The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVTxute2lhA
I wrote out a quite lengthy response to all of their points.
0:00 “The US economy still has a massive massive labor shortage.”
• No it doesn't. It has a wage shortage. Companies have plenty of money to pay people more, but they refuse. No one wants to put up with horrible jobs that pay nothing when rent is sky high.
0:09 “obviously the pandemic exacerbated the problem.”
• The cost of living and company profits going up year after year for decades, but average wages hardly going up at all is the main problem. Wrong again.
0:52 “600 thousand nurses plan to leave the field by 2027.”
• 7,000 nurses walked out in New York because their company failed to reach a deal. Hospitals charge people $100,000 for an aspirin and a band-aid, yet refuse to pay the people who run the show. It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage shortage.
1:04 “4% of all public school teaching positions are empty.”
• It's widely known across the entire US that teachers are some of the lowest paid professionals given what they do. The United States has one of the highest GDP in the entire world. This government takes in more money than any other nation for taxes, yet only a minimal amount of it goes to paying teachers – a public service run by the government. It's not a teacher shortage problem – it's a wage problem, not to mention the absurd level of stress they face from having to put up with unruly students who are immune to any kind of punishment due to potential lawsuits from parents.
1:09 “Even the construction industry will need another 540k workers on top of the normal base of hiring to meet the demand for labor.”
• Carpenters, who are responsible for building houses, are paid about half of what electricians or plumbers are paid, yet are responsible for an array of different things. Construction also has one of the highest death rates of any profession, topping police or military. They aren't paid enough for what they have to do and the risk involved. It's not a worker shortage – it's a wage shortage. Wrong again.
5:13 “The auto industry has felt this sharply, especially after the massive shift to electric vehicles. 'The industry is going to be short of technicians for several years into the future and especially I think as the vehicles get more complicated and harder to fix, and that takes more technicians with higher skill levels to do that.”
• Wrong again. Electric vehicles require fewer parts than gas-run vehicles, making it easier to gain expertise on the more complicated parts. Open the hood of your gas vehicle. It is a myriad of different mechanical parts. A simple google search for “under the hood of a Tesla” shows a rather simple engine. That took all of 2 seconds to find.
9:40 “Maryland's Department of Education recently decided to invest $12m to expand the apprenticeship opportunities for high school students.”
• Our tax dollars should not have to be used to bail out companies in this way. Companies should be footing the bill by offering apprenticeship positions within the company itself. This entire video is about apprenticeships, yet it seems to push a non-traditional method of doing it. Apprenticeships being right in the very company you planned to work for is how it used to work. This will serve as yet another example of how the government bails out companies at the expense of the tax payer.
So although I do agree that apprenticeships are the way to go, it really grinds my gears every time the media conveniently avoids blaming companies. It's a “leopardsatmyface” situation where they chose to send jobs overseas and pay us less here, then act surprised when they can't find workers. Get fucked.