Is anyone else seeing what we are seeing? Am I just an odd duck that pays attention to weird things?

Just about everywhere I look there is a help wanted sign. Joe and I have a weekly routine of going to the same restaurant every Thursday, where they’ve had a help wanted sign out for over 6 months. The school district I work for, has resorted to asking the community and employees to seek out people to fill the numerous positions they have open. The school district of all places….numerous open positions, a place where once they had a huge flood of so many applicants they could hardly make it through the pile of applicants, now basically begging for workers. Literally, I cannot go shopping without seeing a help wanted sign – making me wonder – where is everyone?

I also know that enrollment is down in several school buildings within the school district I work in, as well as several throughout the county. I just spoke with a classmate from high school, he was chatting about his 7th graders football team that didn’t have enough kids to make a real football team, so the team members they did have, had to rotate and play extra places. Why is nobody talking about this? Have we had a mass exodus from our county, from our state, from life in general?

I did happen to find a few articles that might explain a few things in regards to the job market, and the housing market. This one in particular talks about the challenges of job providers. Basically employers are not offering any sort of “better” incentives to come to work, and people are discovering that life without the big paycheck isn’t so bad – stating that family and working from home to stay safe is more of a priority.

This particular article talks about where people are moving to and away from. Not a huge surprise that people are moving to Florida. Not just politics, but also the huge number of baby boomers that are of age to retire, why stay some place wet and moldy, when you can go to some place warm and cozy?

It’s certainly an interesting phenomenon, that I’m super curious as to what other people are seeing in other places of the state, country and even world wide. If you happen to read my blog, have read this far and are willing to chime in, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Is your area seeing the same labor shortage? Do you hire for a company and can’t find workers? Are you a worker that has an option to stay home longer because you saved and have changed your life style so you aren’t dependent on the all mighty dollar? Have people bellied up to the trough to take part in government funded healthcare, and government funded bailouts and have no desire to work letting the government provide for them? (by government funded, I mean tax payer dollars, from people that do choose to get up and go to work everyday)

Wherever you are, I hope you are doing well my friends. Until next time, hugs to you!