More than 10 million jobs are available in America, looking for workers. Yes, the United States has a very unusual problem. A Nigerian here who runs a restaurant business is closing the business as he cannot find workers in Chicago. Another one in Michigan said he is winding down a nursing home due to shortage of workers. Now you may ask: how is that possible? Leadership.
Job openings in the U.S. set the second record in as many months — 10.1 million — while a rising quit rate suggests workers are more confident in their employment prospects. The most recent Labor Department report, from the final day in June, hasn’t captured the impact of the surging delta variant on businesses since then. But, say experts, the rise in openings from 9.5 million in May shows a trend that favors workers’ interests.
- A factor in the number of available jobs outnumbering those looking for work is a mismatch between where people want to work and which industries are hiring, says The Wall Street Journal.
(LinkedIn)
The US has about 100 million more people than Nigeria. Technically, if we are operating at a decent rate, we should be creating at least 4 million jobs per year. If we do that, we can technically deal with graduate unemployment.
Then, we will need another 2 million to handle post-secondary but pre-university opportunities. Farm employment which employs about 65% of Nigeria’s working population has adequately managed our pre-secondary unemployment. All we need there is to boost productivity in farming.
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There are critical anchors to execute this playbook as I have noted here. Sure, insecurity is a challenge but I see insecurity as an “effect” and not a “cause”, and with a great playbook, Nigeria can systematically deal with it. I am very confident that Nigeria can experience this unusual US challenge if we execute well as a people.
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