S/O labor shortage … where are they?

This has been an issue for a long, long time and Covid has only exacerbated the problem. It’s the primary reason why I never got a second part time job after I had my kid (I also work part time for my DH as a bookkeeper/office manager and there’s no getting out of that job, LOL). It’s nearly impossible to find anything where management understands people have a life outside of their crappy part time job.

My DH is a retail store manager. He's worked retail his whole life and he is good at his job. Being a store manager is perfect for his skill set and personality. During the height of the pandemic he was managing a small grocery store, similar in set up to Aldi (but unfortunately not paying as well as Aldi). That store closed due to poor decisions by corporate from before Covid hit. His store was the top performing store in the state and one of the highest in the company, but when the rest of the stores in the state were bleeding money, they decided to close all stores in the state.

He moved on to store manager position with another chain, this time a store that carries more home goods, furniture, electronics, etc. The store was without a manager for months and although it had been high performing in the past, the store was a mess when he started. That was in November so for the first couple of months, the goal was just to survive the holidays. They pay him well, but lower level employees are not paid a livable wage. And corporate decided to not keep the $2 bump in pay when the federal subsidy for it ended. He has struggled to keep employees and to get the store back to a good place (although the last time I was in the store, it was night and day from when he started...DH is too hard on himself, he wants it perfect now!)

From a management position, my DH often feels his hands are tied by corporate. He wants to pay people well, so that they have that motivation to stay, but corporate decides pay rates. He wants to give people consistent hours, but corporate sets labor budgets and they change from week to week. After many years, DH has finally set a boundary for himself that he will not make up gaping holes in the labor budget by working those hours himself since he's salaried. So that means often the store has only the amount of employees they have to have to be open.

IMO, the fault for labor shortages in retail fall completely at the feet of those in the corporate offices making decisions that only look at increasing the bottom line. A lot of those corporate folks haven't actually worked in a store in years, if ever, and have no idea what its really like. They also don't see employees as humans.
I understand Amazon has been devastating, but treating people like crap is not the answer!

And this has resulted in jobs that are seen as disposable by the employees who are willing to work them, because that's how corporate treats them. It doesn't matter which chain it is, they are all like this, except possibly Costco, who I keep nagging DH to apply to.

DH frequently has employees who don't come in for shifts because they don't feel like it (note I did not say they were sick), or they got their tax return or another "windfall," or they just never show up and won't return calls so he has no idea what happened. Employees know that they can leave this job and get another at another place when they need to, cause this stupid set up has made employers desperate and willing to overlook things that would be a no go in other settings. And let me be crystal clear, I don't fault the employees for this, not one bit! Why invest in a system that won't invest in you?

So all that to say, labor shortages in retail and food service (fast food in particular) aren't going anywhere anytime soon cause the old white guys in charge are not likely to change their ideas on how things should be run. As customers, lower your expectations unless you enjoy being frustrated, and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE for things that will force the old white guys to change (a livable wage that adjusts with inflation, legislation that puts an end to the get your schedule a week at a time BS, legislation that supports unions, etc).

This is me. I had put in my notice in February 2020. My last day of work was March 5, 2020 - completely unrelated to the pandemic. The plan was I quit my job, we go on vacation, come home and I relax for a couple months, then start looking for a job in May/June.

We got home from vacation on March 14, 2020 - EVERYTHING changed while we were floating on a ship in the sea! There were no jobs to be had come May/June; I looked for a looong time. Eventually the conversation shifted to me not going back to work at all and being a SAHW until my wife retires next year. I'm now 2 years into my "retirement" and couldn't be happier.

Lots of people exist without a car payment. And they use pay as you go phones or simply don’t have one.

To your point, they may not be sitting at home. They may be doing under the table work like lawn care, odd jobs, or cleaning, they may have taken in kids for day care so their neighbors can work, or they may be driving for the rideshare or delivery companies. There’s a woman in my neighborhood who started a cottage cooking industry and sells plates of homemade Persian food since she lost her job in 2020. People do all kinds of things that don’t show up officially as employment.

"Have found" means that they have a job.

"Looking for" means they may not have a job or they may have a job.

Exactly the reason why my college freshman has yet to have a “real” job. Rehearsal comes first. She is able to do some babysitting and pet sitting, but then she still runs into people who are mad that she’s not available at the drop of a hat.

It’s frustrating. I was able to do all my music stuff in high school, college, and grad school and still hold down a variety of low-wage jobs because employers understood that my availability was what it was, and they worked with that. I don’t know why that’s impossible these days.

Yes.  That kind of scheduling makes childcare a struggle.  It makes parents trying to work opposite shifts struggle.  It makes people without their own transportation struggle.  It cuts back on the ability of employees to have a 2nd job or further their education.  I worked that kind of job in my late teens/early 20s, and that scheduling was my number 1 reason for being glad when I was at a point where I could apply for something else.  

I dealt with that when I was in college in the early 90’s and I think it’s gotten way worse. I was taking a full course load of credits and told my boss I could only work 20 hours a week because I always had a crapton of homework. I was routinely scheduled for 32-34 hours every week. It was brutal.

Same situation in the late 80's, early 90's. I would have been working to pay for daycare, even though I have a college degree. We were fortunate to have DH's salary as a professional.

Mine was financing cars at Don McGill Toyota and then 9/11 happened and the tech bubble burst and no one was buying cars. It was touch and go there for a while! We probably did qualify for assistance at some point.

(That’s when he started his MBA, but not everyone can just do that.)

My dd19 first job in College was as a hostess/cashier at a very popular nationwide restaurant in her college town. She was hired as evening staff, let them know her school schedule during the interview and enjoyed her job.

She lasted 2 months because she was told she needed to work days and she was scheduled to be in class days. The area supervisor wanted the staff to rotate schedules every few months so they could have knowledge of all shifts. She said about 10 kids left. The supervisor said young kids just do not want to work.

The manager was upset, his restaurant ran very well, but had his hands tied because the change came from corporate.

My dd now has a job working for the school.

Jennifer

All that plus:
- those who got Covid and never recovered enough to work again
- those who got sick with something that wasn't Covid, but couldn't get timely treatment because of Covid, and are still not well enough to work
- those who will still get Covid and become medically unfit to work

This isn't going to get any better for a long time.

ETA: I love your new avatar candleangie!

I agree with a lot of this, but I would like to add that even though the boss was in control, policies were reasonable. Even as a teen working in a grocery store in the late 70's/early 80's, I had a set schedule. My original schedule for summer was 4:00 pm to 1:00 am Sun-Thurs, which I LOVED! All day off to enjoy the summer and weekends to boot! They hired another girl from my class who complained that I always got the "good hours," and they started rotating my shift with hers (10:00 am -7:00 pm Wed-Sat), which kinda sucked. However, I got my schedule at the beginning of the summer, and I knew exactly when I was working. It was also 40 hours, so I wasn't looking for another job to supplement. During the school year, I generally worked Fri-Sun (again, set hours), although I got time off if there was a football game or band competition. The owner's daughter was in the band with me, so he was completely on board.

I never had to tell him "appreciate me" because I already knew that he did. And it wasn't uncommon for other employers in the area.

I always used to stop in to see the old boss until he retired a few years ago and sold the store. Even when I lived out of state, he always asked my mom about me and how I was doing.

Get a PhD and have significant teaching experience, work for free. Sure.