The labor shortage is not the result of a Ponzi-schemed consequence to the trillions of dollars of government pandemic aid, it’s the result of millions of Americans taking a stand.
Since the upheaval of everyday life in late March 2020, life has considerably changed course for many. Millions lost their jobs; millions lost their homes, and millions lost their lives. And though I could spend a fortnight analyzing the economic and demographic variances, the underlying theme is that people are tired.
The average American works a rigid 40-hour work week tucked away in a rat’s cubicle. The pay they make is probably not great and the work morale is almost certainly far from adequate. But they have no choice. Putting food on the table and feverishly trying to surmount an endless mound of accrued debt requires a clock-in in the morning and a clock-out in the evening. Every. Day.
Losing their job, though not at first and not for all, was a blessing in disguise. For the first time possibly ever, the American people have the upper hand.
The federal aid dispersed throughout the previous years and suspension of mortgage and debt payments provided a comfortable cushion for millions (quote article). As the concerns for health never fully subsided, the eagerness to get back to work never resurrected. We started asking questions.
Why aren’t we making at least $15 per hour? Why don’t we get flexible schedules? Why do most of us have no health benefits? Paid time off? Paternal leave?
For a very long time, American employers have been taking advantage of the working class because they not only knew they could, they knew that they would get away with it. Many workers were trapped in an endless cycle of check-to-check and bill-to-bill living. Quitting a draining job was simply not an option.
When the pandemic forcefully gave people a chance to reflect on their careers, it became glaringly obvious that something needed to change. Somehow miraculously, it seems like everyone agrees.
Betsey Stevenson, a University of Michigan economist, was quoted in the New York Times saying, “it’s like the whole country is in some kind of union renegotiation.”
From what I’ve observed in our small crack in the wall town of Moscow, Idaho, the makeshift union renegotiation is working. Most fast-food places in the area have increased their pay to $15 per hour, multiple signs on multiple businesses advertise flexible schedules, opportunities to grow and a desperate need for workers.
Curiously, however, those signs have been up for months now. Entry level jobs offering those kinds of things would’ve been filled instantaneously years ago. To business’s owners surprise, their revalued offers weren’t enough to get the ball rolling.
Personally, I worked at Walmart this past summer. I made the advertised pay of fifteen bucks. If anything, I can happily say it was nothing more or less of a job. I held on to one thing they told us during orientation, “it’s easy to plan your life around Walmart.”
That always seemed so backwards to me. It was clear to me that the Walmart ideology viewed me as an employee first and a human second. No amount of increase in wage and benefits can substitute the fundamental need to be recognized as a human being.
That’s the major takeaway. From the pandemic, from the civil unrest, from the trials and tribulations of everyday life—we are human, yet we don’t feel treated as such.
Truthfully, I think we are taking steps in the right direction. But the change we desperately need is so incredibly complex and deeply rooted that I fear there is not much to be done with our current system. Employees want to feel heard, and employers don’t seem like they want to listen.
It’s a good thing there’s a labor shortage. The Great Resignation, as it has been called. Companies could only take advantage of the people for so long and bringing somewhat of a stop to that does put a smile on my face.
It’s hard to say how the whole issue will resolve. The cushion that federal aid provided will eventually dissipate and the consequences of the pandemic will slowly disappear, so I imagine the shortage won’t last forever. I hope by the end of it we see a drastic change for the better. Or at least, we see a new avenue of potential change for the future. If there’s one thing I feel confident in, the people were given an inch—so we’re going to take a mile.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected].