The pandemic raised the profile of the acronym WFH (work from home) to breakthrough levels. Today, however, WFH has another meaning that is touching us all: wages, food, and housing. While the Fed has raised interest rates to dampen inflation, these three important segments of our economy remain a worry for policymakers.
The wage issue is particularly challenging for employers. We knew sixty years ago that “Baby Boomers” would be hitting retirement age at this point in time, therefore creating upward mobility opportunities for younger and middle-aged employees as senior level positions were vacated. We also observed declining birth rates, so future employee shortages have been an expected challenge for decades. So what do we do to combat this?
From my perspective, federal immigration and retirement income rules are a good place to start. We need to fill our workforce skills gaps with accelerated training for the people here, while bringing over skilled labor to fill immediate needs. We should look at Social Security and Medicare and revise rules that present a barrier to seniors who are interested and willing to work. Admittedly, these are imperfect solutions to complicated problems. However, keep in mind that only 3% of the workforce exits a high school, college, or university every year, and that’s not nearly enough to fill these immediate gaps.
