Child care costs, smaller families a factor in worker shortage issues
“There are more jobs than job seekers,” said Job and Family Services Director Richard Owens at the Ohio Means Jobs Career Expo held at Wayne College recently.
There are various reasons people have left the work force during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many opt not to return. Before the pandemic, many workers were female, and they quit working to care for their children while the world was on lockdown.
“Once you factor in the annual cost of child care,” Owens said, “you will chew up about $8,000 of your income.”
Rising gas prices: Rising gas prices = rising budgets for area schools already facing driver shortages
Child care impacts fewer number of people in work force
He explained the initial requirements for child care benefits are so low and starting wages are so high that people are simply not eligible for child care benefits. Another limiting factor is the availability of in-home child care service providers.
“In Wayne County, we used to have about two dozen home (child care) providers,” he said. “Currently, we are down to around six.”
In a recent conversation with Lt. Governor Jon Husted, Owens said Husted explained that about three jobs paying more than $50,000 per year are available to each person in the Ohio Means Jobs unemployment database, and there are nearly 250,000 total jobs available.
Labor shortage isn't going anywhere soon
According to Greater Ohio Workforce Board Executive Director John Trott, the labor shortage is not going away anytime soon.
"It is better to talk about this as a generational problem,” Trott said during a presentation at the expo. “The thing you are experiencing is a global trend.”
According to Trott, the lack of people participating in the work force has been a problem in the making for years.
Trott discussed some of the pre-pandemic issues affecting labor shortages, including:
Smaller family sizes
Slower population growth
Less male participation in the work force
Older, financially stable people choose to retire
'Gigs' and 'side hustles' are popular
Non-traditional work, known as “gigs” or “side hustles,” has become very attractive to those possessing the skills and desire for a more flexible work-life balance.
“The great resignation resonates with people,” Trott said. “And the data bears it out. In 2021, the number of people that quit working was very high. These are not people losing jobs; these are people that just quit working. The department of labor started tracking these numbers 20 years ago, and this is the highest we have seen them.”
Visit https://ohiomeansjobs.ohio.gov to view open positions.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Career Expo speaker lays out some reasons for worker shortages
