The effects of the worker shortage
1 big thing
Axios
4.0 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Alex met Sam at nursery. They were first loves. They built forts together, shared sandwiches in high school and were each other's first kiss. |
| 0:12.0 | They were the dream couple until Sam got into EDM music. |
| 0:18.0 | While Alex enjoyed folk, first loves are kind of like your current account. If they aren't working for you anymore, |
| 0:26.5 | maybe it's time to switch with the current account switch service. |
| 0:33.5 | Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Thursday, June 24th. I'm Nyla Boudou. |
| 0:39.5 | Here's what you need to know today. President Biden's executive orders on gun violence. |
| 0:44.5 | Plus, Ibrahim X. Kendi on voting rights. But first, today's one big thing. What a lack of workers means for businesses we rely on. |
| 0:57.5 | This morning, we're bringing you the stories of how a labor shortage is affecting two industries. |
| 1:02.5 | Let's start with airlines. Travelers are making their way back to airports in droves. |
| 1:07.5 | Just this past Sunday, the TSA said they screened more than two million people, the highest number since March 2020. |
| 1:14.5 | But are the airlines ready? Joanne Mueller is Axios' transportation correspondent and is here with the latest on this slice of the labor shortage. Good morning, Joanne. |
| 1:22.5 | Good morning, Nyla. |
| 1:24.5 | One example of this is American Airlines, which we heard them say recently they're canceling hundreds of flights. Is this all because they don't have enough workers? |
| 1:33.5 | Right. They have a shortage of pilots and other associated jobs. And this really goes back to the furloughs that occurred back in October of 2020. |
| 1:46.5 | The industry is going through some growing pains right now because it's rebounded much faster than anyone could have thought. |
| 1:53.5 | On the other hand, we need to remember that this is only about 1% of American airlines is overall flight schedule. |
| 2:02.5 | And they've been pretty proactive in addressing this so that hopefully people are not seeing delays on the day of travel. They're being re-booked before then. |
| 2:13.5 | And this isn't just American Airlines though when we're talking, for example, about the pilot shortage. That's happening across the industry. How are airlines trying to solve this? |
| 2:23.5 | Well, that's true. Delta has said they're going to hire about 1,000 pilots between now and next summer. United Airlines is also hiring more pilots. |
| 2:34.5 | And they've created a new airline academy. They're going to try to recruit 5,000 pilots between now and 2030. |
| 2:43.5 | But what's interesting is they're working hard to make sure that half of those pilots are either women or people of color. |
| 2:51.5 | So you mentioned with American Airlines, for example, just less than 1% of flights. What should travelers expect this summer? |
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