Minneapolis Fed President: Businesses should raise wages instead of whining about labor shortages

[LonePirate]

It's an all-too common refrain among US corporations: we have jobs available, but simply can't find qualified workers to fill them.

...

However, ample research and basic common sense suggests that wage stagnation, which has dominated the US job landscape in recent decades, is a symptom of an anemic labor market, not a fully recovered one.

Credit to Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari for pointing that out during a speech to business leaders on Monday.

"If you're not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining," he told a group of business people at a Rotary Club meeting in Sioux Falls, S.D., according to the Washington Examiner.

(a little more at the link)

https://amp.businessinsider.com/fed-official-businesses-should-raise-wages-before-complaining-of-worker-shortage-2017-8

[Wellstone ruled]

1. His statement is so true.

Funny,making that statement in South Dakota,one of the poorest paying states in the nation.

[Leith]

2. There Are Lots of Qualified Applicants

Businesses refuse to hire them.

It's been called the "purple dragon." I've seen want-ads for people to run queries on databases, crunch numbers, and make reports. Yes, it requires skills. The skills asked for are a minimum of 8 years experience, experience on SQL Server going back to 2000, with 5+years of HTML (with CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery), PHP, XML, JSON. .NET, C#, SQL on Linux, Unix, Windows, and Oracle, and expert level Excel, Access, Sharepoint, and Word. Starting salary is $40K. They sometimes will waive 2 years of experience for a Master's degree.

I got news for ya: the job does not take all that. A reasonably intelligent person with 2 years experience with SQL Server Report Services can do the job. Sharepoint is easy. The installation already has .NET programmers and they use Windows - not Unix or Oracle. They won't be designing websites so why ask for it?

The job goes unfilled while the managers whine that they can't find anyone.

[stopwastingmymoney]

5. It's as if they still think it's a buyers market

I noticed this after I was downsized in 2009. i.e. Requiring a CPA for accounting jobs at ridiculously low pay, it's the reason I'm self employed now (and happy about it thanks 😀

[mr_lebowski]

6. I'm pretty f-ing close to EXACTLY all that ... cept the direct Linux experience ...

Though I've definitely connected to LOTS of DB's and Web Servers running in VM's (that were running Linux) over the years ... someone else configured Vagrant to do the install ... don't have much direct Linux experience. But the rest? Pretty much me ... with some mysql, postgres, sqlite (I can develop effectively in all).

And I'd LAUGH at a 40K offer. Where is this ... South Dakota?

[Leith]

8. All Right 40K Was a Bit of an Exaggeration

But lower the years of experience to 2 ~ 5 for SSRS (AND SSMS and SSIS) and it is spot on.

So tell me, how does a good employee with less experience with SSRS get a job like this?

[mr_lebowski]

11. Been at my job for almost 10 years, not really sure of the current market conditions

One thing I do know though is if you live in a big tech area like SF/SJ Bay Area, there's lots of DB work to be had, at pretty good pay, even for more junior folks.

Not that helpful I know, sry.

BTW SSMS is just the Sql Server Management Studio, so I'd think if one had 5 years SQL Server experience, they could likely say they have 5 years SSMS experience.

Lots of shops (ours included) don't even use SSRS so might be able to find a place that's 'asking for that' but don't actually care that much.

SSIS ... you can do so much with the Wizards ... I'd consider just sitting down with it, spending like 20 hours or so toying around with it, so you can speak intelligently on it, and jump on it and 'do stuff' in a competent-looking fashion ... then just put in your resume you've been using it all along for as long as you've been working with SQL Server. Even if the employer called your old job and your old boss said 'No, he only used it for X years' (not the Y years you said), and the new boss questions you just say 'My old manager doesn't know what I did in my spare time, nor how I spent every hour at (the old position). I can show you I'm quite competent with it if you'll give me a chance'.

Truth is 'years experience' doesn't really speak to 'breadth of skills', so as long as you can sit down and fly through the wizards and 'make stuff work' the new boss could never 'prove' you didn't have '5 years experience'.

Good luck, sry to hear you're having a tough time finding a gig. Kinda scares me actually ... I'm learning PHP right now actually.

[Leith]

9. A Real Life Example

Marketing Analyst for Boyd Gaming:

Glassdoor salary:

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Boyd-Gaming-Marketing-Analyst-Salaries-E2442_D_KO12,29.htm


Job Post:

https://www.hrapply.com/boydgaming/AppJobView.jsp?link=58068&page=AppJobList.jsp&skimSessionName=com.hrlogix.view.tags.bootstrap.table.JobListTable&skimName=requisition.requisition_id&skimNdx=13&op=reset

[Adrahil]

7. I've seen that trend in my sector too. NT

[hunter]

10. Employers used to train people freshly graduated from high school for factory work.

You got a good salary as you learned the work. All you had to do was show up every morning on time and sober, and pay attention.

The IT job you describe is the modern version of factory work.

I think the escalation of education requirements is being used by the upper classes to make sure their own kids are always first in line for jobs.

Getting a Masters degree is easy when mom and dad are paying the full fare and your only responsibility is to get passing grades, no worries about housing, food, fees, tuition, or keeping grades B+ or above for some scholarship that pays only a quarter of your expenses.

Everyone else has to fight like hell, be at least twice as good as the children of privilege, only to graduate with crippling student loans and to stand second in line to kids who had everything given to them on a silver platter.

[leftstreet]

3. DURec

[Girard442]

4. The key here is that whining is free and is sometimes rewarded.

Whine enough and, for instance, the feds might fund a new job-training program so your company doesn't have to pay to train new hires like it used to.