There is absolutely no labor shortage in america, it's 100% a fair wage shortage. Truck drivers are a bit like boot campers in a way, you can go and take like a 6-month course and become one. So the market flooded with these folks, and while let's just say a fair wage for a truck driver would be around 100K a year, most are only making 60 to 70.
I bet if the trucking companies decide it to start all of their employees at 110k they'd have no shortage of people willing to drive.
+1. America has two different labor pools: those who are willing to compromise on their lifestyles and those who will only accept a living wage.
One side of America has been celebrating a reduction of migrants entering the country for four years, and now suddenly business owners are seeing that resource pool run dry. Even if these business owners did not rely on immigrant laborers, their own workforce is finding more opportunities. In many ways, it seems like that particular populist administration has provided what was promised.
Unless there is some major shift back to the norm, I can see businesses shifting to leverage labor more productively. I don't think this is a bad thing - America has always been addicted to its cheap, exploitable labor and this trend has gotten worse over the last three decades. Hopefully, these changes can continue to be more equitable to both sides. I could also foresee a reduction in excessive consumption - maybe a reduction in the number of "fast casual dining trends" and other horizontal growth trends.
So I just looked it up. Unless you make $4.75 an hour or less, you're coming out ahead working and putting your child in daycare. I'm in a ~1 million population US city.
$4.75 is half the state minimum wage, and a fraction of what anywhere near me is starting people out at. No one pays minimum wage any more. Target is paying $15/hr to stock shelves.
How does this work out? Most daycares have a legally required low ratio of staff-to-babies (like 3:1 or so). So just on wages alone you need 1/3 the minimum wage per baby. Add in all the overhead and the fact that maybe you don't want your daycare staff making the absolute minimum wage to watch your children..
I bet if the trucking companies decide it to start all of their employees at 110k they'd have no shortage of people willing to drive.