As a Boomer, never in my wildest dreams would I consider my actions the reason for the nation’s labor shortage. But maybe there is some fire behind the smoke when it comes to answering this question.
Concentrating on the offsite construction industry, the need for skilled labor, positions once held by Baby Boomers, is one of the hardest jobs to fill for almost every factory. I’ve heard a couple of large manufactured housing factories are having such a hard time filling positions on the line that they have invited Nationally known temp services to open offices within the factory.
Much of the narrative surrounding the labor shortage focuses on the unwillingness of young people to find jobs because they have such easy access to government benefits. But the truth is, a rise in early retirements is having a bigger impact.
In November, the number of Americans who left the workforce because they didn’t want a job rose by 3.6 million from November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. About 90% of them were over 55 years old, CNN Business reported. In fact, of the many millions of people who have left the labor force over the past two years, the vast majority are older Americans who decided to retire early.
There are a few reasons for this:
Skyrocketing home prices and a robust stock market have increased the wealth of many Boomers, prompting them to reconsider their work and retirement plans.
Many Boomers are afraid of catching COVID-19 in the workplace, especially with so many variants, like Delta and Omicron, extending the length of the pandemic.
Employers haven’t made a convincing case about the merits of working longer or coming out of retirement.
Add in the Boomers in upper management positions that have left working for a single factory and opened their own consulting business and factories are now experiencing a labor shortage of experienced managers.
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Gary Fleisher is Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and the soon-to-be launched Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
