A shortage of workers is driving up wages: are we entering a new economic era?

[PeanutButter]

The Observer has observed...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/06/fall-in-workers-rise-in-wages-new-economic-era-pandemic-work

Brexit is part of the story. “A lot of international people have gone home – a lot of people are telling me that,” he said. So too is a shift among British-born workers. “I bumped into someone the other day who was working in Tesco. He used to be a head chef. He said, ‘I’m happy where I am now.’ He’s seen that he doesn’t have to work a 60- or 70-hour week, and he’s still probably making the same money.”

 

Rogers has now taken a bold approach to pulling in managerial staff, offering a £1,000 bonus if successful applicants can guarantee they will stick with him through the summer. He has also put up his hourly rates for middle-ranking jobs. The worst seems to be over, although he is still looking for a restaurant manager.

[PeanutButter]

Anecdotally I know a company offering staff £5k if they recruit a friend into a role. 

[winkie]

Early retirement FIRE, cutting down on hours PT, FE later in life.......downsizing/ moving now supporting income, living from a BTL or inheritance....very many reasons why very many either no longer putting the hours in ie: selling their time to others, or are revaluing what is important to them, is the time invested in a particular occupation worth it to them over time, do they feel valued, appreciated, renumerated?.......is there something better can be doing with the time available?

[Huggy]

Opportunities for all! No excuse for anyone not to get off their fat, lazy arses and into good honest paying work.

A refreshing change of tone from that paper when compared to previous articles and 93% of posts on The Big Project Fear Thread

Edited June 6, 2021 by Huggy

[scepticus]

I just read this, it makes for encouraging reading. Rising real wages is a good thing.

Some of the usual suspects will be long to wring their hands about inflation shortly, but since rising real wages is a good thing, assuming inflation adjusted house prices rise by less, they would be on the wrong side of the debate, at least here on HPC.

And I think the majority view here is that house prices are likely topping out.

And this time, the tools of the vested interests to suppress rising real wages are very limited.

[PeanutButter]

I can't help but suspect this outcome was why Corbyn supported leaving the EU. Perhaps the govt can try and tempt some pensioners into working pt to top up their pensions. They could do some sort of temporary tax benefit?

Edited June 6, 2021 by PeanutButter

[shlomo]

Things are costing more...

I went to one of my regular restaurants yesterday, I had a kebab and beer the cost was £14 i used to pay £11 before lockdown, What i did observe was it was lunchtime they only 2 customers, a couple walked in and looked at the price on the menu and walked out without buying anything,

I was shocked at the price and will now not go back there again.

I never complain I never go back again.

[winkie]

13 minutes ago, shlomo said:

Things are costing more...

I went to one of my regular restaurants yesterday, I had a kebab and beer the cost was £14 i used to pay £11 before lockdown, What i did observe was it was lunchtime they only 2 customers, a couple walked in and looked at the price on the menu and walked out without buying anything,

I was shocked at the price and will now not go back there again.

I never complain I never go back again.

Very noticeable the increase in the cost of eating and drinking out, understandable considering what have been through......£14 spent in a shop could make a few enjoyable meals not just the one, perhaps will become more popular to invite friends over for a barbecue or making picnic to eat in the park, on the grass, with a flask?

[shlomo]

2 minutes ago, winkie said:

Very noticeable the increase in the cost of eating and drinking out, understandable considering what have been through......£14 spent in a shop could make a few enjoyable meals not just the one, perhaps will become more popular to invite friends over for a barbecue or making picnic to eat in the park, on the grass, with a flask?

I sometimes treat myself, I had just had my second vaccine so thought i would celebrate. I did not look at the price I did not consider things would be shooting up in price.

My local barber has gone from £10 to £14, my wife has been cutting my hair during lockdown so might go back to that.

[winkie]

6 minutes ago, shlomo said:

I sometimes treat myself, I had just had my second vaccine so thought i would celebrate. I did not look at the price I did not consider things would be shooting up in price.

My local barber has gone from £10 to £14, my wife has been cutting my hair during lockdown so might go back to that.

Good idea, another string to her bow, practice makes perfect.

[kzb]

It got far too easy to just phone up the EE employment agency I'm afraid.  Wages have been flat for years as a result.

We've got about 400k unemployed young people on the scrapheap, perhaps some of these employers might start thinking soon.

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

9 hours ago, kzb said:

It got far too easy to just phone up the EE employment agency I'm afraid.  Wages have been flat for years as a result.

We've got about 400k unemployed young people on the scrapheap, perhaps some of these employers might start thinking soon.

The big issue is getting the young the right sort of training. I can't personally speak about apprentices, as I'm am in a segment that does require graduates/Doctorates.

But what I do know from other businesses is that most FE colleges are a total waste of space teaching outdated skills. Quite why Williamson has a bee in his bonnet about this is fascinating- may be he believes you too could rise from the rank of Fireplace Salesman to Cabinet Minister.

[Trampa501]

11 hours ago, shlomo said:

Things are costing more...

I went to one of my regular restaurants yesterday, I had a kebab and beer the cost was £14 i used to pay £11 before lockdown, What i did observe was it was lunchtime they only 2 customers, a couple walked in and looked at the price on the menu and walked out without buying anything,

I was shocked at the price and will now not go back there again.

I never complain I never go back again.

A lot of pub restaurants have now opened, but have found they cannot rely on wet trade income so much - the regular boozers at the bar are not allowed to be there, it's table only service. This also creates a need for more paid staff. Not great news for customers on a budget - better to get a takeaway and provide your own drinks in the garden or park. 

[winkie]

57 minutes ago, Mikhail Liebenstein said:

The big issue is getting the young the right sort of training. I can't personally speak about apprentices, as I'm am in a segment that does require graduates/Doctorates.

But what I do know from other businesses is that most FE colleges are a total waste of space teaching outdated skills. Quite why Williamson has a bee in his bonnet about this is fascinating- may be he believes you too could rise from the rank of Fireplace Salesman to Cabinet Minister.

Always think the training done whilst working is always more productive, don't use it lose it.....nurses should never have needed a degree, like police officers don't, they like before should be provided a bursery whilst under on-job training......it costs up to £7k to become an HGV driver, business should be investing in the people they say there is a shortage of.....trouble is more firms no longer wants to take responsibility for their work force or invest in them, so we wonder why people have no loyalty to their employer, it works both ways....they pick up on this relatively new and expanding dynamic in the workplace.

[MancTom]

20 minutes ago, Trampa501 said:

A lot of pub restaurants have now opened, but have found they cannot rely on wet trade income so much - the regular boozers at the bar are not allowed to be there, it's table only service. This also creates a need for more paid staff. Not great news for customers on a budget - better to get a takeaway and provide your own drinks in the garden or park. 

They will have to offer food quality to go with the inflated prices. If the food is a lot better than the typical takeaway (a lot of which are pretty awful) they can draw customers in.

[nome]

11 hours ago, winkie said:

Very noticeable the increase in the cost of eating and drinking out, understandable considering what have been through.....

Spending the last 18 months sat in their inflatable hot tubs watching Netflix whilst Sunak shovels endless amounts of money into their bank accounts, often choosing to remain shut even when restrictions were eased because they ''didn't feel they could open up safely''... yeah my heart bleeds for them.

[Freki]

12 hours ago, shlomo said:

Things are costing more...

I went to one of my regular restaurants yesterday, I had a kebab and beer the cost was £14 i used to pay £11 before lockdown, What i did observe was it was lunchtime they only 2 customers, a couple walked in and looked at the price on the menu and walked out without buying anything,

I was shocked at the price and will now not go back there again.

I never complain I never go back again.

Try a pint of Stella for 5.50,  not in London

[shlomo]

37 minutes ago, Freki said:

Try a pint of Stella for 5.50,  not in London

What was the price before lockdown 

[kzb]

4 hours ago, Mikhail Liebenstein said:

The big issue is getting the young the right sort of training. I can't personally speak about apprentices, as I'm am in a segment that does require graduates/Doctorates.

But what I do know from other businesses is that most FE colleges are a total waste of space teaching outdated skills. Quite why Williamson has a bee in his bonnet about this is fascinating- may be he believes you too could rise from the rank of Fireplace Salesman to Cabinet Minister.

What I had in mind TBH was the hospitality sector.  It shouldn't need any college learning to operate a beer pump.

Cooks and chefs maybe. Having said that,  I'm old enough to recall students classed as "ESN" (educationally sub-normal) being routed into catering college.  We are a nation that eats to live after all.

[24gray24]

3 hours ago, MancTom said:

They will have to offer food quality to go with the inflated prices. If the food is a lot better than the typical takeaway (a lot of which are pretty awful) they can draw customers in.

No cook. Microwave meals only. 

Costs too much to train a cook. Easier to get minimum wage and nuke it. 

Fine dining is finishing it in the oven.

All comes from a factory. 

[PeanutButter]

 

[TheCountOfNowhere]

On 06/06/2021 at 20:12, PeanutButter said:

Anecdotally I know a company offering staff £5k if they recruit a friend into a role. 

So about half what they'd have to pay a recruitment agency !!!

 

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Wage inflation is an explicit policy goal in the USA - but if they achieve higher wage inflation it will hardly make a dent... 

"Year on year, the real cost of living in the US has skyrocketed — homes are up more than 12 per cent, a used car is up 21 per cent, and food costs have risen over 2 per cent. The Fed has recognised a few of these cost increases, but chalks them up to “transitory” factors that do not contribute to the sustained inflation it wants to see before it normalises policy. But it is hard to see which structural factors will reverse far enough and fast enough to erase these cost obstacles to family financial security." https://investingplanner.com/2021/06/when-it-comes-to-inflation-the-fed-must-consider-inequality/

Edited June 7, 2021 by gruffydd

[PeanutButter]

11 hours ago, TheCountOfNowhere said:

So about half what they'd have to pay a recruitment agency !!!

 

If 50k average, and they pay recruiters 15% of first year salary, then more like 2/3. 

[TheCountOfNowhere]

17 minutes ago, PeanutButter said:

If 50k average, and they pay recruiters 15% of first year salary, then more like 2/3. 

I know it's high, another non-job for the parasitic class.

Edited June 8, 2021 by TheCountOfNowhere