This WSJ article by Paul Ziobro gives tremendous insight into the tightening labor market currently within the United States. The article lays out the existence of tremendous signing bonuses as a sign that labor markets are becoming increasingly competitive and companies are in desperate need of workers.
Within the article it is mentioned that, "Some railroad workers are being offered signing bonuses of up to $25,000 to join BNSF Railway and
Union Pacific Corp.
as the freight railroads struggle to fill jobs... BNSF
and Union Pacific are hauling more products across the Western U.S.,
where their networks are based, and trying to ease congestion in areas
with high demand. Freight volumes are rising on strong economic growth
and industrial expansion, and a shortage of available truck capacity is
pushing more shipments onto rails."
After the explanation of this phenomena, the article mentions that "the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1% in the U.S., and as low as 2.8% in
some markets where railroads are hiring. In response, the companies are dangling incentives that analysts and union leaders say are the highest they can recall."
This article presents a great example of the skills gap going on in the United States right now. How should policy makers change what they are doing to help alleviate some of these market needs for firms?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-working-on-the-railroad-comes-with-a-25-000-signing-bonus-1524481201
2 comments:
One way to solve this problem would be by adding more people into the labor force. This could be people from other countries that could be prepared to do jobs like this, but right now they are not being allowed to work in the US because Trump's administrations are making it harder for people to come from other countries and work. This is another reason why making it harder for foreign workers to enter the labor force in the US may not be the best idea, but while Trump is president this might not change and problems like this one might keep arising.
I agree w/ Felipe here. There are many qualify people out there but without letting them getting a working permit can affect the country. Having more workers will get things done faster.
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