Workers and job seekers at the lower end of the pay scale are earning higher wages and have more job choices now than before the pandemic, in Salem, the state and the U.S.
Why is this the case? The explanation has to do with the unique nature of what happened to the economy over the pandemic’s course.
Recall that 90 percent of the 26,000 jobs lost in the Salem area in the first months of the pandemic were low-wage jobs mostly in service industries. Hardest hit was the leisure and hospitality industry, which lost half its employment in one month. The categories of retail sales and health care and social assistance also lost substantial numbers of workers early on.
This was truly unique. Layoffs in the Great Recession (beginning in 2008) were evenly split between service workers and goods-producing workers (such as construction and manufacturing).
As the pandemic progressed, some laid-off workers went to work in other industries. As pandemic restrictions eased and hiring ramped up again, there was a huge demand for workers in lower-wage service jobs.
Then a basic law of economics came into play.
When demand for something increases, the price of that something goes up – in this case, labor to fill lower-wage service jobs. Sure enough, employers had to raise wages to attract applicants.
There’s plenty of evidence that this happened.
First, overall wages in Marion County increased from 2021 to 2022 by nearly 1% after accounting for inflation, according to the Oregon Employment...
A La Habra-based provider of positron emission tomography scan services has agreed to pay more than $8.3 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by offering improper payment...