Is there a shortage of labourers iin western world?

Don't know about those jobs, but in construction, at least where I'm working, we go through laborers quite frequently. The only exception is the older laborers who have been doing it a long time, but all the 18-mid 20 year olds don't last very long. I'm a laborer for construction company and apparently the 3 guys before me quit or were fired after a couple months. 

Can't blame them, the job isn't easy and the pay sucks, but I figure a job is a job and I need it to pay for school so I just keep doing my best hoping for a raise some day.

lol no, at least, it doesnt seem like it in California.

I have previously predicted that one day, there will be no one to build houses, roads, cars, office buidlings as well as anything that requires a human to use his or her hands to put it together. That is due to no one wanting to do actual work. Today, kids grow up wanting to go to college instead of learning a trade or wanting to get their hands dirty. The good thing is, I will be dead and buried when that happens. I am not sure if I should show sympathy for them or apathy. It will be a sad day that is for sure.

I keep saying that not everyone needs to go to college and that is the truth. Here is a neat little tidbit:

2009 Lang Report and Lang marketing data:
Although the Do It For Me (DIFM) market soared by $15 billion from 1998 to 2008, the automotive repair industry has yet to catch up

The average number of U.S. vehicles per service bay has increased from 160 cars per bay in 1998 to over 200 cars per in 2008

It is anticipated that some 2,000 automotive dealerships will close their doors in 2009 reducing the number of service bays by an additional 30,000 which will result in the increase of vehicles to service bay ratio

Source

Even back when I was a mechanic, a trade magazine had an article about the number of service bays closing and now, with the big three closing dealerships with the economic downturn years ago, this is true even moreso now.

No. There is a shortage of people willing to work for poor wages.TheWalkingGhost

Not all jobs are worth paying someone $20 an hour for. Unskilled labor is always needed, but many people just do not want to do such work and would rather someone else feed and clothe them instead of at least working so they can learn a skill associated with the other jobs that relate to the low skill job. Someone just does not start welding the first day on the job, they have to do the grunt work of prep before they can pick up a stinger and strike a rod.

People can have a hard time making a living without important skills. Many jobs will end up in China because they will work for 93 cents an hour.

No there isnt a shortage the problem is the amount of money such jobs pay though which makes them quite undesirable in the westren world and for good reason it can be pretty hard to live off certain jobs.

Labour should be relagated to under paid foreigners and to the failures of the educational system. No self respecting human should want such a job. If you work as a labourer it is either due to your own failings or the failings of your government. A strong technocratic government should do every thing in it's power to keep its citizens away from those jobs, if it can not it allows its citizens to want these unskilled jobs then that government has either failed as a government or has not fully developed.

No, there is a shortage of jobs tho.

Companies are becoming more and more demanding lately, so they hire and fire many people, where I work, every week they hire someone new and then fire them because they can't keep up, sucks, but it's true.

Yes.  There are too many potato speculators, and not enough potato farmers these days.  

Labor intensive jobs are seen all over our western world, but you may have trouble finding one right now. As I'm sure you've heard, jobs aren't exactly plentiful anymore after we dug our own graves :/ Among other reasons, I think greed and advances in technology are part to blame.krazykarl0419

[QUOTE="krazykarl0419"]Labor intensive jobs are seen all over our western world, but you may have trouble finding one right now. As I'm sure you've heard, jobs aren't exactly plentiful anymore after we dug our own graves :/ Among other reasons, I think greed and advances in technology are part to blame.Laihendi

[QUOTE="Laihendi"][QUOTE="krazykarl0419"]Labor intensive jobs are seen all over our western world, but you may have trouble finding one right now. As I'm sure you've heard, jobs aren't exactly plentiful anymore after we dug our own graves :/ Among other reasons, I think greed and advances in technology are part to blame.Fightingfan