Report Inappropriate Comments

Warwick Ice Cream puts out, in my opinion, one of the top 3 ice creams in the state. First rate, and not least because it is a truly local business. It would be a shame if the business, under pressure from the "shortage of workers" we hear so much about in the press these days, were to decide it could no longer continue. We would lose one more local treasure and a slew of potentially rewarding jobs. The owners think that the solution is to deprive unemployed people of unemployment benefits--in other words, to starve them back to work. They seem to forget the iron laws of supply and demand that operate in every other aspect of their business: If a commodity is scarce, its price goes up. If there is a milk shortage, then Warwick Ice Cream has to pay more for the milk it needs to produce its product. But for some reason the owners think that they are entitled to labor at a fixed price, regardless of whether the supply dries up. Why? Why would they not have to pay more for labor when labor gets scarce, just like any other input to their business? It has been pointed out by many that we are not experiencing a labor shortage in this country, but rather a "wage shortage." As has been true since wage labor was invented, given a viable alternative, people do not want to take "jobs" working for businesses they did not own and idd not profit from. Here's a suggested solution to the "labor shortage": offer employees an ownership stake in the business-- precisely what motivates the present owners to keep the business going. Distribute business profits to all those who make the business a business by working there--instead of only to the family. In other words, instead of trying to force people to take a job by cutting off their lifeline, offer a lifeline of your own.

From: Like so many businesses, 'cool place' looking for employees

Please explain the inappropriate content below.