Mike Rowe: The Disconnect Between Millions of Available Workers & The Labor Shortage | Centerpoint 

I was a recipient of his scholarship. It paid for almost my entire trade school tuition. Thanks Mike.

Formula for Business Failure Base your business success on 1. hiring a minimal number of part-time workers. You could make more money at the expense of workers. 2. never pay your workers - above minimum wage - any benefits (healthcare, sick leave, savings, etc.) - paid vacation or leave 3. Offering minimal training and fewer rewards for good work. 4. Treat workers, whether high-skilled, low skilled or unskilled, as if they are disposable resources and pawns to manipulate, rather than valuable people with purpose, real lives and making meaningful contributions to your business. 5. Let your workers see your prosperity at their expense and flaunt all the benefits and perks that they will never attain while working for your business. 6. Make sure your workers know that their job is to make you prosperous, with their hard work, while their growth, personal life and financial state is of no consequence to you. 7. Believe that your workers are unethical, prefer to be on government support, are lazy, stupid and should be grateful just to have a job anywhere. 8. When a worker reevaluates working for you and quits, keep thinking that what you practiced in the past with your employees will work for your business in the future. If your business brings you success, but keeps your workers in a poverty cycle, why would anyone continue to work for your business if they cannot make progress for themselves. Many young people want to work, but not with the sole motive of making you wealthy while their financial lives stagnate. Some small to middle-sized business need to change their business models to value workers or face closure.

They say 10 million jobs available, I know the industrial supply companies aren't hiring people with 25-30 yrs experience they're laying the experience people off because they don't want to pay the high salaries, if they are hiring then it's for salary that you can't live on

And on a macro level, at about the same time Mike was in college, Jack Welch was ceo of G.E. and Ronald Reagan was president. Welch embarked on a huge change that affected the country as a whole. His philosophy was that corporate America's main responsibility was to the shareholder and he gutted American manufacturing, shipping those jobs overseas. Other CEO's followed suit and corporate America and Wall St. made fortunes, but the stakeholders who build the United States, especially after WW2 were turned out and the dismal 4 decades since then has contributed to the situation that we are in now.

$50 Trillion siphoned from labor since 1970, in lost wages. Housing at 8-10x income. Inflation at probably 15%. Yeah, who wants to work?

Let's go back to physically applying for a job by filling out an application and having an interview instead of using the internet and not having a PERSON looking at the info....

No wait Mike, most back pain can be proven with an MRI but insurance doesn’t want to pay for that. It’s too bad as often it can be fixed.

You're doing a great job Mike. Work is productivity. Not just showing up

People are not going to work for peanuts any more. Corporate America has screwed over works for too long, the days of cheap labor is over.

The main reason food,retail etc has issues finding workers is not just the money (let's be real it is a factor $9 /hr does not go far) it's the lack of respect given to anyone in a customer service job that is retail/food oriented. People treat them like lesser beings that deserve to be crapped on on a daily basis. The physical work on my job is not the hardest , the mental side is another story. I am a cashier and deal with no end of verbal abuse. I am good at my job ,I try to bring people's moods up. Often when they are in a bad mood they will flat out be mean as sin to you. Something as simple as IDing someone for tobacco/alcohol etc can set a person off where they are hollering at you and cussing you out. You are not allowed to retaliate. If you do ,you lose your job. Holidays are the absolute worst. Would love a show based around retail that truly shows the way the employees are treated by customers. Some of my customers light up my day and are fantastic,some strain my patience, some have brought me to tears with the way they act towards me. I am a grown woman who has handled so many things in my life. Dealing with people in a retail/food service capacity is the absolute hardest thing I have dealt with.

Here's two things he's wrong about: Many of these jobs, including these trade jobs which Rowe touts with his Mike Rowe Works campaign, require experience which a lot of people don't seem to have. For example I once took a carpentry class at my local vo-tech school and went out trying to join some local construction companies. Not one hired me or even called me for an interview. You either had to be experienced or the brother-in-law of one of the guys there. And then there's state certifications and licensing which you have to take a test and pay your own money to get before you can work. It impedes job growth. Professionalism is not measured with a certificate or license. It's measured by how well you do your job.

I don't want to just work, I want to be appreciated.

Hey Mike I know where the Back Pain & Mental anguish Comes From , From years of being under paid and over worked . 4 x 8 -7/16 OSB plywood went from 10 bucks a sheet to 80 bucks a sheet and I never heard you complain about that . Just think what would happen if skill labor went from 20 bucks an hour to 160 bucks an hour ? You think their would be a skill trades shortage ?

I do know that those of us that are working are killing ourselves because of the people that won't work but still want services

Open job? No one applying? Lots of freed up people? Raise the wage. This is simple economics, 10th grade level.

Can’t or won’t work? What’s the difference? 7,000,000 men of fighting age, unable or unwilling to provide for their family is dangerous. History is littered with examples of disastrous consequences of too many men w/o purpose. Shaming them is not the answer. They need leadership, hope for a better future. Or they will burn it all down.. it’s a dangerous time

Great interview. Amazingly powerful closing story.

Love Your show Mike. Am a Truck Driver. Travel All Over the country. Everywhere I go. There's Help wanted signs. There's people who don't want to work. There's so many driving jobs needed. Shameful.

I can answer the question... it has nothing to do with a, "hard work ethic." Men are checking out. Why bust your butt, working hard, getting in the hours, to be taxed by a system that hates you and to prop up a society that lays every social ill at the feet of men. For what? And then you go home to a family where, more than likely, your wife is going to divorce you and take most of your stuff? So... men are checking out. They are doing what they enjoy and working just hard enough to enjoy their lives.

Mike made a living out of reading well. That’s all. Just because someone is a reality television star, doesn’t make them an authority on the subject. Mike will never know the reality of a layoff from a trade job, due to a nepotism layoff.

MIKE ROWE FOR SUPREME LEADER

good thing I did not close after Mike's interview was over. The final act, sent by a viewer, was very nice.

you pay peanuts you get monkiez. even monkiez got smarter. three words, seven figure salaries for people who actualy do the work.

Really enjoyed Mike Rowe in "Somebody's Got to Do It". His new series on TBN is like Paul Harvey's radio show, The Rest of the Story, only dramatized for TV. It's really fun even though some stories can bring a tear. Mike has both feet on the ground (usually) meaning he has loads of common sense, practical insight, and his moral compass seems to be pointed the right way. Please have him on Centerpoint again.

I retired from the navy 3 years ago. Since then I have gone out looking for work. I get a modest pension and don’t need to work. My trouble is finding something full-filling. I don’t need to sell my soul to afford to live anymore. I want to find work that provides a purpose and satisfaction. I haven’t found it. For the time being being a parts driver for auto zone gets me cheap parts for my various projects.

I'm one of those that want to do it myself I don't understand reliance on the government. Yet I don't feel all people are lazy the youngsters I work with work their butts off. Yet I would like to retire I know people of retirement age putting retirement off because of what's going on today.

Wondering if vaccine mandates have anything to do with the loss of workers?

Never thought I'd see the day when Mike Rowe starts spewing corporate propoganda. Worker compensation has been flat since the 1970s, while worker productivity has steadily climbed. So if you believe in supply and demand, significantly increased worker pay is the solution. The problem is employers are raising pay. But at a rate lower than inflation. If you haven't noticed, the price of goods have risen roughly 30% over the past year. Anyone seeing pay raising the same amount?

Why should men work for a society that hates them? Adjusted for inflation, what should minimum wage be?

From over 20 years in logistics and manufacturing, I’ve notice that many people don’t want to put in the effort to move up or move out. They opt to take on jobs that they want to put minimum effort in but want maximum pay. There are hundreds of not thousands of opportunities to move into better paying job, many which offer training, especially in the trades. Instead they lock themselves into one position and blame the economy and the paychecks of others as the reason they can’t get ahead. The other route is educating one’s self to move up, whether it’s managing the equipment that replaced their job, managing people, or systems. If you’re willing to take a risk, you can start your own business. College is useless unless you go into a field of study that is job specific to enter the market such as a doctor, anthropologists, mechanical engineering, etc…. However if your college education is $300k for a job field that only pays $75k per year, that’s just foolish to even entertain. Having a degree in spa jazz and expecting a $90k per paycheck to operate a cash register is unrealistic too.

Love this dude

Based on how much his college degree costs in todays dollars it should be 35000, which is still too expensive. But if it cost 92000, then that means it is 2.5 times more expensive than it was in 1984. Ridiculous. 23:14

Mike Rowe is a quiet giant.

The college and military communities have recruited from high schools for decades with mostly positive results. Far as I know, the trade schools, unions and local contractors have never set foot on a high school campus. Are they barred legally or philosophically from offering alternative career choices?

Could all these positions be unfulfilled due to so many people being forced by threat of being dismissed from their positions if they failed to get the vac 💉? Most Americans I think were deeply offended by these threats and I think after considering that this could happen again decided on a different path altogether.

I have disagree with Mike I was offered a job in Oklahoma moved from Florida and when I got here they said I can not have the job because I did not have a high school diploma but I have 40 plus years as a welder fitter and fabricator the background check took 6weeks I am willing to instruct and will to teach my trade. So now I have to get my GED and I will see what happens.

Let's ask ourselves what has changed in the past few years? What happened to many a young person who lost their job and told to go home. Their education came to a halt and expected to learn remotely. Another question? What "thing" was mandated to many workers? What did doctors push on every patient young and old? We all know what it was and is still happening? If you are a thinking person you can concur that ppl have been either harmed or dead from it. Could that be so you might ask? Main stream media will not say...but it is happening! Do your own research and see for yourself. We need to question everything. We've been lied to about so much already! So ppl open your eyes and get your face out of social media! When we make wrong decisions...eventually the chickens come home to roost...whether we like it or not. I wish I was wrong about all of this, but I KNOW I'm not!!! One more thing: do you think that the work ethic of sooo many people changed between 2019 and 2022? Think!! Really?? NO

I see my basement level studio apartment needs some work.

i worked in the chemical industry for 43 years for the last 15 years and really more i was unappreciated and i did all the DIRTY JOBS and i did it all to much to list!! so at 61 i retired !! but i was tired of the plant manager lying all the time!!!!!! and the new people coming in didnt have to pay any does plus the new hire in's had no chemical back ground what so ever !!! the plant manager was a security guard before he worked at sfs!!! oh after i left two others quit!!! i would love to talk to mike about this its a prize winner oh i bought a fenton vase from him long long ago!!! ;)

People want end of career wages when they don't have experience. They think they are worth more than they are.

This guy just wants people to work and take care of what needs to be taken care of. Instead of being social media influencers, hip hop singers or porn stars

Wow ! I didn’t know you could sing too !

Mike should get a job

Just get the Women to go do all the work, problem solved

Awesome job Mike! Spot on!

I'd take a job, right now. What are they going to pay me?

there is a path to prosperity???? really???? would you be willing to elaborate and to be specific ? double - triple of minimal wage is that a prosperity you talking about????

I have no issue with otherwise healthy individuals deciding not to be gainfully employed. I have a huge issue with them then turning around and wanting those of us who are employed to support their self imposed vacation.

It means the work ethic is gone...

Mike Rowe exemplifies the genius of the common man. His grasp of issues surpasses almost any PhD, except Thomas Sowell. I wish we could clone him and have him serve at every level of government and industry.

You get get a job 8 hours a day 6 days a week mike, show us how it's done. Take home 6 or 7 hundred a week. You do that for one year, then I will listen to you

Dont call me babe, Ill call you. I got a tax payin job.

A whole lot about nothing.

Missing a big point. That age gap is prime parent and raising kid age for all sexes. Considering how expensive childcare is, it often makes more sense for a parent to stay home. If they still need money they often work online or do gig work. Lockdown gave people time to reprioritize their lives and minimum wage service physical jobs are not worth it. I live in a country with one of the highest minimum wages, paying more is NOT the issue at all. Its childcare, travel, housing and more. We want to work but the trade off in most aspects of our lives cost more than we are prepared to accept anymore. Lockdown gave us time to think and we did. Government handouts are often so little it wouldn't pay for a room in a share house so 'Living large of free Government $$' trope is a myth that needs to die.

God does anyone find the irony in this? This guys spent his hole life avoiding real work. I didn't think tv hosts were blue collar