I expect to see some inflation in some service sectors after the generous unemployment insurance reset what was acceptable in the minds of millions of workers. You're going to see a lot more of this:
"As March drew to a close, Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor in the Strip District found itself without enough workers for the upcoming spring and summer rush, and it certainly did not have enough workers to open the shop to its desired seven days a week schedule."
"Then, on March 30, the parlor announced it would more than double the starting wage for the roles, going from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, a scoop that seemed to captivate workers throughout the region and one that earned a significant amount of local media coverage."
"'It was instant, overnight. We got thousands of applications that poured in,' Maya Johnson, general manager of Klavon's, said. 'It was very overwhelming, very. People were coming in by the next day that it broke on the news, they were coming in, filling out paper applications. I was doing on-the-spot interviews.'" [1]
I expect to see some MAJOR restructuring in those sectors to account for workers' new expectations. We'll see if that results in a rise in prices (my expectation) or service industries hiring fewer workers at higher wages and managing to extract sufficient increased productivity so that prices don't rise too much.
May 11, 2021Liked by Chris J. Karr, David Thornton
Inflation means little to those who are relatively young and still work. It's a more iffy situation for those of us trying to juggle investments and pensions. My first Cokes cost a nickel and I could usually pay for one or two by riding my bike a mile or two and collecting returnable bottles. I lived less than a mile from the Coca-Cola bottling plant. I'm not sure the "disposable age" has been all good. The things that are better have to be because repairing them is prohibitively expensive.
I expect to see some inflation in some service sectors after the generous unemployment insurance reset what was acceptable in the minds of millions of workers. You're going to see a lot more of this:
"As March drew to a close, Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor in the Strip District found itself without enough workers for the upcoming spring and summer rush, and it certainly did not have enough workers to open the shop to its desired seven days a week schedule."
"Then, on March 30, the parlor announced it would more than double the starting wage for the roles, going from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, a scoop that seemed to captivate workers throughout the region and one that earned a significant amount of local media coverage."
"'It was instant, overnight. We got thousands of applications that poured in,' Maya Johnson, general manager of Klavon's, said. 'It was very overwhelming, very. People were coming in by the next day that it broke on the news, they were coming in, filling out paper applications. I was doing on-the-spot interviews.'" [1]
I expect to see some MAJOR restructuring in those sectors to account for workers' new expectations. We'll see if that results in a rise in prices (my expectation) or service industries hiring fewer workers at higher wages and managing to extract sufficient increased productivity so that prices don't rise too much.
[1] https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2021/05/04/how-local-companies-are-filling-open-roles.html
Inflation means little to those who are relatively young and still work. It's a more iffy situation for those of us trying to juggle investments and pensions. My first Cokes cost a nickel and I could usually pay for one or two by riding my bike a mile or two and collecting returnable bottles. I lived less than a mile from the Coca-Cola bottling plant. I'm not sure the "disposable age" has been all good. The things that are better have to be because repairing them is prohibitively expensive.
Good thread on inflation here:
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouseCEA/status/1392484719212781571