OUT OF MY MIND COLUMN: Don't be like Jack - get a job!
By Dave Msseemmaa
Unemployment was at a record 3.9 percent this fall. People are out shopping, spending huge amounts of money on Christmas presents. Except for my friend Jack. Jack doesn’t work. He lives at home with his mama, who gives him the only shopping money he’ll get all December. Jack is a full time IVCC student, 14 credit hours, with an OK GPA, no girlfriend, and he doesn’t play any sports.
Jack has a lot of spare time on his hands, so he knows everything about what’s new on ER, how Scully has been kidnapped on the X-Files, and even Danny Tanner’s middle name. Last week, Jack was sad because he realized that he was going to have to use his mama’s own money to buy her a Christmas present. Here’s what I told him:“Get a job!”
Unskilled labor has become a valuable commodity in the Illinois Valley. Restaurants and retailers are having a hard time finding enough people to fill their employee rosters. So now is the best time to take advantage. Although Kurt Watson, owner of The Pizza Box restaurants in LaSalle and Mendota, said he isn’t experiencing a labor shortage, it’s a common problem for restaurant owners in the area.
“A lot of times money isn’t the issue, it’s the work environment that keeps potential employees away,” said Watson. “If you give your employees a place where they want to work, you won’t experience such a high turnover rate.”
Fast food restaurants in LaSalle-Peru have increased their starting wages from minimum wage ($5.15) to over 6 dollars per hour to compete for workers.
“We have to start new employees higher so that we can actually get new employees,” said Paul Oates, owner of a Dairy Queen. He put signs reading “Good Employees Needed” on the doors to his North Peru restaurant.
Jack decided that he is “too good” for fast food. What about retail? Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, downtown shops, and mall stores need extra help before the Christmas shopping season. It seems like they’ll hire anyone who can piss in a cup (for the drug test…).
Target in Bloomington has been so desperate as to recruit employees from other Target stores to work when their labor force of college students leaves the Twin Cities to go home for the holidays.
When employers compete for workers, workers win - job security, increased wages, and little promotions. Jack can’t lose! Neither can the unskilled laborers, particularly teenagers and students, in the area.
While Jack’s off watching TV, he could be working, feeding his money into this shopping frenzy called December.