[gruez]

> There isn’t a labor shortage. There’s a shortage of people willing to be abused and exploited.

and those "abused and exploited" people are providing the labor, leading to a labor shortage.

I don't understand people who think "shortage" need to be qualified by how sympathetic the reason for the shortage is. You can either be the type of person who thinks any failure to meet demand is a shortage, or that shortages don't exist because people can simply pay more. The in-between of "there's a failure to meet demand but they deserve it so it's not really a shortage" seems like trying to inject subjectivity to an objective word.

[kayodelycaon]

The people saying there is a shortage of workers aren’t using the dictionary definitions.

There is a shortage of people willing to accept their terms. There isn’t a shortage of people who want to work.

[gruez]

>There is a shortage of people willing to accept their terms. There isn’t a shortage of people who want to work.

Would you also agree that there's no housing shortage in the US, only a shortage of houses available at locations and prices that people are willing to accept?

[effingwewt]

No, because we have land to build on and derelict buildings we can clear.

Either way your comparison is moot, as houses are not people, and as such cannot be treated badly and so decide it doesn't want to be bought/sold.

[calvano915]

> people who want to work

This is where there's disagreement. Is it people fed up with poor working conditions, life circumstances that prevent employment, or purposeful unwillingness to work?

I believe the first 2 categories are significant and worth fixing to identify if/how many fall into the 3rd category. Not many do in a well functioning society, IMO.