We highlighted labor shortages in various states over the past couple of weeks but for a more holistic view, the US Chamber of Commerce has compiled an interactive map that shows where the most and least labor shortages are in 2023.
The US Chamber of Commerce also has a breakdown by industry and other key highlight. Unfortunately, neither the interactive map nor the breakdown report lists causes of the issues but we have theories:
- Boomer retirements – About 10,000 boomers reach age 65 every day and a large percentage decide to retire from the labor force. While they retire from the labor force, they are still consuming goods and services.
- Location mismatch – While all states are suffering from some form of labor shortages, the problem is greater in some states than others and relocating surplus labor to labor deficient states costs time, money, energy and people’s preferences.
- Skills mismatch – Many modern jobs require a high level of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics expertise and many young people would rather focus on other career paths leaving a shortage of workers with the right skillset.
- Lack of Access – There may be many people willing to fill empty job roles but with little or no access to education or funding for education the skills gap will continue to grow over time.
- Disability – As the population ages there will be an ever increasing number of people getting sicker and unable to work full time or work at all.
There are many other reasons as well such as access to child care or elderly care which has been keeping some women and others out of the labor force and nurses and other healthcare workers striking but in any event the labor shortages across america and most of the world will continue to grow.
An astute investor will be on the look out for profit opportunities. Stay tuned, stay profitable and stay solvent…