Shop local — it helps workers

“Our people are our most important asset.”

Business and corporations, executives and marketers say it so often you hardly notice it anymore — like “Have a nice day.”

But the fortunes of those most important assets — American workers — have stagnated for decades. And now, as Labor Day 2021 approaches in the midst of a continuing pandemic, worker shortages are headline news.

It’s possible those two facts are related.

Much has been said about the reasons for the current workforce crisis. Some say too-generous unemployment benefits are keeping workers home. Others point to a child-care crisis that was already crippling, then was exacerbated by the pandemic. Some speculate that the COVID-19 risk to themselves or vulnerable loved ones is keeping some workers on the sidelines. Several hundred thousand more American deaths than would normally be expected happened in the past year, some certainly in their working years. Still others speculate that the historic workplace upheaval of the pandemic gave workers a new perspective on their worth and what they want in return for their labor.

The truth of this worker shortage is likely in all of those reasons. And at least one more:

Since the 1970s, American wage gains have fallen behind gains in productivity. Employers, in short, are getting more for their money. Workers are getting relatively less for the fruits of their labor, in terms of wages, retirement benefits and job security. What’s behind that?

Competition from cheap overseas labor markets is one reason, although the offshoring of American jobs didn’t start in earnest until the 1990s. The rise of automation, another common explanation, is a fairly recent phenomenon. So what happened in the 1970s when the wage-stagnation trend emerged? Economic research supports a theory: corporate consolidation or, put another way, labor market concentration.

St. Cloud Times