When workers are desperately needed, how much are we willing to spend?

As the world deals (well, does NOT deal very well) with the omicron mutation and we look forward to finishing up the Greek alphabet with the omega variant in the coming year, life goes on and so does the economy.

Here's a little story I heard from a friend the other day, based on what her son learned while interviewing owners of an auto dealership/shop. He works in marketing and wanted tips on how to appeal to auto dealers to become sponsors or advertisers. I have no idea what he learned about that, but he did hear this (I am likely just summarizing):

There is a looming auto mechanics shortage, with an aging workforce and more people pushing their vehicles for a few extra years of service as inflation rises and the economy remains uneven. And there is a shortage of new cars available due to supply chain issues. 

This dealer claimed that he is willing to pay $250,000 salaries to qualified and certified mechanics... right now. He could care less about a college degree or even a high school diploma as long as the employee could pass the required training courses.

And he has five positions available today.

That same day I saw that about 30,000 public school teachers from across the country had quit in September and October. The job tends to attract people who value "mission" over money and accept the fact that they will never be well-paid. I have been one of those teachers since the mid-1970s who made the compromise and valued my contributions to the larger community. I'm no saint, of course, nor very unusual in this regard. 

In fact, it turned out that all those years of not making much money but being part of a mandatory retirement fund system pays off in the long run. 

But there is some sort of line, and teachers today seem to be right on it. Lack of money plus a surfeit of phony respect (much like "thank you for your service") plus radical citizens attacking them from all directions, plus a vague belief that anyone could teach, and the general discomfort from masks, stubborn children and parents and more have combined to make a number of educators rethink their choices. 

I read that a school district in New Jersey doubled sub pay from $125 to $250 per day. No organization does that unless desperation is setting in, if not outright panic. It will be interesting if this radical increase reduces their sub problem. In our system, employers must always attempt to find the LEAST they can pay but still offer products and services (and retain workers).

In Colorado, the average public school teacher salary is $60,000, though there are wide disparities depending on the district. And there is a looming shortage of teachers coming.

What would change the dynamic? Would average pay of $120,000 be enough to attract more talented teachers? Or maybe bumping the average by just $10,000 a year could do it. 

I have no idea if the owner of that car dealership was entirely serious about his $250,000 offer, but it is clear that something needs to happen to attract our workforce to certain occupations.

Life is much more complex than simple cause and effect between high salary and interested job seekers. But some poor schmuck of an English teacher making $40,000 a year in a mountain town just might find motivation to switch jobs with the promise of $150,000 after a short (far shorter than obtaining a college degree) period of training.

The mountains are beautiful and the lifestyle may be just what a person wants.

But tripling or quadrupling your income is tough to resist. And who is to say if maintaining vehicles can't bring equal satisfaction to a person as teaching basic grammar and punctuation to ninth graders (or college students)?