Why are there so many jobs when there's talk about a possible recession?

 

Why are there so many jobs when there's talk about a possible recession?

Transcript¹

One idea is labor² hoarding³. That's when employers hold onto more staff than they need because the costs of rehiring are so high.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Despite talk of a possible recession, the job market is not slowing down. One possible explanation may be something called labor hoarding. That's when employers hold on to more workers than they need. Darian Woods and Adrian Ma from our daily economics podcast, The Indicator⁴ from Planet Money, found it's a little more complicated than that.

ADRIAN MA, BYLINE⁵: To better understand how employers are feeling about their staffing situations in this uncertain economic time, we spoke⁶ with Mike Kaeding. He's CEO of a company called Norhart in the Twin Cities area.

MIKE KAEDING: We design, build and rent apartments. And we're really focused on driving down the cost of housing.

DARIAN WOODS, BYLINE: Norhart does everything from making fittings for their apartments to constructing the buildings and managing the rentals⁷. And Mike is still hiring for a bunch of roles.

KAEDING: Precast concrete erector.

MA: That is a person who helps hoist⁸ up big slabs⁹ of concrete.

KAEDING: The steel wall panel plant factory foreman.

MA: That is a supervisor¹⁰ for a factory that makes steel walls.

WOODS: And to attract the best staff, Mike says he pays top-of-the-market rate. And he gives this message to his existing workers if another company calls them.

KAEDING: Take the call when a recruiter calls you. We want working here to be a choice that you made. If they offer something better, we will match or beat what's out there because we never want pay or benefits to be the reason why you leave.

WOODS: But...

MA: There are storm clouds in the housing industry. Across the country, demand for apartments is down. New construction starts are falling away. And there's a chance Mike won't need all of those new workers over the next couple years. Still, Mike says...

KAEDING: I am going to fight tooth and nail. I'm going to give up my own paycheck before I'm going to lose that person. And maybe that's born out a little bit of the fact over the last three, five years, it's been so hard to find those good people. And that's so ingrained in my mind.

JULIA POLLAK: That is a very common experience across the economy.

WOODS: Julia Pollak is the chief economist¹¹ at the job site ZipRecruiter.

POLLAK: We just ran a survey of 2,500 people who started jobs in the last six months. And about 1 in 4 of these new hires say that their previous employer asked them to stay and countered their outside offer. That shows how much employers are trying to hang on to their workers.

WOODS: There's this idea that's been talked about called labor hoarding. Do you think this might be part of the story?

POLLAK: It could be. There are some surveys that suggest that companies are holding on to more workers than they need. But many industries, like leisure and hospitality, still have a substantial shortfall in staffing.

MA: Julia says the big reason for this struggle to hire is because there are just millions of workers who have left the workforce¹² during the pandemic.

WOODS: I mean, just stepping back, this whole story of employers still scrambling¹³ for workers kind of feels at odds¹⁴ with all those layoffs¹⁵ that were announced recently.

POLLAK: I think one way to interpret them is that tech and finance punch above their weight in headlines. You know, the Goldman Sachses of the world, the Facebooks, the Googles - they're the opinion makers¹⁶, whereas it's the, you know, McDonald's and the Macy's and the companies on Main Street that employ far more Americans.

MA: Julia says while labor hoarding might be happening in some places, the bigger factor seems to be that Main Street is still hungry for workers. Adrian Ma.

WOODS: Darian Woods, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRAMAH PHREE'S "AGAIN")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

4 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 rentals   

n.租费，租金额( rental的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In some large hotels, the income derived from this source actually exceeds income from room rentals. 有些大旅馆中，这方面的盈利实际上要超过出租客房的盈利。 来自辞典例句
• Clerk: Well, Canadian Gifts is on the lower level. It's across from Prime Time Video Rentals. 噢，礼品店在楼下，在黄金时刻录像出租屋的对面。 来自口语例句

8 hoist   

n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起

参考例句：

• By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。
• Hoist the Chinese flag on the flagpole,please!请在旗杆上升起中国国旗！

9 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

10 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

11 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

12 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

13 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

15 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

16 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》