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Denver's airport held a job fair to plug its huge labor shortage. An exec said he'd hoped 5,000 people would come - but only 100 showed up.

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Organizers had wanted to fill about 1,000 jobs at the airport, but only about 100 people came to the four-hour fair... (news.yahoo.com) עוד...

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Madwolf05
Mathew Thieneman 56
If only 100 showed up when they expected 5,000 what they're offering must be exceptionally poor. And while Denver is a very nice airport, it's not exactly the most accessible. So if you're paying people poorly, it's going to be even worse when you factor in mileage for people to and from work.

Childcare has also become a huge issue. When it's cheaper for one parent to stay at home than to pay $1,200 a month in child care, then we're going to see people increasingly stay at home in 2 parent house holds.

We can't just keep pretending this is all about lazy people. We must look at all the issues and address them as needed.
layman85
layman85 12
I’m looking at $2000 or $2200 for childcare in Denver. $1200 would be great!
srobak
srobak 13
Regarding childcare - not that long ago, that's actually how it used to be. On parent would stay home and raise kids - the other would go to work. It is actually how it should be, too.
bobandjean08735
Jean Johnson 9
It would have to be a well-paying job for the one person to support a family these days.
DracoVolantis
DracoVolantis 3
I tried that. It created unsurmountable financial problems and we ended up divorcing. "Not that long ago" it was financially feasible that "one parent would stay at home and raise kids". I learned the hard way that is no longer the case, except for a few privileged people.
Scumhook
Scumhook -1
True, but that would require a modicum of personal responsibility...
jeffinsydney
jeff slack 47
sums it up; "We are sick of being understaffed, overworked, underpaid, and undervalued for our work," a janitor who has worked at the airport for 16 years told his branch of the Service Employees International Union.

That does not sound like 'free. money' or anyone living off of the 'system' .....
thecohorts
Matt LaMay 7
Sounds to me that the all-powerful SEIU needs to renegotiate that contract. If you're union and feel like this janitor does, then you're not getting the representation that is needed.
srobak
srobak 3
or you are - and the management just isn't bending. more often than not - that is indeed the case.
Booger4203
Dan Dawson 8
Then your union doesn't give two shits , as long as they get their dues. A strong union has happier workers.
GreggB57
Gregg Bender 13
I worked above and below the wing at hub and line stations. It's a rough and demanding job. Do it long enough, and you'll pay the price in your physical health.

Pay and benefits have not kept up either. What good are pass benefits if you can't afford to do anything on arrival?

People love to dis airline agents, but the knowledge needed to do the job well takes a long time to acquire. At a hub like ORD, you need to be a CRS expert, an airfare, security and schedule expert, a therapist, a babysitter, a cargo loader...

The working hours and having to be out in all weather, mandatory overtime, lav dumping, deicing, lack of job security and decent pay... You need to either be addicted to the airline business (it's worse than heroin) or just be insane to do it.

I should know. I did it for over twenty years. I'm going straight to heaven when I die because I've already served my time in Hell. I did my time at ORD... even wrote and edited manuals and trained new employees. I'm retired now and I honestly can't say that I would advise a young person to work for an airline these days.
SVMO
Parker Merrill 40
Hmmm, not sure if Colorado is offering much anymore in emergency pandemic funds to their residents.

So, the people that showed up for years to serve people crap food, to clean up everyone’s crap, while being treated like crap and paid like crap, who were dropped the minute travel levels plummeted by the corporations who received much of the pandemic stimulus monies targeted to employ them, now are not showing up for those same jobs?

If like other parts of the country, many of those concessionaires are saying $15+ per hour to start for full-time employment but in reality, are offering only part-time jobs at a substantially less rate. Plus, the workers now have to deal with an even more whining demanding traveling public than prior to 2020?

The pure capitalists always say let the free market work. Well, it is working and the workforce that really keeps much of the economy functioning is speaking. What else should be expected?

Derik Mortenson, the director of operations at Concessions International, said the organizers "were expecting the masses to come knocking on our door."

Indeed…
thecohorts
Matt LaMay 11
The free market works in a free market. But the airport is run by the city and the county. Never have the wages of the government been dictated by the free market. They are dictated by union contracts and a board of trustees. The concessions are run by HMS Host; a massive worldwide conglomerate that runs the majority of the airport concessions around the Nation and world. They will be slow to react, but will eventually realize that if they still want Ms. Esperanza to keep pulling shots at the airside Starbucks, they'll need to pay her more than $10/hr.

Beyond all of that, airport wages have always been notoriously low. ASIG pays their aircraft fuelers an insulting wage. ATS, SwissAir, and other ramp contractors pay a pittance with some still being $10/hour or less. And all the airlines are dictated by their various union contracts...many of which are well below a living-wage salary.
alexa320
alex hidveghy 5
That ramp company is actually Swissport, NOT SwissAir, which used to be an airline of Switzerland and now just called Swiss…….just a minor correction. The rest is pretty accurate. I work at another major international airport out west…..
Starman535
Robert Black 17
Denver's airport is very far out on the Prarie to the Northeast of Denver. It's a long commute with $5/gal gas, among other things. They want people to work menial jobs out there, then they better pay them well. Do that, and they'll come.
CarlCinardo
Carl Cinardo 4
Just checked Gas Buddy, the price of gas in
Denver is 3.09 to 3.35 a gallon..

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

TimDyck
Tim Dyck 8
This actually shows that the free market is working. If you want good workers you have to pay a decent wage and benefits otherwise you cannot attract the workforce you need.
yamaha32177
CHARLES DUKE 0
We figured out how to make cheap goods by offshoring said products but now how do we use that same technique to hire cheap labor? How fast can we train and vaccinate all these Afghanistan's and Mexicans that just arrived?
ChrisCollingwood
Chris Collingwood 22
Employers complaining about not being able to employ employees.
Potential employees complain about employers unwilling to pay a decent rate for the expected work.
I know that I certainly won't work for a pittance, and maybe it is time the employers realised this, too.
N107Sugar
N107Sugar 21
Many here need to check out the cost of living in Denver. Housing is through the roof. Gas is nearly $5.00 a gallon. Jobs in Colorado are trying to pay in sunshine and great views. It has become impossible to survive on part-time work at $15 and hour/no benefits in the Denver area. That “plane” has departed.
thecohorts
Matt LaMay 19
Employers are finally starting to catch on that their gravy train is over. And that if they want good workers, they're going to have to pay for it. I live in West Texas, and one of our local car wash chains just put out a "now hiring sign". Starting rate is $20/hr. Unfortunately, local and state governments haven't caught on yet. They still want to pay minimum wage with the promise of banker's hours, decent benefits, and a pension. Until they realize that people can't buy groceries with their pension and fill their gas tanks with their health insurance card, they will have a very difficult filling their open positions.
DRotten
D Rotten 6
Inflation has a lot to do with it too. If it keeps going up (and it will), it just isn't worth going to even a $20/hr job. After everyone else 'takes their cut' (taxes, gas to get there, meals at work, ect), there will be nothing left.
SkyAware123
SkyAware123 0
yeah they do. Ther's an insane push for mass automation now. These jobs simply won't exist anymore.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

augerin
Dave Mathes 11
...out of curiosity Brad, who exactly do you think 'they' are?...
N107Sugar
N107Sugar 15
Good thought Brad, maybe that’s where the expected 4,900 “no shows” were instead of lining up for a part time minimum wage and no benefit job.
stevejayd
S Davis 2
Dry Christian of you
Siromega
Anthony Fiti 3
Where on earth is $5/gal gas in Denver? Maybe right next to the rental car return. Today at King Soopers it was $3.59.
geomosch
George Moschovas 18
We had problems moving freight through Colorado. One of the issues was getting folks to pass the pre-employment drug test. If you’re going to legalize marijuana, better change the criteria for drug testing.
SkyAware123
SkyAware123 -7
common problem. Too many dopers. Add incentive to stay home and this is what you get.
sgbelverta
sharon bias 16
A recent article in Bloomberg indicated that many of these jobs weren't full time and didn't offer benefits. Even at $20 per hour, if you only work 20 hours per week, the salary after taxes may not cover your child care expenses. Add commute time and transportation expenses (there is minimal public transportation at many US airports) and it doesn't make any sense to work at an airport job. At the very least, we need to get the school situation fixed so parents know when their kids will be in school.
thecohorts
Matt LaMay 7
Most of them work for HMS Host. They treat their employees like poo and pay worse.
DonMedia
Don Mitchell 22
The Denver airport is in the middle of nowhere. It's a long drive out from Denver to work for low pay plus have to put up with the TSA Gestapo on a daily basis.
mholliday1
Michael Holliday 5
Denver has sprawled out and practically touches the airport now.
SkyAware123
SkyAware123 -6
bullshit. it's next door.
royhunte92
Roy Hunte 2
Maybe Don Mitchell lives the other side if Denver. I know a few people with a perspective like that.
SkyAware123
SkyAware123 1
It's not in the middle of nowhere. Anyone who says that hasn't been to denver in 20+ years.
WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 2
All airports start out in the middle of nowhere. City planners allow developers to encroach on airport properties, which can hasten their closure. Does the Santa Monica airport ring a bell?
villagelawn205
John Nowosielski 15
There is one reason; and one reason only why they had such a dismal showing: money.

Pay enough money, and they’ll break the doors down to get to the job fair.
plocher
John Plocher 14
Once upon a time, in a land far away, times were good and a family of 4 could prosper (house, car, food, healthcare, tuition, pension...) on the earnings of only one parent working full time.

"You need to earn about $52,416 per year, or $25.20 per hour to comfortably rent a median one-bedroom apartment in Denver."

"a family of two adults and two children in Denver County would need to earn a combined $92,426 per year — or $7,702 a month — to live comfortably." That's almost $50/hour.

Think about it - if liberal Mom, traditional Dad, lazy Jack and child labor Jill ALL got one of those part time jobs at the airport, they still wouldn't make that $50/hour as a family...

I'm surprised that they even got 100...

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

plocher
John Plocher 10
"Jobs ranged from entry-level positions to top management roles" at "nearly 170 concessions"

None of the jobs at the airport are being done by (or are likely to be done by...) robots, so I don't see your point.

If the part time food service job pays $20/hour, and it costs $20 to get to and from the airport ($0.50/mile), and another $20 to park in employee parking, how could ANYONE even consider this type of job as anything but a waste of time?

These jobs aren't starter jobs with a career path - they are dead-end money-looser traps for the poor and desperate.

How can anyone learn a high paying skill if they have to spend all their time at a loser job earning enough to pay for food to eat/place to live? How is this a "choice to be non-productive?"
bingobanner
Russ Brown 12
Since there were 56 new billionaires in the US in 2020, times must be good. I wonder where they got all of that money?
watkinssusan
mary susan watkins 4
surprisingly, the airlines themselves,which had always been a very competative place for jobs,are having difficulty filling positions..in "the good old days", the people working at concessions in the airport,were not paid that well,nor did they get any special breaks,other than maybe a parking spot,as they worked for the individual businesses or shops, and NOT the airport..
M20ExecDriver
M20ExecDriver 5
Dennis Deslongchamp, the president of the Denver Concessionaires Association, thought 5000 would show up. Time to get rid of this clown and hire someone who can make something happen.
PatCattin
Pat Cattin 2
Jobs ? We don’t need no stinken jobs !
4zerojuliet
Rick Stone 2
I would really like to know what types of jobs were trying to be filled, and what the wages offered were.
jhakunti
jhakunti 2
They know they should pay these people more. At which point will 'saving money' actually begin to cost more money?
PaulZak
Paul Zak 2
Couldn't agree more. People can't live on scraps.
LFroehlich
Lawrence Froehlich 2
I'll work there for free. I'll sell COSTCO bottled water just past TSA for a $1.00.
kenbadger1
Ken Riehl 2
Everybody in Colorado is too busy with hydroponic cannabis cultivation. And sampling the harvest …
avionik99
avionik99 2
Wow Thats amazing! It is about an hour on average round trip to the airport, plus mostly minimum wage jobs. Lots of jobs available so nobody has any excuse to stay on the government cheese!
MikeMohle
Mike Mohle 8
Definitely a tough place to get to every day, even if workers are provided with free train tickets for the R/T.
btweston
btweston -5
In other news, the rich are getting richer.
jeffinsydney
jeff slack 16
How can anyone downvote this comment when it is inherently true?
srobak
srobak 7
oh they downvoted me last week when I posted the _actual numbers_ showing covid infection, death and survival rates. Nothing else... just the raw numbers and percentages. I quit looking at -4. People are stupid.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

bentwing60
bentwing60 15
"Same as it ever was". https://genius.com/Talking-heads-once-in-a-lifetime-lyrics

If you ever contribute a cogent, sourced comment, as opposed to a snide remark on this site, I will consider it a seminal event.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=seminal&t=brave&ia=definition

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

bentwing60
bentwing60 0
seems you haven't even a quarom in the forum.
bingobanner
Russ Brown 0
"and the poor have children, but in the meantime, in between time, ain't we got fun." Lyrics from a 1927 Depression era song. My Mom used to sing it.
TiredTom
Tom Bruce 1
my grandkid laid off last year... with feds pitching in he was getting a check for $1300 every two weeks... he just stayed home....
E1craZ4life
Edward Bardes 1
The paradox of nobody working for places because they're understaffed.
grandtraverselimo
Doug Dornbos 1
Hardly the first time something controversial has happened at DIA: https://www.hcn.org/issues/27/780

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

btweston
btweston 7
You mean the plan that started under Trump? Please tell me you’re not that dumb.
jmilleratp
jmilleratp 1
I know this is way over your head, but when you become the new president, whatever you do is up to you. Clinton did nothing to stop Al Qaeda while in office. But, George W. Bush owns 9/11.
charleslindberg
Charles Lindbergh 2
George W. Bush managed to kill more Americans in his Iraq War than Osama Bin Laden did on 9/11.
srobak
srobak -3
Like Welfare - it was meant as a temporary stop-gap when he initiated it. It was then abused by congress and the senate in 2 subsequent rounds of funding - which he was powerless to stop. It then took on the life of it's own.

And now - like welfare - it has dis-incentivized people to have enough personal pride to go work, as well as be on the government nipple in perpetuity. What you don't realize is this is actually, exactly what the whackadoo lefts in office want - a government dependent population.
Booger4203
Dan Dawson -3
Careful. You are posting truth , you know what that does to them.
jeffinsydney
jeff slack 6
.......... Hmm? "the free money" was to help during lockdowns, stand-downs and general Covid closures.
If you are paying attention, you will notice most states curtailed the programs early and the basic assistance is finished.

Contrary to conservative rumours there is no 'system' that one can live off of in the USA.
avionik99
avionik99 9
That’s not true. My sil has a niece that never works a day. Gets ssi rent assistance food stamps and lives just fine. In California it’s happening all the time by thousands of people!
PDLanum
Philip Lanum 5
SSI is Social Security => Federal. The argument here is over state unemployment. Try and keep up.

If they are getting SSI, then something your not stating is going on, such as why would a person be on SSI.
DNev
DNev -7
I wonder how many of them are legal residents?
srobak
srobak 2
This is flatly false. Most states have actually continue the programs - and under threat to do so by the fed - or to lose other federal money.

Additionally - the welfare system in its entirety was NEVER meant to be perpetual. It was supposed to be temporary assistance while people who were unemployed took it upon themselves to have personal pride and responsibility to be contributing members of society and go find meaningful work to provide for their families.

But when you make handouts and dependencies easy and permanent - you dis-incentivize people to take personal responsibility. Eventually the people who are towing the line to pay for those things get sick of other people getting the majority of their own pie - and become less inclined to provide it for everyone else.
jimsarushfan
Huck Finn 1
markhuntsinger
Mark Huntsinger 1
No one wants to wear a mask at work. You can get a job at a thousand other places and not be forced to slowly suffocate.
dlynx55
Dave L. 1
I wonder who used to fill those low paying service industry jobs?
kjhuber59
Kurt Huber 2
srobak
srobak -8
Ditch your jab and mask mandates and people will show up. Simple.
mcut
mcut 0
srobak: "Ditch your jab and mask mandates and people will show up."

BINGO!!!
charleslindberg
Charles Lindbergh -3
763,883 dead from Covid. This has a lot to do with the labor shortage. These people don't exist anymore.
rjbson1
Jeff Bateman 1
So your saying all the over weight immune compromised people who were at home anyway waiting to go to their next doctors appointment were somehow actively involved in the work force? I think the statistics show a very large portion of the deaths were older or in various stages of bad health to begin with. Please do a little critical thought next time.
charleslindberg
Charles Lindbergh 1
The dead don't buy anything nor work. 200,000 dead under the age of 65. You may want to try adding some facts or numbers to vapid talking points before criticizing facts and numbers with hot air.
rjbson1
Jeff Bateman 1
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6942e1.htm
charleslindberg
Charles Lindbergh 0
Year old data. Try again.
rjbson1
Jeff Bateman 3
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html

Your saying it's somehow changed. What a joke. The main question was actively at work. The point still remains true from the beginning till now. Largely People who weren't in the work force anyway died. The labor shortage has nothing to do with those deaths.
charleslindberg
Charles Lindbergh 1
Dead people don't work. 190,000 dead under 65 from Covid 19 as of today. Try some numbers with your counterpoints. The citations provided by you do not help your point: old and abstract.
bentwing60
bentwing60 1
You are very adept at oration while quoting no supporting references. I suggest your nom de guerre would have wound up in the Atlantic ocean!
PatCattin
Pat Cattin 0
P-shaw ! Biden can fill that need in one month on the border.
Booger4203
Dan Dawson -2

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

jmilleratp
jmilleratp 24
i.e. Live off the Middle-Class taxpayer. Lower income people even get money refunded to them. The rich just dodge taxes left and right. So, it's only those of us in the Middle Class that pay for all of this.
thecohorts
Matt LaMay 11
The middle class is shrinking faster than a you-know-what in a cold pool. And with over 40% of all US dollars ever being printed within the past 18 months, it's a safe assumption that the whole thing is going to come crashing down sometime in the near future. And when it does, it's not going to be pretty.
mbrews
mbrews 1
Question ur currency printing report. The figures are large. Weblink has data since 1997. Value has doubled in last 7 years. Most $ 100 bills circulate outside the USA.

https://www.uscurrency.gov/life-cycle/data/circulation
bentwing60
bentwing60 0
I'd wager that a substantial number of those bills were not printed at a U.S. mint! I'd also guess that the flood of FIAT money is no longer a printing process but a FED APP made of unobtanium for anyone but the chosen few.
srobak
srobak 3
I don't think you understand what is happening here. Read the article.
btweston
btweston -5
Did you… make good money?
alexa320
alex hidveghy 10
Who, me?
If so, the answer is yes. But I don’t work for any concessionaire and have transferable skills over a long time frame and also have longevity where I am. Not to mention the nature of what I do is vital to the airport….so, yes, I do get fair money for what I do as well as good benefits. All of those factors are important when you consider the level and responsibilities of any job description.
Ask someone that knows…..and FWIW, I had to change careers more than a decade ago after 14 months of continued unemployment, no matter what I did. So, I can assure those out there that have never had adversities or bumps along the career path, it isn’t always that easy. You need tenacity and persistence as well as how to turn skills to your advantage. It doesn’t happen overnight. I got lucky and I’ve been highly successful and will get a good pension as a result.
n7777r
Derek Vaughn -9
Biden's economy
Stormy105
Ed Chapman -4
Uh…..would there be a requirement to pass a drug test? Why bother to show up?
btweston
btweston -6
Uh… what is your damage?
srobak
srobak 10
You do remember that Colorado is the recreational weed capitol of the US, right?
jimsarushfan
Huck Finn -4
Who the hell wants to get a job when 'funemployment' lets everyone live off the taxpayer? Besides, there is no vaccine mandate when you're drawing funemployment!!
Frosty1025
Frosty1025 -2
Huck, you are the first one to mention one of the probable reasons why so many did NIT show up. If you are on stamps, no vaccine is required. Most of those jobs probably had mandated vaccine requirements, so why would to a minimum wage job with mandated vaccine requirements when I was a medical or first responder getting a higher salary but was fired for refusing the death vax. The article did not mentioned any requirements. A good journalist would at least have researched the requirements that were published and would be applicants would have read before trekking to the fair to the find out that vaccines were required. But your original comment is on spot. Stamp recipients do not have to be vaccinated and neither illegal aliens coming illegally across our unguarded border. Only legal citizens willing to work are required deathvax passports.
Frosty1025
Frosty1025 1
Sorry I should have proof read by comment, but I hope you get the correct meaning.
jimsarushfan
Huck Finn 0

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

Booger4203
Dan Dawson 0
Ding ding ding

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