I'm sure she does.

I've dealt with some recruiters that understood this problem. There used to be a company here that did very specialized battery pack manufacturing, they were a medium-run manufacturer.

There was a job they always had open. Someone to:

Setup, run, maintain, and program the pick-n-place machines. Manage a small shop of <10 people Act as technician, lead technician, and engineering tech for the line Test, troubleshoot, failure analysis of new product Same for returned product Test and verify new product Some design work Maintain shop supplies and materials

Essentially everything but the engineer. It paid $13/hr, and was open about every 4 months.

Last time I spoke to a recruiter about this job (before the company got bought and moved) I straight up told her the pay was shite and there was no way I'd even consider something like that. She just sighed and said "Yes, we've told this company multiple times that they need to raise their wages and lower their requirements drastically to get someone in there that's qualified. They won't do it."

So I'm sure she's probably told these companies that she can't send them anyone because she doesn't have anyone that can accept their offer. I know the college I had did the same thing, there were always companies calling them needing people (Aero Molded Plastics, I'm looking at you) but the jobs were so shit everyone just said sorry, not sorry.

Some are, but many of these jobs that are open are revolving-door open because they're just shit jobs. In my area, the warehouses like Amazon and L Brands are soaking up a lot of the lo-wage crowd with promises of $16-17 an hour and a real 40+ hours week. That means the fast food at $11 for maybe 10 hours a week and the local plastic molder that only wants to pay $9.50 for a hot dirty toxic job can't find people to work there anymore. Retail delivery just went gangbusters during the plandemic, and people just aren't returning to these other jobs.

There's a difference between a person trained to enter the workforce and people with no skills.

If you're trained to a particular skill, and an employer wants that skill, they should pay a bit more for it. But, I know what kind of jobs she's talking about - they're most likely paying even less than what an entry-level person should make in particular skill area, and they probably want far more than entry-level people for that price. They're probably not even willing to train the people they bring on or raise their pay as they gain more experience and value to the company, and probably work them to the bone before tossing them out on the street for some minor infraction (oh, you went to the restroom 2 times yesterday? You're fired!)

Entry level jobs should pay entry level wages. People trained to those jobs should get a little more. None of that's happening here.

I would agree, but even highly skilled jobs have not kept up with inflation, or simply pay shit.

I've received plenty of job contacts where the company wanted a degree, experience, and in some cases a security clearance, but didn't want to pay more than $20 an hour - and that was on the high side for a lot of the contacts. Most of them were contracts with no chance of being a real employee with benefits.

For example, there are two jobs in my area that have been open for the better part of three years. One is a sensor technician for a specialized medical devices company - the job is the (factory-level) installation of gauges and sensors on medical physical therapy equipment. Stuff that sells for big bucks - they pay $17 an hour for this. The other one is an electronics tech for a company that manufactures bespoke measurement equipment. It's been open for years, and it also pays $17 an hour. It specifies a degree and experience. I actually investigated that one and the HR lady said yeah, I know it pays way below market for this job and the owner won't up the pay. But she also tried to give me "But we're a small company and it's hard to...." Bullshit, you're the player in your industry and you've been there for 5 decades. Don't cry me a river because you're the one who put the alligators in it.

No, minimum wage hikes aren't necessary except perhaps to bring increases in line with inflation like Social Security does.

What is necessary is that jobs that require degrees and skills need to pay for those degrees and skills. A requirement of a Bs and experience in some specialized technologies should not be paying $13 an hour contract only with no benefits. There's a complete disconnect between what companies want and what they think it's worth.

That's reason #1 no one is taking these jobs. I'm not going to pick up and move to Commiefornia for a 7 month contract in San Francisco that pays $18 an hour.