(01-14-2024, 02:52 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote:

(01-14-2024, 01:42 PM)mikesez Wrote: Of course the labor shortage is the problem they see, as consumers of labor.  But as a homeowner, a consumer of contracting services, you would see it as a problem of availability, as long wait times to get the work you want done. You would neither know nor care if the contractors volunatrily cut back to part time, or if they're spending every waking hour working. You would just say, "the problem is the wait times are long and there's not much competition." Both perspectives are right, they're just from different angles.
But from a "birds eye view" perspective, the question is, why are there these local labor shortages?
The US population is still growing, so it's not births and deaths.
The best explanation I've found is that the people they might hire can't afford nearby homes with the wages that are offered.  Hence, these would-be tradesmen vote with their feet to less expensive areas or more lucrative jobs, and boom, labor shortage.

Also, I offered you that very easy, very accessible, very short, and very low cost read as a favor.  Don't assume anything about my reading level from it. Also, don't assume anything about the truth of a matter from how popular the books about it are.

Because people aren't being paid enough. Corporations have moved the low skill jobs overseas and driven down the wages (via inflation) of the average earner in the US. Nobody wants to make little to no money doing thankless jobs unless they are from an impoverished country. Welfare doesn't help.