Shortage Of Labor Essay Example For Students

Shortage Of Labor Essay One of the major concerns of todays companies is the shortage of labor,especially in management. The baby boomers are nearing retirement age in theUnited States and the birth rate is dropping. These circumstances, coupled withthe booming economy are the main causes of the labor shortage. There is a highdemand for labor but the once seemingly bottomless pool of employees andmanagers that companies drew from has started to dry up. What are the factorsthat contributed to the problem and how are todays corporations going to handlethis problem? The type of labor needed in todays society has been undergoing aconstant change. There is an increase in demand for workers but there is a muchgreater demand for educated white-collar workers, especially managementmaterial. Projections state that the growth in managerial positions willincrease 20% by the year 2010 yet the population aged 35-50 will decrease nearly10%. What these figures say is the already diminishing supply of executives isgoing to dwindle even more over the next 10 years. There is a shortage ofblue-collar workers now and there will also be an even greater shortage of themin the future. In order for employers to find people who are willing to performunskilled, repetitive jobs they are going to have to be willing to raise thelevel of compensation offered to employees. If McDonalds needs someone to fliphamburgers they better be prepared to pay double to triple minimum wage. Thereare a wide variety of employment opportunities and todays workforce can affordto be selective when choosing a job. The demand for employees is high while thesupply is low. The figures on the change in average population ages and growthin industrialized nations is beginning to make the corporate world stand up andtake notice. If the trends continue as they have been for the past thirty years,the shortage of labor is going to continually get worse with each year thatpasses. The predictions from the United States Census Bureau state that b etween1990 and 2000 the increase of the American population over 60 will be 10.5% butin 2010 to 2020, the increase will be 32.5%. The change in the 60 pluspopulation in the United States is projected to nearly triple in thirty years. Compare these figures to the increase in under sixty-year-old population. From1990 to 2000, the increase in under sixty year olds will be 6.5% and it isprojected to drop to 2.8% by 2010. If you look at the changes in the workplaceyou will see that the average age of an employee is steadily rising as theaverage age of retirement continues to drop. The projected increase in 55-64year olds in the workforce from 1996 to 2006 is a staggering 54%. The projectedchange in the 25-34 year old bracket is -8.8%. These trends are not only true inthe United States. Japan is also going to be coping with similar problems. Todaythe people over age 65 compose 16% of Japans population, but by the year 2020it is projected that percentage will soar to 26.3%. Japan, just like the UnitedStates is going to have to attempt to retain some of this group in the workforceto compensate for the continually falling birthrate in their country. Thisproblem is very true in Europe too. Since 1995 Germany, France and It aly haveexperienced a continual fall in working population ages 15-64. This trend isprojected to continue into the year 2000. Our aging population is also choosingto retire much earlier than they once did. This is a factor contributing to thestrong economy we are enjoying now. The old are growing older, living longer andthey are healthier than ever. Breakthroughs in medicine have enabled people tolive much longer. The advancements our pharmaceutical companies research anddevelopment departments have made are staggering. Diseases that once were adeath sentence are curable. Organs that are failing in the human body can bereplaced or rebuilt. There are even some types of cancer that are consideredcurable. These things were not true twenty years ago. There also is a trend inthis country towards remaining healthy. Americans are taking much better care ofthemselves; there is a genuine concern towards health. People are not smoking asmuch as they did in previous decades and there is a tren d towards exercise. Wetake vitamins, we go out for a weekend run or bike ride and we are eatinghealthier. All these factors contribute to a longer life expectancy and a risingdemand for products and services. Another major contributor was the big push inthe eighties, out with the old, in with the new school of thought,forcing the older management and executives into early retirement has left thecompanies of today in dire need of top caliber people. This coupled with thefact that each year more and more baby boomers decide to retire early. The gainsthe baby boomers stand to receive far outweigh the costs in most cases. Their401k plans and stock options have sky rocketed in value because of the strongeconomy we have been experiencing for nearly twenty years now. Todays olderworking population has the choice to continue working or retire because for themost part, they are financially sound. Many are choosing the retirement option. Acl Injuries In Athletes (1675 words) EssayBibliographyGrey Dawn by Peter Peterson Center for Strategic andInternational Studies Newsweek magazine Business Week magazine The Economistmagazine St Petersburg Times Newspaper The United States Census Bureau CNN.comEconomics