We’ve heard “Nobody wants to work” for years in the Traverse Bay Area of northern Michigan. Recently, the local economic development organizations gathered some hard data. They learned it’s true: nobody wants to work - in the lowest-paid jobs like fast-food, restaurant dishwashing, landscaping, rental car cleaning, house/office/hotel room cleaning, grunt-level nursing assistance, and school and hospital cafeterias.

The reason has to do with the fact that, in the past, logistics, light manufacturing, and similar companies which employ semi-skilled workers offered the same wages - around $12 per hour - as the fast-food, etc. places. Two years ago, they got tired of being unable to expand their businesses due to lack of staff. They raised wages to $15 per hour, then $18, and offered training and basic benefits. That triggered a major shift in the work force. Those companies no longer bitch that “no one wants to work.”

But the volume of bitching hasn’t gone down. Other employers are whining twice as loud: those which are unwilling or unable to raise wages and/or benefits enough to compete for the local pool of employees. Some of the noisiest complainers have been revealed, now that workers have better employment choices, to be notorious for having crappy bosses and working conditions.