Companies that are looking for a good deal aren’t seeing one in new workers.
Workers are getting more expensive while equipment is getting cheaper, and the combination is encouraging companies to spend on machines rather than people.
“I want to have as few people touching our products as possible,” said Dan Mishek, managing director of Vista Technologies in Vadnais Heights, Minn. “Everything should be as automated as it can be. We just can’t afford to compete with countries like China on labor costs, especially when workers are getting even more expensive.”
Yep, the only thing that’s really important to American employers these days is that almighty word [b]PROFIT[/b], isn’t it? No matter that so many Americans can’t find jobs, but [b]foreign workers[/b] sure can!
Businesses exist to create profit–otherwise, they soon cease to exist. Part of the issue with hiring is the current political climate has so many unknowns as far as regulations, cost requirements, etc., that businesses are nervous about taking on more people with so many unknown costs. Read Stephen Carter’s article in Bloomberg on this. If only more would have his epiphany!
How can American employers keep their businesses open without making a profit? Just think how many people the American employers could employ if so much of their income was not spent paying people that do not work or paying the government to do thing the government does not need to be doing in inefficient ways.
Foreign workers can find jobs, but Americans cannot. Maybe it’s the workers and not the employers.
Quick vote: raise your hands if you’re ready to leave your home and family and live in a dormatory on the promise that you’ll get fed while you work and paid at the end of the quarter if you stay that long. Maybe. And I’m talking factory work, not on an oil platform.
That’s how China is beating us on labor costs.
Could it be that our workers only want job security and a decent wage? Why should they have to settle for minimum wage with no prospect of earning more? Sure, employers are in business to make a profit….that’s understandable…..but can’t they at least [i]try[/i] to help keep the American worker employed? Surely they can do [i]that[/i] much, can’t they?
Right now, their track record isn’t very good. How about taking some risks, or aren’t they in the risk-taking business anymore? How about assuming some responsibility in improving the American job market? It seems to me that if they want to stay in business, they ought to at least try to see to it that Americans…..and not foreigners…..have decent jobs so that they can support their families instead of going on welfare.
Yeah, I know we’ve heard all of this before, but how much longer will it be before employers finally get the message?
But then again, maybe Washington [i]IS[/i] the problem, as Carter says.
As my boss put it, you are an asset to this company or you are not with this company. Businesses hire people that help them make money, they do not hire people that cost them more money then they make. Businesses want to hire people that will help them make more money. Companies are not charities. If they do not follow this rule, they go out of business. So there are two ways to increase employment. Have a workforce that is more productive or lower the cost of employing them.
Lowering the minimum wage would allow companies to hire people that are not very productive and train them. As they get more productive, the would make more money. Lowering the cost of hiring (instead of raising it – SS, income tax, mandatory health care) would allow companies to hire more people. Lower welfare and people might find that they are willing to take jobs they normally wouldn’t to feed their families, becoming more productive, and improving the economy.
If you want more people hired, provide a reason to hire them.
Have you ever tried to support a family on minimum wage? Just about impossible to do, unless you tell people to stop having children. In order to drop the minimum wage, you’ll need to go to Congress, and convincing them to lift all of the regulations designed to protect workers on the job (which employers claim cost them profits) might be problematic.
I definitely advise clients not to hire at this time. They need to work their own 100 hour weeks and hold out before taking on any additional overhead during this period of State expansion, central planning, and additional regulations/unfunded-mandates.
A minimum wage job is a step to a better paying job. It’s a way to get on the job training with a little pay. It’s better than sitting on welfare indefinitely. Most of the employers are small privately owned companies. Claiming that all or most of them are out to take advantage of employees is a harsh accusation. The government has protected workers right out of jobs. I guess they are safe from employers now.
And one other thing: It is a known fact that so many employers look for people with job experience, but how do you reply to someone who says “how can I get that experience unless someone hires me? How can I ever get experience if I can’t get a job in the first place?” It’s frustrating and demeaning. What are we to tell the kids who graduate from high school and college every year, only to find that there aren’t any jobs available even for the best qualified among them? Not even if they have to relocate!
If the the cost of an employee was not so high, employers would be more willing to take a chance on someone with no experience. Since the cost of taxes, benefits, and red tape are so high, employers have to be more selective. Yet another argument for less government interference.