When do you think prices will stop climbing?

[MiraclesTakeTime]

Food and basic sundries are climbing in price faster than a person can really even keep track of

This is one of the biggest issues here as well. Food prices just keep growing. Groceries for a family of four are easily double what they were pre-pandemic.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I'm hoping that we start to see some inflation begin to moderate later this year....providing we don't get another scary variant that drives everyone inside again. Economists are starting to see a shift from "goods" spending to "services", which is part of what we need to see happen. The labor market had a very strong number today which will embolden the Fed even more to raise rates and continue to shrink the money supply. I'm hoping that we begin to see some of the international testing requirements ease as we get through omicron. So, I'm hopeful that we'll see some headway later this year.

One thing that is true that has already been mentioned....we're not alone. This is happening all over the world. The money supply was greatly increased and many of us in the wealthier countries all did the same thing....stayed home, cooked, bought loads of consumer goods. Here's a recent article on that topic...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/23/inflation-global-prices-biden/

 

[CaptainAmerica]

All the price instability I see is supply side & expect things will quickly calm down when we start to see more businesses relocate some manufacturing to the Americas so they are drivable, making our supply chains less volatile. Demand is fairly constant, we've actually lost a lot of people from sickness & withdrawing from outside the bubble (indicated by losses in entertainment and leisure industries) so on paper, really, demand should probably be dropping off. On the supply side there are medical disruptions, weather disruptions and policy disruptions to name a few most obvious. There are also the changes in taxes on imports that are intended to allow American businesses better compete which might be also slowly drifting into the mix. Been thinking about recent changes and back in the 90's things cost a bit more upfront but they also didn't break in a month and there was real customer service pride in your work plus honest days work manufacturing jobs & the support jobs (bookkeepers etc) here that paid people bills. There is a lot going on so it'll be bumpy a while until the dust clears but we are tough, I have faith things will calm down in a blink if new businesses are permitted to pop up providing things people want and income to the people who want things, that fact this isn't happening is the thing that troubles me most, it doesn't make sense, the system wants equilibrium.

You can't insource manufacturing if you don't have any workers.

 

[dvcgirl67]

You can't insource manufacturing if you don't have any workers.

True, unemployment is at 4%. And while I believe this pandemic taught us very valuable lessons in the importance of producing more items domestically than we do now, obviously a huge part of the problem is that Americans have grown very accustomed to buying cheap goods produced overseas. Not only do we not have enough workers, but we can't produce most of these goods anywhere close to low prices we all experienced pre-pandemic.

 

[goofyernmost]

Just as soon as people stop panicking and buy alternatives. Fuel prices are being used to convince us that it isn't the companies that are profiting on the fear of the people. We are such a bunch of wimpy, sometimes ignorant kids.

 

[goofyernmost]

You can't insource manufacturing if you don't have any workers.

And don't forget that we lost approx. 840K potential workers to that Pandemic we are still in. Higher prices are inevitable if you want things to just be made here.

 

[LuvOrlando]

You can't insource manufacturing if you don't have any workers.

The whole narrative about not having workers is literally the silliest thing I've ever seen in the news.
Maybe we don't have people lining up to be kicked by bad employers but give people decent wages, a safe environment and solid benefits and there would be applicants a mile long.
In the US we have labor laws, businesses don't want to pay up so we have a stalemate.

 

[cvjw]

You can't insource manufacturing if you don't have any workers.

Or any raw materials to manufacture anything with.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Or any raw materials to manufacture anything with.

We have lots here and can import what is necessary, just like the US always did up until very recently. It's not like we are reinventing the wheel, the pieces were all here & manufacturing was the backbone of cities - sadly once manufacturing left the drug trade moved in as an employer : /

 

[GAN]

The whole narrative about not having workers is literally the silliest thing I've ever seen in the news.
Maybe we don't have people lining up to be kicked by bad employers but give people decent wages, a safe environment and solid benefits and there would be applicants a mile long.
In the US we have labor laws, businesses don't want to pay up so we have a stalemate.

At 4% or lower, businesses don’t have much to choose from. A person in IT isn’t going to accept a position for a labor job at half the pay unless it’s the last resort. Another factor is location -there may be jobs in ND …but a family has to make a tough decision to pick up and move. Then you have a good portion of that 4% that are truly unemployable …no society ever existed with zero unemployment.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The whole narrative about not having workers is literally the silliest thing I've ever seen in the news.
Maybe we don't have people lining up to be kicked by bad employers but give people decent wages, a safe environment and solid benefits and there would be applicants a mile long.
In the US we have labor laws, businesses don't want to pay up so we have a stalemate.

Disney can't get housekeepers despite raising wages to $18 for entry-level and offering large signing bonuses.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Disney can't get housekeepers despite raising wages to $18 for entry-level and offering large signing bonuses.

I imagine pay isn't the issue then, benefits are probably a bigger issue these days considering the sort of work they are doing, are there good solid benefits with affordable deductibles and sick time? Curious, are these direct Disney hires or are they through a vendor?

At 4% or lower, businesses don’t have much to choose from. A person in IT isn’t going to accept a position for a labor job at half the pay unless it’s the last resort. Another factor is location -there may be jobs in ND …but a family has to make a tough decision to pick up and move. Then you have a good portion of that 4% that are truly unemployable …no society ever existed with zero unemployment.

Most of the unfillable jobs are not well paying IT type positions with stellar benefits packages, bonus, remote hybrid and 401K. For those that are, every year thousands of college kids roll out into the workforce and a majority of women still get paid less, maybe it's time to promote women and minorities from within and bring in college students at entry level to pay their loans.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Disney can't get housekeepers despite raising wages to $18 for entry-level and offering large signing bonuses.

I imagine pay isn't the issue then, benefits are probably a bigger issue these days considering the sort of work they are doing, are there good solid benefits with affordable deductibles and sick time?

At 4% or lower, businesses don’t have much to choose from. A person in IT isn’t going to accept a position for a labor job at half the pay unless it’s the last resort. Another factor is location -there may be jobs in ND …but a family has to make a tough decision to pick up and move. Then you have a good portion of that 4% that are truly unemployable …no society ever existed with zero unemployment.

Most of the unfillable jobs are not well paying IT type positions with stellar benefits packages, bonus, remote hybrid and 401K. For those that are, every year thousands of college kids roll out into the workforce and a majority of women still get paid less, maybe it's time to promote women and minorities from within and bring in college students to pay their loans.

And don't forget that we lost approx. 840K potential workers to that Pandemic we are still in. Higher prices are inevitable if you want things to just be made here.

Most of the people who passed away were elderly so not likely workers but as far as prices are concerned, I can take uptick that if it prevents another 2020 and gives Americans jobs easing up on the deficit, but that's not what is happening now because now is other things not a shift back to US which hasn't happened yet.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I imagine pay isn't the issue then, benefits are probably a bigger issue these days considering the sort of work they are doing, are there good solid benefits with affordable deductibles and sick time?

Yes.

Curious, are these direct Disney hires or are they through a vendor?

Housekeeping staff are Disney FTEs.

The issue is that there literally aren't enough bodies in the country. A country with a fertility rate of 1.7 can't sustain its economy without robust inbound immigration.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Yes.


Housekeeping staff are Disney FTEs.

The issue is that there literally aren't enough bodies in the country. A country with a fertility rate of 1.7 can't sustain its economy without robust inbound immigration.

And there you have it....that's the answer, but many Americans don't want to talk about it.

 

[Sinder]

And there you have it....that's the answer, but many Americans don't want to talk about it.

Wow, who knew the answers could have been found on the DIS all along.


The US allows up to 675,000 permanent visas a year, and there is no limit on US citizen's parents, spouses or children under 21. That number doesn't include refugees or non-permanent work visas.
Every year it's usually over 1 million immigrants coming to the US.
Just putting that out there so there's context here, unless you want people to actually think "we don't want to talk about it".......

 

[GAN]

Wow, who knew the answers could have been found on the DIS all along.

Hey ....it's as good as any!

 

[MillauFr]

You can't insource manufacturing if you don't have any workers.

There are plenty of workers. Just not enough of them are willing to work for the pay they are offering. Disney says they are having problem finding mousekeeping staff. Absolute rubbish. They can easily find workers if they bumped the pay for those jobs by an extra to $5 to $10 per hour over what they are paying now. Not like they are going to lose money when they are charging $800 per night.

 

[jo-jo]

There are plenty of workers. Just not enough of them are willing to work for the pay they are offering. Disney says they are having problem finding mousekeeping staff. Absolute rubbish. They can easily find workers if they bumped the pay for those jobs by an extra to $5 to $10 per hour over what they are paying now. Not like they are going to lose money when they are charging $800 per night.

But then Disney will charge $900 a night. They don't want to lose their profit.

I understand prices going up, what bothers me is when a $2.00 item, jumps about 30-40 cents in one swoop. What happened to the nickle here and there?

 

[LuvOrlando]

Yes.

Housekeeping staff are Disney FTEs.

The issue is that there literally aren't enough bodies in the country. A country with a fertility rate of 1.7 can't sustain its economy without robust inbound immigration.

I don't think this is at all true, we have 329.5 million counted and 159.82 employed, 6.5 mil on unemployment and 9919094 on SSDI.
The math here, from public sources, tells me that if all things are on the up and up there should be a decent matchup. FWIW I 100% reject the idea people are inherently lazy.

My biggest concern is for the bodies of which you speak, the unprotected workers our laws don't shield and the sort of work they end up doing, many jobs which don't make lists. The low wages in some industries and such which together create a dangerous situation. If they get sick can they stay home and still pay bills, will their families be ok in high risk jobs?

The conversation needs to shift from head count to quality of life IMO and why exactly it is that the people who are here avoid some jobs.

This isn't the problem and I completely reject the idea it is