Saturday, February 10, 2024

Low wage trap the old issue of a labor shortage

The old issue of a labor shortage. But more of a wage shortage for the ones in the bottom. Many moved up the ladder to better jobs leaving the lower really low as the bottom have to fill the labor force. "Drag a $100 bill through a trailer camp and there's no telling what you will find." - James Carville. What would be reasonably unhirable for that time are what places are looking at today to end a shortage in the workplace. The bottom dropped off! They where fired for a reason only to be looked at for a job without reason! Workplaces need to know what they are getting and make a effort for the better than to have workers in a trap!

~~~~This pattern of denial and neglect hurts workers in ways that have profound societal costs. No matter how hard or how long they work, many low-wage workers cannot climb out of poverty. We studied the fortunes of 181,891 workers who started low-wage jobs in 2012, and we found that five years later 60% of them remained stuck in such positions. People who had managed to escape those jobs had most often done so by quitting industries such as hospitality, food services, and retail, which are classic low-wage traps. Across industries, women were overrepresented in low-wage jobs and most likely to stay impoverished.

The pattern also inflicts all sorts of direct and indirect costs on companies, including lower retention and higher absenteeism, more overtime, a reliance on staffing agencies to provide temporary workers, constant recruitment and training of new employees, a lowering of morale, a loss of institutional and process knowledge, a decline in customer goodwill, a damaged reputation among job seekers, stagnant or lower rates of productivity and less revenue. https://hbr.org/2023/05/the-high-cost-of-neglecting-low-wage-workers