, Columnist
Companies Will Learn to Love Unions
Organized labor provides real advantages for employers, especially in a tight labor market like the U.S. is entering.
Unions get a bad rap. But they serve a purpose.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesWith a labor shortage unlikely to go away any time soon, companies should consider embracing organizations they've shunned -- labor unions -- to guarantee themselves the workers they'll need.
Companies have been complaining about a labor shortage for a while, to which the response from some, like Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, has been "Have you tried raising wages?" But it turns out that limits on the labor supply may in fact be a hard constraint.