[poncho-mike]

After the Great Recession that lasted from 2008 - 2009, jobs were hard to find and often laid off workers had to settle for healthy salary cuts to land a new gig. Many of the people laid off during that time were higher paid employees aged 45 or more. Today, employers are complaining they can't find and keep new workers and are facing a wave of older workers retiring. I wonder if the worker shortage will reverse the trend, forcing employers to take offer better wages and benefits to their US employees? Of will companies handle it by pressing congress to allow more immigrants to come in and fill those jobs or outsourcing more jobs to India and Asia.

My employer has done little to instill loyalty. A few years back, our 401-K match was cut by 1%, and less than a month later, they raised their dividends payable to shareholders. When I hired on, one of the retiree benefits was a $50K life insurance plan paid for by the company. That was eliminated about ten years ago. Basically my employer kept cutting benefits to the point where there is no difference between retiring and quitting. My employer offers retiree health insurance if you are not Medicare eligible, but it is more expensive than Obamacare. I know this sounds like griping, but what right do corporations have to expect any loyalty when they treat their employees like a disposable asset.