Nobody wants to work?

[CaptinObvious]

So I've been getting back to this game and have been having a blast as Iran

I've gotten to the late game where I was hit with a massive hardwood shortage, and since I was embargoed by Russia, there was no other way of getting it

This is when I noticed this

Huh, strange, I straight up have an input shortage of HW, yet my lumberyards are deserted?

Could've sworn I had millions of people rendered jobless by recent waves of automation

So what's going on here? I have empty jobs, I have unemployed people, and I have an input shortage, this sounds like a problem that should simply resolve itself

So to quote the stronghold scribe:
Wood needed

 

[Question]

I mean, the red weekly balance makes it pretty obvious why. Subsidize them. Its also very hard/impossible for some buildings to make a profit due to poor economy balancing (synthetic silk makes a loss). There may be some economy rebalance mods that help.

 

[x8ight]

I mean, the red weekly balance makes it pretty obvious why. Subsidize them. Its also very hard/impossible for some buildings to make a profit due to poor economy balancing (synthetic silk makes a loss). There may be some economy rebalance mods that help.

Red number why.

Very helpful

I've also been noticing this and I'm not really sure how to tackle the issue. My understanding is that pops are essentially over educated and are unwilling to work the job in question either due to being over qualified or in a higher social strata. As Question suggests, it may be in your case that you need to subsidize the work because wages being offered are too low.

 

[Oglesby]

Red number why.

Very helpful

I've also been noticing this and I'm not really sure how to tackle the issue. My understanding is that pops are essentially over educated and are unwilling to work the job in question either due to being over qualified or in a higher social strata. As Question suggests, it may be in your case that you need to subsidize the work because wages being offered are too low.

The number is red because the value of the input goods plus the wages is greater the value of the output goods.

@CaptinObvious
When did they finish building because it looks like they are hiring but it take 4-5 weeks to staff if there aren't any qualification issues.

 

[niemcycle]

It looks like the reason the building is operating at a loss is because of the high wages demanded, the wages alone are nearly as much as the revenue brought in, and note the ridiculous $68.6 average wage. So essentially, your building won't hire anyone because it can't afford to pay them.

Do you have any minimum wage laws enacted? Those could be contributing to the inflated wages. If not, you might be able to is to wait a few weeks, the building should reduce its wages in order to try and reach full employment, as long as there aren't other buildings in that state with equally high wages.

 

[DukeLeto42]

So what's going on here? I have empty jobs, I have unemployed people, and I have an input shortage, this sounds like a problem that should simply resolve itself

I'm going to bet you're in a laborer shortage. On occasion (usually because of poaching by other jobs or upsets like PM changes), a building will end up with a giant pile of its useless jobs (lots of capitalists, lots of mechanics, not a single laborer).

When this happens, a perfectly profitable industry ends up losing money. It generally will fire its way back into profitability and fix itself. Thankfully, you also have the option to subsidize the building, which should get it to rehire its basic laborers and fix the issue - it usually doesn't take more than a week or two of subsidies to fix these kind of imbalances.


Also, nice Stronghold reference.

 

[CaptinObvious]

When did they finish building because it looks like they are hiring but it take 4-5 weeks to staff if there aren't any qualification issues.

I built these as part of my opening moves, they have been around since 1837

I'm going to bet you're in a laborer shortage. On occasion (usually because of poaching by other jobs or upsets like PM changes), a building will end up with a giant pile of its useless jobs (lots of capitalists, lots of mechanics, not a single laborer).

I have 5mln unemployed people in my country. 500k in this province alone

And actually, Labourers are more filled (as a percentage) than capitalists, if anything, I have a shortage of leeches capitalists
[Just checked, I have no need for labourers in lumber mills as Chainsaws and Rail Log Carts push them to 0]

When this happens, a perfectly profitable industry ends up losing money. It generally will fire its way back into profitability and fix itself. Thankfully, you also have the option to subsidize the building, which should get it to rehire its basic laborers and fix the issue - it usually doesn't take more than a week or two of subsidies to fix these kind of imbalances.

as others have posted, this building is in the red, which doesn't make sense since I have a crippling shortage of wood (don't), hell, artificially rasing wood prices and letting the game run for a week or so also seems to not work

Also, this is an issue across my entire economy, I have millions of unemployed people and millions of empty job slots

Do you have any minimum wage laws enacted? Those could be contributing to the inflated wages. If not, you might be able to is to wait a few weeks, the building should reduce its wages in order to try and reach full employment, as long as there aren't other buildings in that state with equally high wages.

Yes. I have worker's protection + lvl 5 OSHA, I also have Poor Laws + lvl 1

...did I just USSR my self?

 

[brainiac1530]

You haven't "USSR'd yourself." The people aren't even pretending to work, but you pay them anyway. The unemployed get 50% of the "normal wage," and I'd guess that's really high right now due to the maxed out minimum wage law. Honestly, if this was really the only problem you were having, I'd say you got off easy.

But, it's probably not the only problem you have right now. Why is transportation a high cost good? I'm guessing that's because the railroads are also FUBAR.

 

[Kingman]

You just USSRd yourself.

 

[MatthewP]

My understanding is minimum wage gets set to x% of the normal wage, which is the average wage. If it's at 100%, which yours is, then it means buildings can't pay less than the average wage. This means any building that's less profitable than average won't be able to make a profit. And if they're not making a profit they will fire employees until they do.

Or, to put it more briefly, don't have 100% minimum wages unless you're a command economy.

 

[CaptinObvious]

My understanding is minimum wage gets set to x% of the normal wage, which is the average wage. If it's at 100%, which yours is, then it means buildings can't pay less than the average wage. This means any building that's less profitable than average won't be able to make a profit. And if they're not making a profit they will fire employees until they do.

Or, to put it more briefly, don't have 100% minimum wages unless you're a command economy.

Ok. that explains it

I dropped OSHA to lvl two and it worked. Thank you every one

 

[Oglesby]

Ok. that explains it

I dropped OSHA to lvl two and it worked. Thank you every one

Also if you are having issues with lacking capitalists, do not use publicly traded.

 

[Secret Master]

This might be an obvious question, but have you tried lowering your PMs to less powerful ones?

Higher end PMs tend to reduce the number of laborers and increase the need for POPs in higher jobs. Even if you meet the qualifications for those jobs, the higher wages might be killing the industry.

To be clear, I'm not arguing that the PMs are causing things to be expensive themselves, only that they are driving up wages.

 

[Leoreth]

Worker's Protections is currently a "implode my economy please" law.

 

[LarsStok]

Worker's Protections is currently a "implode my economy please" law.

Only if you max it out, after discovering that I never go full WP. Keeping it at max lvl four allows you to even out wages without completely melting your econ.

 

[Meneye]

Yes. I have worker's protection + lvl 5 OSHA, I also have Poor Laws + lvl 1

...did I just USSR my self?

Nah, they'd still be impoverished if that was the case. In your case, you... yeah, no country ever did that.

You CaptainObvious'd yourself.

 

[Leoreth]

Only if you max it out, after discovering that I never go full WP. Keeping it at max lvl four allows you to even out wages without completely melting your econ.

True. But then you sacrifice 20% unnecessary worker lethality. Which is less bad than tanking your economy of course, but still annoying.

 

[Opanashc]

True. But then you sacrifice 20% unnecessary worker lethality. Which is less bad than tanking your economy of course, but still annoying.

It's the opportunity cost of having such laws. I want to have all parties at +20 loyalty and +20 clout, so I can enjoy maximum buffs from them, but that's not happening.

 

[Leoreth]

I don't think that is an appropriate comparison. IGs conflict because they have different interests that cannot be satisfied simultaneously.

Here, the issue is that

1. The implementation of minimum wage under worker's protection with level 5 institution is bugged or incorrect in such a way that it is inherently unsustainable
2. There is no reason why the minimum wage level is tied to the degree of safety regulations in your industries