Oh no! We’re going to have stagflation, according to all these reports! Time for a revolution, says … Marxist.com? Unemployment is going to hit us hard!
Let’s look at that:
So we don’t have enough workers to keep the airlines running or keep the pools open. You probably have anecdotes to share as well — maybe your favorite restaurant or most convenient drive-through has pared back hours because they simply can’t find people to fill the jobs.
Anecdotal? Nope.
Even before today’s jobs report, the numbers showed 11.855 million openings and 5.46 million available workers. (Sorry, people massed at the border, you’re not an “available worker,” apparently.)
And, of course, that’s strangling the stock market. See the red banner here …
Bottom line is that we’re in a period of upheaval. Not just this year, with COVID still hitting supply chains, workers idled because of the lack of child care, and Putin taking down the global economy with him. Here’s the basic problem:
We don’t have enough people to fill low-wage jobs.
That’s an issue that’s been decades in the making. We’ve grown more and more prosperous. Our kids are going to college. They can’t repay their loans by working at baggage claim.
Long-term, the answer is going to be more automation. That’s not going to happen overnight.
The good news: We used to worry that automation was going to wipe out jobs that we needed. Turns out automation will help us leave those jobs behind and do jobs we want, which is a great catalyst of the Great Resignation.
So as we move forward, we should do so humbly, gathering information and coming together to talk rationally about the future oh who am I kidding Georgia’s GOP nominated Herschel Walker for Pete’s sake we’re doomed let the extraterrestrials come to earth now.
