Employers are facing an unprecedented staffing crisis. There’s millions of unfilled jobs and not enough people to fill them.
So, where are the workers?
In the three part series Where Are The Workers?, anchor and investigative reporter Kerry Kavanaugh examines what’s behind the major labor reshuffling that’s left so many job vacancies. In March alone, a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs.
Part one explains why workers are not returning back to their pre-COVID jobs. Most chose to leave work to start their own business; while others left out of necessity to care for elderly, sick or disabled loved ones.
In part two, Kerry hears from the employers who are struggling to hire and retain staff. Local business owners say they are trying to turn the tide by offering training, better pay and more flexibility.
In the third and final part of the series, she heads to Washington D.C. to see how the federal government is responding to the crisis.
In a one-on-one exclusive interview with U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, she asks what his agency is doing to strengthen the workforce.
Here’s a transcript of that conversation:
Kerry: There’s 11.5 million unfilled jobs. That’s 5.6 million more jobs than available workers. So, where are the workers?
Sec. Walsh: Certainly we have an issue in the country where we need more workers in America. But you know what we’re doing here at the Department of Labor? We’ve been working to train workers and give more workforce development programs. We’re looking at better pathways into careers like tech, high tech and biotech, and how do we create pathways into that, into nursing. Obviously, we did something with truck driving in this country with apprentice programs. So you know, we need to continue to do workforce development and train people into paying jobs and attract them into industries. But at the end of the day, what we’re going to need in this country is immigration reform. And the bottom line is we’re going to need more workers in this country because we’re creating more and more jobs in this country
Kerry: We assembled a panel of six people. I just did a generic ask on social media, are you doing something different than you were a March of 2020? They are working more for themselves, starting businesses, changing careers, more flexible time. And then there are people that would be working, if they could, but they’re caring for disabled loved ones. Childcare, they can’t afford. They couldn’t afford the help, or the help didn’t even exist. What do you think is driving this?
Sec. Walsh: There’s a lot of challenges in the workplace. I think the pandemic, first and foremost, put a spotlight on the inefficiencies or the deficits we have in the workplace. In this country last year alone, 5.4 million people have either started a startup or gone into business for themselves. If that’s not a record, that’s pretty close to being erected in one year. And 2.4 million people left the job market two years ahead of time. So you’re talking 7 million people right there that are that are either trying something new or left the job market. We’re trying to see how do we get those workers back into the job market.
What’s happening in America right now is our workplaces are changing. What people want is changing, people are looking for more flexibility, people looking for better pay, we’re seeing a lot of that happening. We saw it in Boston restaurants. You know, a lot of people came to me it they when I first took over this job saying “You know, we’re not getting people back to work because of the $300 unemployment benefit extension.’ That wasn’t the case at all. What we’re seeing is people looking for better opportunities to earn more money.
Kerry: Can you elaborate more on where has the federal government intervened? Are there sectors that you’re saying we have to really invest in because their too valuable to the big picture?
Sec. Walsh: Well, one is the medical industry. When you think about our city and all the hospitals we have. We don’t have a crisis for nursing staff, but we’re pretty close to it. And the crisis is due to the pandemic. People are burned out. People that are tired, that just said I need to get out of this career. If you fast forward five to 10 years, we actually have a shortage coming. We don’t have enough supply going into the industry for the demand that’s coming. So here at the Department of Labor and with the Secretary of Health and Human Services we’re looking into creating a pathway into nursing. Mental health services is another one. We’re going to have problems in that area. We’re making sure that we have enough clinicians and people that want to work in the mental health field. So we’re looking at those two areas.
Kerry: What about this crisis in childcare? Can you incentivize companies that provide solutions to that?
Sec. Walsh: The President had has a bill on that. There is a childcare provision that would cap what a family would pay. They’d pay no more than 7% of their salary for childcare. Childcare is a big crisis in America. We need to continue to make sure we have good strong quality childcare for parents. It is one of the factors keeping people, predominantly women, out of the workforce. The same goes for adult care. When I look at the numbers for unemployment, we’ve lost jobs every single month in the nursing home and assisted living sector. That’s a problem because we have a population that’s getting older. So again, that’s an area that as a government, we need to address both on a federal level, but also on a local and state level.
Kerry: How does inflation factor into all of this? In other words, is the bubble going to burst, so to speak? Right now, there’s all these jobs. People can be choosy. They can be demanding. But at the same time, everyone’s paying more for stuff.
Sec. Walsh: I think the biggest challenge is inflation. Inflation is outpacing the wage growth. So for all the money that people earn, they pay more for goods and services. And the President has really put it on all of us as an administration to do everything we can to bring down the cause of inflation. One of the biggest reasons it’s caused is because of supply chain and demand of goods and services. We also have what’s happening in Ukraine. You can’t underscore what’s happened in Ukraine and the war in Ukraine and what Putin has been doing to the poor people of Ukraine and putting pressures on gas prices. There was pressures prior to the Ukrainian crisis. So we’re working to bring all those different costs down. Again, I think as we continue on the next several months here, we’ll start to see some of that the next six, seven months, we’ll see some of that ease, but we have a ways to go.
Kerry: Do you worry, though, that there will be a big pendulum swing? There’s this bubble of all these jobs and opportunities and that maybe they dry up?
Sec. Walsh: Yeah, there’s a lot of conversation. They’re talking about a recession. I actually think that we can continue to move forward and in a great economy here. As long as we continue to move forward, as long as we continue to meet the challenges in front of us. Making sure we continue to alleviate the burden of supply chain, making sure that we continue to invest in good jobs and have people working in good industry and keeping moving forward. And then making sure that the pandemic doesn’t bring us back. The last two years has been really difficult for a lot of people. I mean, when I was the mayor I would never have thought, not in my wildest imagination, that as mayor of Boston, I’d be shutting everything down, canceling the marathon, canceling the parades, doing all that stuff. It’s been a very difficult for a lot of people. We just need to continue to stay focused and get to the other end of the pandemic.
Kerry: It sounds like, in some levels, the Federal government is saying the jobs aren’t good enough as they currently are?
Sec. Walsh: We started the ‘Good Jobs.’
We started looking across agencies and making sure that we’re, as we create new good jobs, whether it’s through contracting, that we raise the federal minimum wage. The ‘Good jobs’ initiative really started in the federal government, we haven’t gone down to the neighborhood. To say, ‘company A you need to join the good jobs initiative.’ What we’re doing is creating a pathway forward on what a good job looks like. And we start with the federal government. We’ve offered it to cities and states to take our model and then hopefully, eventually continued continue down the path.
Kerry: What are some of the things that you think make a good job?
Sec. Walsh: Good wages, middle-class wages, opportunity for health benefits, strong 401K and flexibility. What people want is changing. People are looking for more flexibility. Those are some of the components of the ‘Good Jobs’ initiative.
Kerry: Unemployment is so low and normally that’s like a bellwether that people feel good about the economy. People do not feel good about the economy. Are you trying to change perception on that
Sec. Walsh: We do have a good strong economy. But the reality is we’re dealing with inflation. It’s an all of government approach when it comes to that, when it comes to President Biden, to help relieve the pressure of inflation. And I think as we continue to move forward here and get the inflationary pressures down, people will start to feel better. At the end of the day, you’re earning more money, you have a good job, but you’re paying more for gallon of milk, you’re paying more for gallon of gas. I get people are going to have concerns.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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