People will rationalize anything. Who might have predicted years ago that we'd be in a position like this:
Employer: "I just can't find any qualified people to work! I'll have to import people from overseas who've never done this work before!"
Person: "But... there's load of people right in this city who have these skills who'd like to come work for you."
Employer: "WTF? They've not had a job in 9 months!"
Person: "That's because your competition closed down and you're one of the few places in town that needs their skills but you didn't want to hire them, even though you need workers to keep up with demand."
Employer: "BUT THEY HAVE NOT HAD A JOB IN 9 MONTHS! NEXT MONTH IT WILL BE 10 MONTHS!"
Yes, I understand that long-term unemployment can bring about changes in people wrt skills and perhaps socialization (keeping 'normal' hours, etc). That's not what's in play all the time. We had a HUGE increase in job seekers - employers had their pick of whoever they wanted for most positions, and some will continue to make the criteria harder to fill if it means they'll get something out of it (tax breaks for hiring long-term unemployed, relaxed immigration bills for cheaper foreign workers, ability to keep wages down in their region, etc).
Employer: "I just can't find any qualified people to work! I'll have to import people from overseas who've never done this work before!"
Person: "But... there's load of people right in this city who have these skills who'd like to come work for you."
Employer: "WTF? They've not had a job in 9 months!"
Person: "That's because your competition closed down and you're one of the few places in town that needs their skills but you didn't want to hire them, even though you need workers to keep up with demand."
Employer: "BUT THEY HAVE NOT HAD A JOB IN 9 MONTHS! NEXT MONTH IT WILL BE 10 MONTHS!"
Yes, I understand that long-term unemployment can bring about changes in people wrt skills and perhaps socialization (keeping 'normal' hours, etc). That's not what's in play all the time. We had a HUGE increase in job seekers - employers had their pick of whoever they wanted for most positions, and some will continue to make the criteria harder to fill if it means they'll get something out of it (tax breaks for hiring long-term unemployed, relaxed immigration bills for cheaper foreign workers, ability to keep wages down in their region, etc).