Quote:
Originally Posted by John_W
Actually the OP's opening statement is about moving families here.
As far as this topic, when Walmart worries about finding new people, they'll quit opening new stores. Until then, I'll stick my head in the sand and enjoy The Villages and all that it offers. Happy Retirement!! I think I'll go see Joker today at the $5 movies.
|
As the OP, the reference to 'people moving here' is in regards to why would someone move to the local surrounding communities to work; not to move to the Villages itself to retire.
With a low unemployment rate within the local workforce, people will need to be attracted here to fill the gap. Why would people come to our outlying communities to support you and me when this area ironically is also found to be a leader where a person working fulltime is not being paid a wage that allows them to be above the poverty line.
This has nothing to do with people working harder and raising themselves out of poverty like you did. It has to do with a worker who can choose to go to another town and get a better paying job, affordable housing, and transportation options so they will not choose to come to this general area.
The purpose of the post is that the laws of supply and demand do not seem to be working for us in our local employment sector. We have a unique demographics that no other city has. We have high retired population and a low working population. We have tapped our local workforce and though there is good financial resources of the demanders (us), the wages are not adequate to provide the supply (employees).
This is not necessarily the fault of the business owner. The main expenses of a business is cost of goods sold, rent, and labor. IMO, I think high rent forces the businesses to hold wages down in order to keep their doors open.
We all should be concerned that if wages are not adjusted, stores and restaurants will close, services will go unfulfilled, work quality will continue to decline. All due to labor demands that cannot be met. This in turn will increase our costs for services that provide quality work because demand will allow them, increased wait times at restaurants or to have a job done at your home, and could force us to go to Orlando, Ocala, or the Internet to shop.