Want Quality Workers? Raise Your Wages, Says Federal Reserve Official

All across America, large companies have been complaining that there just aren’t enough qualified employees. The jobs are there, but they’re difficult to staff. But while these companies continue to harp on this supposed “skills gap” hurting their businesses, there are others who hold a different assessment of the situation. It’s not that the right workers aren’t out there, it’s that you’re not willing to pay them.

According to the Washington Examiner, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President, Neel Kashkari, told a room of businesspeople at a Rotary Club meeting in Sioux Falls, S.D, “If you’re not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining.”

Kashkari went on to ask, “Are any of you planning to raise wages in the next year or two? Or are you just complaining about you can’t find workers? If you look at North Dakota in the oil boom — if you raise wages, people respond and you can find workers.”

Makes sense.