Staff shortages - why?

[Buttalapasta]

I've just read the thread on pharmacist shortages. My mum's GP practice has cut its opening hours due to shortages and the local pub now closes at 9 for the same reason! Why? I know Brexit had some impact but surely not this much? Is it down to poor wages? Early retirement? It seems strange that so many places can't seem to get staff yet they aren't offering higher wages? Any economists know?

Lockdown has probably made a lot of people realise that life is too short for low/underpaid work dealing with dreadful people (eg drunks) at anti social hours.

50% young people going to university.
Part time jobs die to perverse incentives of benefits and national insurance system.
Rents so high they feel unachievable without government support.

If a million people went home due to Brexit why isn't there a surfeit of rental property?

I was just talking about this with friends last night. We work in four sectors. accountancy, restaurants, teaching and NHS and every single one of them is absolutely desperate for staff. Desperate.

My husband is the accountant and has just brought over four people from China to work in his department. They are staying for six months in serviced apartments.

That’s weird, maybe they don’t know that then.

They may not have been living in the sort of accommodation people want to rent permanently.

This ! My son had a part time job in the summer at a well known shop. He never knew from one week to the next what shifts he would be doing! The expectation that he would totally fall into the shifts they wanted week to week.
When was a teen you did a Saturday job and picked up extra shifts if you could, much more of a two way thing with respect on both sides.

Yeah there's no "magic hours" with UC. The more you work, the better off you are. I work full time and have no childcare cost and still get £400 a month from UC.

Just anecdata of course but talking to peers who want to pick up work around children the reluctance to give set shifts and expectation to always be available is a huge barrier.

I retired as a teacher. I know loads of people who worked in public services who retired.

They’d all had enough of government cuts and struggling to do stuff with not enough money.

I don't think it's Brexit.

I was in the US recently and they have the same staff shortages. Thank that's helpful

I think it's a shift in the work people are prepared to do post Covid and a shrinking of the labour market due to Covid, retirement and ageing population.

And lots of teachers retired after covid because they were worried about getting it.

I work in pharmaceuticals and we have had a lot of people from the EU leave after brexit or during. They didnt feel comfortable here and some of the racism they endured from the general population was awful. I don’t blame them for leaving but it does leave a skill shortage in our sector.

Recruitment in STEM fields has relied on non UK residents to fill some roles which now is harder and more costly (visas etc)

Thanks @cptartapp - I haven’t thought or inheritance or downsizing.
@ArseInTheCoOpWindow do you get a proportion of your salary if you retire at 55 from teaching (I assume final salary) as opposed to a full salary at 65+?

I can see how it might work now particularly if on a final pension.

More opportunities for 16/17yo with part time jobs around college hours. My 17yo is struggling to find work despite being quite willing as she wants to have money to learn to drive. Everyone needs to start at the beginning. Conversely young people need to have realistic expectations of needing to
start at the beginning. We’ve had youngsters start who think they shouldn’t have to do the more
menial tasks - even though the most experienced staff do them
as part of the role too.

Nurseries need to be seen as the essential service they are and the workers seen as professionals
not just babysitters. The pay needs to reflect the educational role being provided and the government needs to fund it properly so places really can be offered without all the extra cost that need to be added just to keep them viable. More parents could then take jobs they actually want in order to progress in their careers.

Brexit , skilled and qualified Europeans left and went back home . Along with loads of unskilled general workers that where doing jobs that the employers can't get anyone else to do

The NHS won’t be flexible with their staff with regards to working hours so end up having to fill gaps with agency staff which costs 4x as much. A lot of staff would work
more hours if they could pick them.

Community pharmacy used to be an excellent job, I remember when I started as a Saturday girl at 16, there were 2 pharmacists and it was busy but things got done. Now it’s one pharmacist and if they don’t turn up then the pharmacy shuts rather than attempting to get a locum. There used to be a pressure to open at any cost now even the multiples will close because they won’t pay the locum costs. The locum rates haven’t increased in 15 years.

Not a medical professional, but I work in the criminal justice sector. My workplace has a 50% attrition rate, and all of us have quit without having another job to go to. We haven't shared finances, but I get the feeling that I'm the only one who has a significant financial cushion.

Why? Burnout and bad management. They haven't done anything to make the job more attractive, so one by one were taking our chances on side hustles as we retrain and switch careers.

Brexit - for all the reasons above.

The zero hours contracts, or their latest incarnation. Who knew it wouldn’t turn out to be the economic success the Tories promised? Just further erosion of workers rights , now coming back to bite.

Poor people are fed up at being treated like shit and many of them thought they were appreciated during the pandemic and things might get better when it was all over.

It's " the market", the govt. loves " the market", well now the market has changed.

There is no staff shortage, the shortage is of decent employers who don't treat their staff like shit.

I’m available around 25-27 hours a week (working around school hours) but employers are not interested. Instead, I volunteer for two charities and do around 18-20 hours a week for both of them. One charity has fixed times onsite because of the service users but the other one is in an office and I can do whatever hours I like - sometimes I go in for 6 hours when DS has an after school club, another day 2-3 hours etc.

I would love a paid job (lest I become a long-term SAHM aka waste of space on MN) but in our town the only childcare provider has permanent long waiting lists and childminders are scarce. I would love an employer who could offer flexible hours but right now it’s only charities who value my work ethic and input. Cynically, as many love to point out to me, they are getting free labour so of course they value me, but what else am I supposed to do? Sitting on my arse watching daytime TV has never been an interest of mine.

Companies got used to buying what they need when they need it - the huge pool of cheap EU labour fuelled that. (Take on a bright, fit, ambitious chap who's in GB for two years to perfect his language skills and get a bit of experience but going back to his EU country to be a doctor or an engineer). Ideal labour.

Firms don't want to train people - and it's not worth their while either. People stay two - max three years.

And if they take on people who are useless, wasters, piss-takers - they can't get rid of them so they want an easier option.

Youngsters don't do part time jobs any more - the law and other things led to a decrease in that so the average 18 year old is totally unskilled. (I'd worked since I was 12 in shops before I went to uni).

Benefits are too high and too easy. People will disagree, Fair enough. But if you can take home the same per month on UC etc why the fuck wd you work for it??

All the points already mentioned - inheritance has meant the older - but not too old have big chunks of money from their deceased parents so can swan about playing golf and going on cruises.

Work is also shit - the general public treat the people who work like utter scum. "Complaints" as soon as you don't get what you want. Swearing, shouting, abusing call centre staff, delivery drivers, doctors receptionists, NHS staff, supermarket workers, teachers, basically anyone who doesn't give you what you want when you want it... No wonder no-one works.

People leaving the workforce early would have been doing low paid jobs... they wouldn't be able to afford to retire early.

We ve always relied on foreign workers to staff health inc dentistry.. now those people cannot come here as easily as other countries, it costs £1000s to come her for just 3 years, an Italian health worker can move to one of 27 countries for no extra costs.

Our local Pharmacy lost its two EU pharmacists, so now its locums.

100s of '000s of over 50s have always retired early, its nothing new, yes it has increased but the Govt is highlighting it now in order to shift blame... remember how they did that with Covid? the NHS?

When I started nursing in 1985 we had staff (in an acute medical ward) who worked 8-2 or 9-3, Monday - Friday to fit with school hours. It also covered the busiest part of the day. We had a a nurse that did 5-10 to fit with her husband getting home to care for their disabled child. Other staff who did only weekends, twilight shifts or night shifts. These were experienced, dedicated nurses who were able to fit their career/job to their circumstances. There was a rota. It worked. Now, it’s 12.5 hour shifts, 24/7, to meet the needs of the service. There are so many easier jobs, with more flexibility. The pay may not be as good but the way the NHS is going, it’s worth taking the hit.

I’m almost 60. Nursing was my life. I’m one of the early retirees. I can’t and won’t work like that anymore and I’m sure a lot of people my age feel the same.

Whilst I’m sure Brexit, Covid, etc played a big part in the number of job vacancies and recruitment difficulties, the continual running down of public services, pay freezes and the Increasing workload is also to blame.