Industries That Can’t Find Workers

The May Jobs Report reflected that there are currently more job openings than we have people unemployed.  That’s a tight job market!  In this article, Axios indicates that many industries are really struggling to recruit the younger employees you might think would be attracted to their good pay and great benefits.  Here is a sampling of the “jobs no one wants.”
 

• Cities across the U.S. are struggling to find 911 dispatchers, says the Wall Street Journal.  These jobs can be emotionally challenging because of callers who are in distress and in situations often traumatic.  And they can get upset with the emergency call center helpers who are just trying to gather information. 

• A truck driver shortage has been going on for years.  This update from USA Today reports that the older generation of Baby Boomers are retiring and Millennials tend not to be interested in enduring being away from home for weeks, driving across county to deliver goods.  In fact, the trucking industry projects a shortage of more than 100,000 drivers by 2022. 

 

• The construction business is having trouble attracting job seekers 24 years old or younger.  Among other reasons, the fact that employers don’t offer training programs may be to blame. 

 

• This Washington State related article reports on the ongoing issue in farm states with finding US workers for agricultural jobs.  The primary reason is that farm work is seasonal – often lasting less than six months a year.