The jobless rate as reported by The Department of Labor rose to 3.7%. This was up from 3.5% in the prior month.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in October. The year over year increase has labor prices up only 4.7%.
When considering the over 8% Inflation Rate, it’s easy to understand why real earnings for workers have suffered this year. If prices are up 8% and your wages are only up 4.7%, your family budget is going to feel it.
U.S. Employers added 261K new jobs last month which is a sign of a continuing strong job market. But it’s obvious that the Fed’s actions in continuing to raise interest rates is finally having its desired effect of cooling down the economy.
Let me leave you with this.
Large tech companies have recently announced layoffs or hiring freezes beginning next month. These companies have long been considered a harbinger for future markets. Twitter, Lyft, and Stripe have all announced layoffs while Amazon announced a hiring freeze.
It’s obvious that we’re seeing the beginning of a turn in the labor markets. Depending on what business you’re in, this is either good news or bad.
If you’re in the placement business, this is obviously bad news. Tight labor markets mean that companies need help in hiring. Many are willing to pay almost any amount to complete their teams and properly produce their services or products.
On the other hand, if you’re in just about any other business, it’s good news. It means that your personnel issues may finally be at an end.
But take a moment and realize that we’re still in difficult times. We must all operate our businesses to accommodate the overall problems in the economy.
Just because the labor markets seem to be easing doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay your workers more to keep them happy. At the end of the day, any job is a two-way street.
No matter how long a person has been on your team, if they can’t pay their bills, they’re going to start looking. My Mother always told me that if I didn’t want to have problems with my staff, I needed to look at the world from their perspective.
These inflationary problems that are now world wide aren’t going away any time soon. This means that if you want to be able to continue to properly produce your goods and services, you’ll need happy workers.
Money isn’t everything. There are certainly other factors involved in creating an environment where workers want to do their best work. The overall environment has plenty to do with having content workers.
But money is the other side of the coin. It’s not to be forgotten or overlooked.
ANother thing to consider is the fact that you’ll be the last to know when there is a problem. That worker isn’t going to come to you and ask for a raise because they are having difficulties with their bills.
They’ll just leave. A situation that could have been avoided with simple forethought will come to its ultimate fruition.
So think through the problem to stop any issues from occurring in the first place.
If you need to raise your prices in order to maintain your staff, get to it already. How much money are you going to make if half of your people leave?
We’re all going to get through this. Let’s get through it together.
Accounting Solutions Ltd. stands ready to complete our mission and purpose of protecting you, your family, and your business. Whether you need Employee Retention Credits, M&A Due Diligence, Payroll Services, or Accounting and Tax Work, you have but to ask. I’m here and I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Chris Amundson
President
Accounting Solutions Ltd.
773-267-7500
888-310-0300
www.AccountingSolutionsLtd.com
www.SalarySolutions.net
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