Why Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous Jobs Are the First to Break During a Labor Shortage
Walk into any recruiter's office during a labor shortage and ask which roles are hardest to fill. You're likely to get the same answer almost every time. It's not the entry-level office positions. It's not the mid-tier technical roles. It's the jobs that involve standing for ten hours, lifting repeatedly, working overnight, or handling materials most people would rather avoid. The jobs that combine monotony with physical demand. The work that, if given a choice, most people would simply rather not do. These are the dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs —the third-shift warehouse roles, the sanitation positions, and the heavy-material handling jobs that quietly hold entire operations together. For years, filling these roles was difficult but manageable. As long as the labor supply was high enough, someone would take them. Necessity filled the gaps that preference wouldn’t. But in a systemic labor shortage, that balance shifts. A tight market gives workers more opt...