Labor Shortage 6
(August 21, 2007)
Yesterday's article (about recruiting physicians in cold weather
places) show cased a key operating principle in the labor shortage.
Sometimes, there are enough people. They just might not be where you
need them. The dislocation of the labor supply is a problem that has
long been solved by recruiters.
Things are a bit more serious these days. There is actually a physician
shortage. The mismatch between supply and demand in nursing is well
understood. Service providers like police, firefighters, security
personnel, teachers and ambulance drivers (there doesn't appear to be a
shortage of ambulance chasers) are the cause of intramural competition
for workers between neighboring locales. Where the national shortages
are the greatest, the competition goes global.
Many of these profession specific
shortages are structural. That is, they are not inherently caused by the
population changes we've been discussing. Instead, shifting priorities
and social values contribute to the creation of demand that exceeds
supply. The changing role of women in our culture makes nursing less
attractive. Physicians have lost their earning power. Insecurity breeds
a need for bodyguards. No one wants to be a teacher for some reason.
That's why this puzzle is a little
difficult to figure out.
It looks like the factors in the current
labor shortage include:
- Profession specific dislocation
(the distribution of workers is bad)
- Profession specific shortages )just
not enough of them)
- Production specific problems (we
don't make enough engineers)
- Regional specialty issues (you
can't get creative people to move to DC)
- Selection expectations (this is the
growth related problem)
Tomorrow, we'll wrap this up.
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John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.
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