May 13, 2021 at 11:48 a.m.
A little patience will go a long, long way
A little patience will go a long, long way
On the one hand, the national and state economies are rebounding, and the Northwoods has been booming. Record numbers of visitors have made their way to our communities in the past year, and are expected to make their way here again.
There are many reasons for that. Businesses have reopened and many have returned to work and are able to spend for get-aways. Vacation demands are even stronger after the excessive lockdowns of the past year.
Others want to flee urban areas for a battery recharge, or for permanent or seasonal re-location. And what better place to head than to our magical Northwoods? Who could blame them?
We certainly don't.
There is a rub, however. As we have reported in the past several editions, while many people have returned to work, many have not, and that has local businesses scrambling to meet the needs of their customers.
Demand is heavier right now in all industries, from construction to tourist services and products and more, and many of our businesses are short-staffed, to put it mildly. The intersection of historically heavy demand and an acute worker shortage is bringing about more than economic disruption; it can create acute social frustration.
It is the perfect storm.
It's not just about waiting longer for a table or finding your favorite restaurant closed, as exasperating as that might be. People could have to wait longer for repairs or other services, or they could experience shortages in stores because the worker shortage has interrupted the supply chain.
In other words, a shortage of labor combined with heavier demand equals inconvenience, and probably a big dose of it. None of which is to say any particular business won't meet their customers usual expectations - many, if not most, will - but it is to say that, given the reality of the lack of workers, a patchwork of disruption to the normal course of events is to be expected as probable.
As such, community leaders around the country have called upon visitors heading their way to pack a little patience in their suitcases. We join in that sentiment.
It's a sentiment local residents should heed as well. When dealing with local businesses and workers, remind yourself this year of the stress they are likely under.
It is said that patience is a virtue, and it will certainly be so this summer. Remember that delays and shortages are not the workers' fault, nor the small business owners' fault, as they try to hire workers and otherwise compensate for the lack of labor.
They are working overtime to fulfill the needs and wants of the community, visitors and residents alike.
So when you see a waiter covering too many tables, or a store out of a commodity you need, or a business giving you the bad news about how long you are going to have to wait to receive the service repair or product you need, respond with a dollop of compassion.
A kind word and a nod of understanding will help this year. A little patience will go a long, long way, while we pursue solutions to a problem that isn't going away on its own.
Hopefully, things will improve as the year ticks along. More and more people are feeling safer about returning to work, while government disincentives to work will end sometime later this year, hopefully sooner rather than later.
As we write this, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin are moving to restore work-search requirements to receive unemployment benefits, and the national chamber of commerce is calling for an early end to the $300 federal weekly supplemental unemployment benefit.
According to the chamber, the $300 benefit results in approximately one in four recipients taking home more in unemployment than they earned working. Another economist has estimated that a typical worker making up to $32,000 a year would take home more if that person was on unemployment.
That screams worker shortage.
To be sure, if the virus and the too-generous benefits disappeared tomorrow, our region's labor woes would not magically disappear with them. As local business owners told us this past week, this problem has been a long time coming. In fact, we ran pre-pandemic stories about those shortages, and even then business leaders were calling for long-term solutions.
Those solutions are many, including ending what has been an over-emphasis in recent decades on four-year college, which has drained younger people away from the skilled trades, where many robust career opportunities exist. It also includes a shift in thinking about unemployment itself - a return to the idea that it is a very-short term safety net only, while actually incentivizing work.
Right now, the pandemic has turned what was already a bad situation into a crisis. We will weather the crisis, that much is sure, but once we do we have to tackle the long-term issues, so that any future abrupt disruptions can be handled with much less economic pain and social stress.
For now, then, patience while we cope, and then policy instead of mere hope. Now, more than ever, patience and policy is the prescription we need.
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