How are all the unfilled jobs affecting you?

[NeuroTypical]

Stuff I've noticed: 

- Shortened hours at pharmacies, grocery stores, fast food, everywhere.

- Wife struggled to get some surgery for a month because doctor's office staff apparently got fed up and quit for greener pastures one day, leaving nobody to make the appointments.

- In my company, we have teams dedicated to assuring that we can actually get the parts we need to build our stuff, to fill our bazillions of lucrative orders.  

- To fill the holes at my place of employment, I notice my workplace has upped the employee referral bonus to as much as $50k.  (p.s. Any smart high-tech engineering-types want a good job in a Fortune 500 company on the Fortune 100 Best Companies list, that does cool things like help quantum computers evolve and get cars more fully automated, and helps invent 6G?  (And is making money hand over fist with no end to the success in sight?)  PM me, we'll talk.  )

[Fether]

I haven’t noticed any changes

[Jane_Doe]

The impacts to me & my family have been relatively minor.  The most annoying are supply chain issues and the recreation center has very limited hours due to staffing shortages.

[askandanswer]

On 4/21/2022 at 2:48 AM, NeuroTypical said:

Shortened hours at pharmacies, grocery stores, fast food, everywhere.

I've been seeing this in Australia as well, including hair dressing salons and other service=oriented businesses. The problem is greatly exacerbated in out-back areas where employers have relied on backpacker labour. There was a news report about a month ago about a barrista in a popular outback tourist town being paid 3 to 4 times the hourly salary of a city based barrista. In the city, a good barrista could get $30 an hour on a standard work-day, this guy in the outback was on $90 an hour. I have no idea how much they were selling his coffee for or how many cups he could make in an hour.  

Edited April 24, 2022 by askandanswer

[NeuroTypical]

Yesterday we went out to eat, and the young kid at the register was absolutely not ready to work a register.  Or do basic math - he was unable to count the bills I handed him.  We took it slow and friendly, and he was grateful for the help, but unless his job crams a couple of years of grade school arithmetic into his skull quickly, I can't imagine he'll stay at the register.

My town is growing wildly, and part of that growth was a new fast food joint that was built and opened about a year ago.  Until recently, it was drive-through only - not enough staff to open the dining area.  And every now and then we'd see a sign taped over the drive through speakers - "we're at lunch, back at X".

 

[Still_Small_Voice]

From my understanding we are about to see more supply chain shortages on anything made in China.  They have locked down about forty-five cities in China from another disease outbreak.  As of April 19th they were still on tyrant lock downs with people not even allowed to leave their homes.

[JohnsonJones]

The United States has lost close to a Million people.  Over half a million out of the work force at a minimum from death alone (Covid).  There were another 4-5 million that decided it was time to retire when COVID hit and protocols were not in place that they felt would protect them.  Many of these were in the 50-65 age group.  They decided the penalties for early retirement were safer than being at the work place. 

Why did people think this would NOT affect the work force.  People are acting all surprised as if this came out of nowhere.  WE lost almost 1/10 of the workforce in the past two years.  This can affect a LOT of jobs.  We are at record low unemployment.  Losing that many workers causes a lot of gaps and I don't think industry has caught up to it yet.  It was  a predictable situation. 

We just didn't plan for it. 

[LDSGator]

No real changes here from my pre Covid life.