Originally Posted by
Goodoldflyer
As far as workers go, we need people to work for society to function. So we need the government to lay off the "Every good and service is a human right" concept, which gives people an option not to work for a living. We can't pay people's rent, health care, and food and still expect them to go to work.
I feel we’re going full OMNI now. It really isn’t possible to not work and have government support allowing one to remain alive, let alone live comfortably. Unemployment benefits last only so long and they money you get isn’t enough to even pay my grocery bill in Georgia. Forget about rent being paid —and homeless shelters have been torn down in most major cities and not been replaced.
Airlines faced a pilot shortage long before COVID for a variety of factors, including higher requirements for being hired, diminished pipeline from the military, and decreased entry into the pipeline due to the high training cost and job security uncertainties. Other employee groups have reasons they are having difficulty attracting folks, including decreased benefits (ground worker jobs are now outsourced reducing the value of flight benefits) and insufficient wages.
If you had a choice between earning $15/hr working at a local McDonalds or driving to the airport, parking away from the terminal, going through security, etc, and earning $15.50 at the airport McDonalds, what would you do? The difficulty finding workers is the essence of what fiscal conservatives always say they want: the free market is speaking. Employees are collectively saying they don’t want to work for the collective package they’re being offered. Now it’s time for employers to figure out how to meet these folks in a place that works for both parties.