I'm no economist, but...

One evening last week, my brother and I took a shot at eating out sans reservation. The restaurant had plenty of open tables, but the problem was lack of waitstaff.

We're seeing it everywhere. The long lines at Dunks. The UPS store that's truncated its hours. "We're hiring" signs all over the place.

A lot of folks were blaming the lush unemployment benefits, but now that they've been winding down, the real heart of the matter is exposed: some jobs are just not worth it.

Waiting tables is hard work. Diners can be pains in the butt. So can the managers. So can the kitchen staff. So can the bartenders. You work hard for your money whether you're working "fine dining" or in a diner. But the lower down the restaurant food chain you go, the less you're making in tips. Even though you're probably working just as hard to serve coffee, OJ, and pancakes to a family of four as you are when you're serving Cosmos, artichokes, and filet mignons to a couple of couples. So, pretty sucky work.

Whether you come home rich or poor at the end of you're shift, you're tired. Your feet hurt. Your back hurts. Your hair smells. Your skin is greasy. You need a shower. 

Maybe there's a better way to make a living?

And that's in the restaurant biz where you're making tips. If you're working fast food or retail, you may be making minimum wage or just a nose above it. Customers can be awful. So can managers. There may be a whole stack of petty rules and regulations. At the end of the day, you're tired. Your feet hurt. Your back hurts. If you're working fast food, rather than retail, your hair smells. Your skin's greasy. You need a shower. Before you head off to what's probably your second job. All for short money.

Maybe there's a better way to make a living?

With the economy coming back from the throes of the pandemic, there may be other options out there. Including staying home, especially if your childcare costs exceed what you're making.

If a recent job fair at Denver's airport is any indication, the labor force isn't exactly flocking back to crappy jobs. The organizers were hoping to attract 5,000 job seekers. Instead, only 100 people showed up. That was for 1,000 jobs that needed filling. 

The US's labor shortage has affected industries ranging from education and healthcare to trucking and restaurants. Record numbers of Americans have quit their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions. (Source: Yahoo News)

At the Denver job fair, they were looking to fill concession jobs - like flipping burgers at Shake Shack - but they also have a shortage of drivers for airport shuttle buses. And the airport janitors have authorized a strike:

"We are sick of being understaffed, overworked, underpaid, and undervalued for our work," a janitor who has worked at the airport for 16 years told his branch of the Service Employees International Union.

I'm delighted to see workers organizing for better pay and working conditions. Solidarity forever! Power to the People! They should take advantage while they can, because the sad truth is that a lot of these jobs are going to end up being filled by robots at some point. Autonomous vehicles to shuttle those passengers. Roombas to clean up all that mess. And jobs will be automated whether workers are making next to nothing or a living wage. So they might as well shoot for a living wage while they can.

(And don't get me started on DIY. In order to access HBO Max, I need a new cable box. Xfinity used to install it for you. Now they just mail you the box. For joy! Although I may decide to tackle this myself, for now my niece Molly is stopping by after work one evening to plug and play for me.)

Anyway, until every last job that can be automated is actually automated, there seems to be a solution to the labor shortage that a lot of businesses haven't tried.

I'm no economist, but I did take a few economics courses over time. And I was married to an actual economist, so there was osmosis and pillow talk. 

It's been a while, but I seem to remember something about supply and demand. And if the demand for what you supply is greater than supply, one surefire way to increase supply is

price adjustment. You want my labor? Pay up! Raise wages. Improve working conditions. Offer people better benefits. More flexibility. 

Maybe that'll work. 

And if the price of a burger at the Denver airport Shake Shack goes up a quarter, I'm pretty sure that ain't no one really going to notice.

It sure seems like it's worth a try.