A shortage of crabs on the Eastern Shore?

No! Hands off my crabs, Mr President! According to a Washington Post article on 17 August 2018, a labour shortage has emerged in the crab sector on the Eastern Shore of Maryland due to immigration controls. No local crab meat? We have to import it now? What is that all about?

Full employment for crab pickers?

We economists generally consider full employment reached when unemployment gets down to around 5%. Unemployment in Somerset is still around 7.7%, in Worcester it is around 6.4% and in Dorchester it is still 5.5%. In other words, there are folks out there on Delmarva who are looking for work.

What in the world: reservation wages?

And, the Delmarva crab houses have raised their wages. Yet, there is still a gap between the wages on offer in the crab industry and what folks expect in terms of working conditions and pay. These are the so-called reservation wages, the level of wages that workers will hold out for until they are willing to supply their labour.

What to do?

But, the crab houses can’t charge their customers enough to pay the wages most Eastern Shore folks want to do this type of work. What to do? Let the industry die? Or let in seasonal workers. I know what i would do… I’d first make sure local jobseekers know about the work on offer (via the state employment service). Then, if enough folks don’t come forward, I would make available seasonal work visas. I’d vote to keep the crab meat coming!

Photo: © Doug L., 2012