leap years. When it stops, we're expected to remember all those holidays...