Employment is measured based on the number of people looking for work. Lots of people are not looking for work or not qualified for work because they are on opioids, sex offenders, criminals, crazy, or otherwise unemployable. That is what is creating a shortage of qualified workers.
In some parts of the country there is lots of cheap labor available. In other parts there is none.
Any full time adult job should pay a living wage, which is at least $15 an hour, and more in some places. A person working full time should not need or qualify for welfare programs. However, unskilled handyman labor should not cost $25 cash under the table, as it does in many places. They will only take cash because they are also collecting unemployment, workerâs compensation, disability, etc etc.
There are a lot of dislocations in the labor market, many of them created by government programs.
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My father served in the Merchant Marines during WW2. I am his daughter. He never spoke of his adventures, and times. Fast forward, 1965 I enlisted in the Marines. Then after I was discharged, I went to work with DLA. I guess what the motto or role was the same. I worked as a civil servant for 37 years. I would like to learn more about my dad.
Leslie C. Wood
Was your Dad on a Liberty or Victory ship? I might be able to help point you in the right direction.
Which government programs?
The Low minimum wage is a problem. It needs to be increased to a basic living wage, so that workers do not need additional government programs to make up the difference between minimum wage and a basic living wage.
A lot of people (my guess is 20% of the actual workforce) will only work for cash under the table so that they are not disqualified from the government programs they are on.
There are numerous government welfare programs that create a disincentive to work. Why bother to work when you can sit home and live on government programs?
The cost of administering all those government programs is enormous.
If minimum wage were higher, and government programs were a lot smaller and more restrictive, there wouldnât be so much of a labor shortage.
I agree that we should reduce/ eliminate government assistance programs. However, the âlabor shortageâ weâre experiencing is due mainly to the decade of low interest rates weâve seen. I think a better solution would be to expedite the immigration process and allow those from disadvantaged countries to filling these lower wage jobs.
Government programs are already small and restrictive and honestly most people WANT to work but the available jobs donât pay enough to be worth it. Raising the minimum wage would be a good start then reevaluate.
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It is called minimum wage for a reason. It is the floor. There is nothing to stop any employer from paying more. I donât think minimum wage was ever envisioned to pay a living wage for a family of four in an expensive metropolitan area. Iâve always thought of minimum wage jobs as springboards to better opportunities once some experience is gained. The minimum wage is also increasing in many states. It is currently $14 where I live and will be $15 this summer. This is the wage that brand new deckhands on dinner boats are making - probably more than some ABs.
One of the biggest government handouts is tax deductions of various sorts. The mortgage interest deduction is one of the biggest, but Iâm not complaining. I had a boat with a head and sleeping quarters which qualified it as a second âvacation homeâ and the mortgage interest deduction government assistance worked great ! I guess I deducted enough tax money between it and my primary home to put to shame the government assistance for food assistance and rent to at least 5 families working for minimum wage. Being a charitable sort I gave at least $50 a year at Christmas to the Salvation Army out of my tax savings which I might not have been inclined to do without the thousands I saved thanks to the interest deduction.
Thatâs exactly what it was designed for.
Tax deductions are not handouts. Thatâs just you getting to keep more of your money. We fought a war for independence over a tax on tea and assorted goods. Now the income you earn is taxed, then taxed when you buy food or goods, then you are taxed annually for owning a home. Oh, and if you want to invest your income you are taxed for making a profit! All so we can spend billions on warcraft that out number and out gun the rest of the world. And donât get me started on welfare programs or domestic issues.
Freedom really isnât free huh?
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I stand corrected. From Forbes:
- Myth: The minimum wage was never supposed to be a living wage
This is probably one of the most dangerousâand easy to debunkâmyths about the minimum wage, which was championed by Franklin D. Roosevelt beginning in 1933. During an address FDR gave about one of his many economic salvation packages, he explained that âno business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.â
At the time, Rooseveltâs Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938âpassed as part of New Deal legislationâset minimum wage at 25 cents. Roosevelt intended this rate to be âmore than a bare subsistence level.â The minimum wage was created expressly to ensure that people of all skill-levels, if they worked, could âearn a decent livingâ off those wagesâthus, a living wage.
Well, Franklin may have achieved secular sainthood over there on the left but he was after all a politician and as such one who was often capable of shading the truth just a little. He is, after all, the guy who said we have nothing to fear except fear itself which really wasnât quite true as the Axis armies flooded across Europe and Asia.
But even so itâs worth looking at what he meant by a âliving wageâ. That 25 cents an hour, if we upgrade it just by general inflation to today would be $4.20 an hour. This is indeed a living wage as it would be possible to live upon it. I donât say live well, or live not in poverty, but that $8,400 a year puts you into the top 20% of all global incomes. Yes, that is after we correct for the price differences between the US and other countries. So, given that 80% (actually, itâs 82.5%) of humanity earn less than this and very few of them are dying of poverty then this is indeed a living wage.
Well too bad if someone cant live off of it. Life is hard, do what it takes to make more or die trying.
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Thatâs the spirit. Everyone should be self sufficient and make their own way without help , each person should be their own country. You should move to Somalia where itâs everyone for themselves. On your way there just so you donât seem a hypocrite donât drive on any public roads or go to any public airport. Leave behind any education you received paid for by the public. Get on your private jet at your private airport on your private land and go enjoy 
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Theres nothing government does that private industry cant do better. âBut muh roadsâ is such a typical response. Imagine if there were multiple companies competing to build and maintain roads. No more road workers standing around!
âBut muh military.â There already are private armies fighting worldwide. And we as consumers would be able to directly control if battles/ wars/ etc. were worth the cost (human and financial).
Next time come up with better argument.
But private industry must make a profit and increase"shareholder value" while government must only break even, Eventually private industry evolves from free market to monopoly. Whoâs going to pay for the increased cost? You can vote out a government but not a monopolistic company. Try voting out your cable company or internet provider, how many choices do you really have? They are monopolies already in most communities. Donât ignore all economic studies and practical experience over 100âs of years in making such a statement. The private healthcare industry in the USA is a prime example, highest cost but lowest life expectancy among developed countries. The CEO of my Blue Cross plan at last report made 16 million dollars in salary. Director of Medicare Operations? Less than $200,000.
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Yeah, thanks to governmental interference.
In Australia minimum wage is about $20 per hour. Itâs more complicated than that, but thatâs the list of it. That seems to work fine for them.
Yeah Australia has some of the highest income taxes in the world. No matter what you are making. So sure, their min. wage would have to be $20/hr to be a living wage. I donât want to be Australia.