Apple and several large American companies have just announced large increases for their employees. The increase is 48% compared to before Covid for store employees of the Californian giant. This brings their hourly wage to 22 dollars, or nearly 20 euros per hour.
Apple is thus following in the footsteps of Microsoft, which had taken the same initiative, and several other American companies. They simply no longer have a choice: in the face of increasingly strong union pressure to compensate for high inflation in the United States, and to retain employees which they absolutely need, it is the extension on the payroll. Apple has even rushed the implementation of this decision to July, instead of waiting for the fall.
Le balance of power is being reversed between the employee and the employer. There are now nearly two job vacancies per employee available. And yet it is a national average. In some states like Utah or Montana, it’s almost four vacancies per head. As a result, prices are rising and particularly the salaries of the least qualified positions, which are now increasing more than the average, whereas it has long been the opposite, according to a very recent study by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
But where have the employees gone?
Several million employees decided to retire at the time of the Covid. They just didn’t go back to work after the lockdowns. And for those who are in place, resignations have never been so important. There are 4.5 million in the month of March alone, and in general they leave for better paid jobs. Almost two-thirds of job switcherwho just change employers, take a double-digit increase on the occasion of the new position.
In addition, there is a strange phenomenon that has shrunk the working population: the “decommodification” of the economy. Many Americans have given up working in a company because of inflation, which increases transport costs, but also because of the difficulty in finding childcare or elder care. Suddenly, in a couple, one of the two stays at home to take care of the children and cook, rather than spending his salary on gas, nanny and restaurant. This is the revenge of the resource economy on the market economy. And, what is interesting is that we see this phenomenon much less in the sectors or places where wages have increased the most. That means that the price of labor is a key element, when inflation is soaring and the working population tends to fall.
The solution to the labor shortage is more wages. They have to be aligned. A situation on which one should meditate : when supply is insufficient in relation to demand, we pay more, otherwise we are not served.
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