The Census reports the number of US workers ages 16-64 fell by .1% last year, the first time there has been a decline in the number of available workers in the workforce since anyone can remember.
It may sound like an insignificant number, but the implications are dramatic, not the least as a drain on Social Security reserves.
Corporate business consultant Garrison Wynn says the problem is not unique to America: it’s plaguing most industrialized nations. The two countries hampered the most are the US and China, but it’s an expanding universe of nations who have an aging population that isn’t being replaced by younger generations of workers. America’s uniqueness, Wynn suggests, is in a growing attitude among America’s youth, evidenced by a review of recent job applications. “The number one question in a job interview for people under 30 is “What are my vacation days? When is my vacation?’”
America’s longstanding get-up-and-go attitude appears to have gotten up and left.
“People in general have decided that working every day, going to a 9-5 job, just is not what they want to do,” Wynn observes.
And it’s hollowing out the work forces. It’s hard to say right now, as the world emerges from a pandemic that has killed four million people globally in a little over a year’s time, where things will settle in the new normal. Some economists suggest the changing demographics and increased competition will lead to higher wages and better working conditions. That remains to be seen. Wynn suggests America not only needs a demographic adjustment but an attitude adjustment among those entering the workforce today.
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