A report by the Dallas Fed was released this morning, showing a significant decline in factory activity during the month of May. With this decline came serious concerns about an increase in labor costs coupled with a lack of productivity from workers.
Akin Oyedele of the Business Insider reported that “most other regional manufacturing indexes, including those from New York, Richmond and Chicago showed that the sector’s rebound is taking longer than anticipated.”
It is alarming to find that Dallas is not the only city to be facing manufacturing decline. “Like Dallas, there was also renewed slowdown in Chicago after a few months of recovery,” said Oyedele.
People expressed concerns towards the Department of Labor’s recent changes in salary, with an overtime increase of $47,476 from $23,660 spiking business costs. The overtime salary complaint was heightened by frustrations that workers were not using their time productively, with specific complaints directed towards the younger employees.
Ah, millennials, here they go again disrupting the workplace with their social media habits.
One respondent revealed their complaint, saying: “The younger workers are often off task, engaged on social media, on the internet, texting on phones and other unproductive activities. The Department of Labor must realize that if we are supposed to pay them overtime for work they should do during normal work this will make us have to focus on micromanaging employees and reducing compensation to reflect actual productivity of a mandated 40 hour or less workweek.”
The productivity decline seems to be an issue across a wide range of industries, and millennials are generally at the forefront of the complaints.
Complaints can only go on for so long until action is taken to increase productivity. A wake-up call may be in order for the 20 and 30-somethings who are captivated by their phone screens more often than their work-related tasks.
