The Efficiency Point

Episode 7: Wash Your Hands!

March 10, 2020 Modern Pumping Today Season 1 Episode 7
The Efficiency Point
Episode 7: Wash Your Hands!
Show Notes Transcript

On this episode, we highlight one California water district's response to the coronavirus. Then, we speak with Frank Steemers, an economist at The Conference Board and expert in the analysis of the U.S. labor market. Also, we preview the March issue of MPT and you’ll want to stick around to the end for a special announcement.

LINKS:

MPT magazine: http://mptmag.com

MPT on Twitter: https://twitter.com/modpumpmag

Blue-collar Labor Shortages report: https://www.conference-board.org/topics/labor-shortages

Helix Water District’s resource page: https://hwd.com/concerned-about-coronavirus/

CDC COVID-19 prevention guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-treatment.html

7th International Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles Symposium: https://netl.doe.gov/events/20PCS

spk_0:   0:03
This is the efficiency Point. A podcast from Modern public Today magazine. I'm NPT editor J. Campbell, along with our producer Richard Counsel. You can find us online at MPD mag dot com and please rate review and subscribe to the show on any of your favorite podcasts. APS On today's episode, we speak with frank steamers and economists at the conference board and an expert in the analysis of the U. S labor market. Want shortages in the domestic blue collar labor pool? Also way Preview the March issue of NPT and you'll want to stick around to the end for a special announcement. But first, let's take a look.

spk_1:   0:44
Our top story today concerns the spread of covert 19 better known as the Corona virus. At the time of this recording, the majority of domestic Corona virus cases have occurred in the West Coast, and in response to that, San Diego's Helix Water District has released a helpful resource to answer some of the more frequently asked questions about the disease and it's spread for our listeners. The most Avoca ll information is that there is currently no evidence to support the Corona virus can be transmitted through drinking water. Furthermore, for under virus can be disinfected through the use of ozone, chlorine and other treatment processes that are used in the traditional processing of tap water. It's best to remember that Corona virus spreads from person to person. Contact close contact similar to the flu, which is also respiratory illness. That's the flu is transmitted As you know, every flu season. Flu is not spread through municipal tap water. According to the centers of disease control. The best steps to keep you healthy are to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Avoid touching your eyes, mouth or nose with unwashed hands. Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or sneezing. Clean. High contact service is like phone screens, keyboards, door knob, steering wheels and so on. And get plenty of rest to keep your moon immune system Healthy will provide links to both the Helix Water District's Resource Page and the CDC prevention guidelines in the show Notes for this episode. Richard, do you have any tricks for counting down 20 seconds while you wash your hands in the prevention of the Corona virus?

spk_0:   2:24
I usually just find a really good interest on so really anything?

spk_1:   2:29
Yeah, I've heard that Happy birthday twice is 20 seconds share with my daughter. I don't know if you've ever heard the band. They might be giants Thean tro to their album. Flood is 20 seconds long And then that song actually has, you know, she's 20 years old. She does never I heard they might be giants not familiar with them But I played her the song and she said, Well, what is this? Which I thought was funny? Because the song actually says this This is the theme to flood the brand new album for 1990. And you know, I think that lyrics kind of gotta explain what the song is. So And also, just google it, You

spk_0:   3:13
know, I don't understand. You could just go and we're going back to your hole. Happy birthday thing. Twice. I mean, what if you don't? If you sing it really fast, we're slow. I mean, that's the thing. You don't really know what 20 seconds is. My thing is, as long as you use a good, hearty, antibacterial doctor soup, I think you're beyond and hot water. Make sure it's boiling water

spk_1:   3:36
parody satire. Please do not please listeners, Please do not boil your

spk_0:   3:42
hands. Don't do that now. Just

spk_1:   3:44
just, uh, all of the CDC guidelines soap and water. 20 seconds. Hopefully, uh, your heart's got all the people that are affected. Now I know it's spreading pretty fast in some places and they're looking for new cases all the time. But hopefully, if we mind our P's and Q's and do mindful prevention, hopefully we can limit the damage that the Corona virus does. Our next story, the International Supercritical Co two Power Cycles Symposium, co sponsored by the U. S Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory or any T L, will be held in San Antonio, Texas, at the end of this month starting March 30th and ending on April 2nd. The event marks the seventh Symposium and will serve as a technical meeting, bridging together industry, academia, government agencies to events, supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle technology Goal. The symposium is to create a network of expertise and technical understanding in the field and the themes that this year's event is advancing supercritical carbon docks that power cycles from the laboratory to a large scale operation, registration link for the event can be found in the show notes for this episode, and you can also check out more information for yourself at the any deals. Website. Any

spk_0:   5:00
deal dot gov dot gov Frank Steamers is Associated

spk_1:   5:09
Comics at the Conference Board and an expert in the analysis of the U S labor market. He's one of the lead researchers of the Conference Board's wage, population and labor shortages models, as well as their forecasts of US economic growth. Stingers contributed to several Converse port projects, including the reports Help Wanted. What the looming Labour shortages mean for your business. Global Labor Market Outlook 2019 and the focus of our conversation today. Blue collar worker shortages. Navigating a business environment of higher labor costs. Frank, thank you for joining us on the show.

spk_2:   5:41
You don't great, thank you. Very happy to be here.

spk_1:   5:44
Looking through the report I know said it warns the labor that blue collar labor shortages could extend for the next decade up into 2030. What are some of the influences leading to the shrinking supply of blue collar workers?

spk_2:   5:57
Right, so that is indeed one off, or that this probably did main inside of our reporters that we see that the U. S. Labor market has become very tight now but that we see that this especially tied for blue collar manual service workers. And we see that there

spk_1:   6:11
are a

spk_2:   6:11
lot off structural supplied friends coming together that we think that it is another coincidence that the labor market is tight right now and that we actually believe that it is probably going to be side for the next 10 years at least. So maybe to give a very quick over fuel, because we have seen the U. S. Labor market move from 2010 just after the great recession from a very loose labor market with very high unemployment rates. A lot of people looking for work to now one off the diet and labor markets, but low unemployment rates. A lot of companies have recruitment difficulties, but received these recruitment difficulties are most visible for blue collar manual service workers and less visible, um, for what we call the highly educated management and professional occupations.

spk_1:   6:58
And does that break down the same across demographic lines? Or is it changed by age?

spk_2:   7:06
So we we find that it is um So maybe it has to do mostly with the working age population. How fast that that's been growing. So what we see is that, um, off course now have the retirement of the baby boomers. So a lot of people are accepting the workforce right now. So what that means is that currently we almost have no growth anymore in the working age population. So that means that the pull off potentially available workers to work in across all occupations is shrinking. Now, what we find is, however, that for me, Luke, when we defied this working age population in those in people that have a better degree for you, better degree or higher, or people that have less in the vegetable agree so that their people that are generally working in blue collar manual service occupations, we see that that supply has already started to shrink. And this is mostly a trend that has to do with the U. S. Population that is getting more and more dedicated to. We see a lot of young people going into college and these college students that ended the labor market, they're generally less interested to take on these blue collar off manual service's chops.

spk_1:   8:17
Is that affecting the recovery in terms of the overall labor force participation?

spk_2:   8:23
So that's, you know, that's that's a very interesting question, because it's you would expect it when, um, the labor market is getting tighter and waited arising that more people would also be willing to participate in labor markets. So that is what he means with labor force participation rates, basically the people that are either working or actively looking for work. Now what we have seen this is that there is indeed some recovery in participation rate. So we see more women participated labor markets and more men. But the's participation rate Alexis still lower than they were before the great recession Annex b ah, few percent lower than they were in the late nineties. So this indicates to us that there's still a lot of potential for more more growth there. And if it compared, for example, to other mature economies like in Europe, Japan, where there are also aging populations, their participation rates have actually been greatly improving over time and are higher than they were, um, in the previous Beckett's, when the U. S it has picked up. But it is still fairly disappointing, and it is especially, ah, it especially not been picking up for in the labor force participation rate for people without a bachelors degree.

spk_1:   9:40
But the report also says that there's a rising demand for blue collar labor. So what? What are the leading employers doing to seek those workers out?

spk_2:   9:50
Right? Did the writing the man like this? This is all the supply side. Transit would not have been a problem if the demands would still be there or if the demands would not be there. But what we have seen this is that there is actually still very strong demand for, ah, blue collar workers. So this circumspect to what we see, what is happening to innovation and some protections you were telling us that Ah, a lot of blue color occupations would be replaced in this decade. Would be would get automated. But what we have seen actually is that that seems to be much more difficult. So productivity growth, what we often look at to get an understanding off how many jobs get automated or how many innovations we have around cos Then we actually see that this has been the slowest productivity growth decade in a very long time. So when U s a company as a company, you are not getting much more productive. So you're not getting much more out of your existing workers, then the only way for you to increase production is to hire more people. So this is also what we have. Ah, what? We have seen it happening in many manufacturing. For example, after decades off the climb in job growth we know, actually, disc decades assume not a lot. Not very strong growth, but some growth in manufacturing employment, especially in transportation. We see strong growth, of course, with equal Merce getting more important around the U. S. So that is why we see that with the shrinking supply but still stronger men there especially, Ah, a lot of pressure on blue color workers.

spk_1:   11:33
So you're fine that even even with the specter of automation coming over the horizon, there's still a lot of blue collar demand out there that's not being automated away,

spk_2:   11:45
right? And yeah, exactly. And anything that we hear, of course, a lot of talk about robot about a I, um but when we look actually a job growth over the last decades, saying construction occupations, repair, maintenance, um, transportation, production occupations. Then in many of the occupation, we actually still see positive job growth. So there's also shows that it has been very difficult to ultimate many of the death and a part of this may be related to that. We had very weak wage growth, say, up to five years ago said that was that gave companies less reason to automate because slave over skip. Now that we see that waited for our accelerating this well, maybe give another incentive to companies to think again. And maybe they will now try an implement some labor replacing technologies. Um, but so far I think one

spk_1:   12:47
off the

spk_2:   12:47
other main messages from our report is that employers for those workers should be less focused on robots taking over, because at some point, maybe it's what happened. But we don't know if that's what happened in there next 10 years of 50 years.

spk_1:   13:02
Because we've been here since since the replacement of buggy whips,

spk_2:   13:08
right? Yeah.

spk_1:   13:10
So have these conditions played out on the job market so far, and one of the trends you see taking shape going forward, Thio mean the forecast projects all the way out for the next decade.

spk_2:   13:20
So I think like the supply trends that we're talking about about shrinking supply, that as a result of the retirement of the baby boomers, that is not something that will get re first over the next 10 years. So maybe to start from the worker's perspective, what we see is that maybe in the national level, we see that the wages are they're rising. Um, but not for all groups where we see that weight is terrorizing the fastest that the sex before. Ah, those blue collar workers, workers and many will service occupations also, some sales and office occupations and less so in the highly educated occupations. So and be also see that for simple people are now switching, jobs are receiving very strong pay increases. So we also expect that in this decade that's when we expect a labor market might ah be tied for much longer time that more, more people will take the chances and find a new job and look for better opportunities.

spk_1:   14:23
And the report collected information from over 200 companies. What has proven to be a successful strategy or multiple successful strategies for attracting blue collar workers today.

spk_2:   14:36
So I think like the number one strategy Cos. Has been has been taken it to increase salaries and wages. But at the same time, they've also note that this has not been enough. So some other steps they have been taking are more technical recruitment solutions. So they use, For example, Maur companies are using before programs they're using social media more. They're outsourcing or asking staffing firms to help them. Um, some employees also down Skilling as recovered. So they're allowing now people with lower educational attainment or lower experience to just start the same occupations because they have a very hard time finding qualified workers. Um, the increasing training. They're trying to make it easier for people to get promoted. So 10 by blind, um, and what other did I want? One other, um, solution. Companies are implementing it that they're trying to make the workplace more flexible so they're long for remote work or more flexible starting or 10 times so that that that there are a few examples of what companies are now doing based on our survey.

spk_1:   15:51
Well, I think that's something that our listeners could definitely make use of. And Frank, before we go, would you like to tell the listers where they can find more of your work and more about the conference board?

spk_2:   16:02
I think the best way to see more of our work is just to go to our website, which is ah, conferenceboard dot orc. And there you can find work on our global economy on them. Ah, and on a lot of other works. And on the work that I've been working on, mostly in labor markets.

spk_1:   16:20
Well, Frank, thank you so much for the work you're doing. And thank you for sharing it with us.

spk_2:   16:25
Okay, You're welcome.

spk_1:   16:26
Thank you. If you're not a current subscriber, there's still time to sign up for a free 12 months subscription, starting with the March issue by visiting NPT mag dot com and clicking on that subscribe tab. In this upcoming issue, we have the first part of a two part series on pump curves from for multi branch systems as well as an in depth look at maximizing the benefits of running Submersible waste water pumps with variable frequency drives. But before we go, this is a special announcement. We have to make our longtime producer our first time producer from Episode one all the way to today. Richard Counsel. This is his last day working for our parent company, Highlands Publications. He's moving on to bigger and brighter and better. Things were very proud for him, but more importantly that we're also very thankful for all the hard work that he's put in to making this podcast reality. Folks there, hours of labor to go into this, to put this off that you don't get to hear. But Richard, I'm aware of all the hard work to do, and I want to know that even though the listeners never never hear the labor that you put into it, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for all your hard work. You want to say goodbye to the folks for you, right on into the sunset. It's

spk_0:   17:47
been a pleasure. Thank you for listening to our very specific podcast. It's been fun. We've learned a lot. I know I have. Jay knows a lot more about it than I do, but we've got somebody who's gonna take my spot that I'm sure he's really excited. He's sitting here today, so he's learning the ropes and

spk_1:   18:07
Richard as a shadow army.

spk_0:   18:08
I do. Yeah, but new producer is, uh we're gonna leave that a secret and let j tell you guys, but it's been fun and everybody stay safe and enjoy the water world.

spk_1:   18:17
Folks, we're not really leaving in a secret. We just don't have an extra set of headphones in the States, right? Yeah. This has been the efficiency point. A podcast from NPT magazine. Follow us on Twitter at mod Pumped mag For updates on our next episode Today's episode was produced one Last time for All time by Richard Castle. Until next time I'm your host, Jay Campbell. Thank you for listening.