Crime accross the board continues to drop year over year in the US. There is still a ways to go but pharmaceutical costs are down for things like insulin thanks to the generic availability. On top of the policy changes, medical advances are moving at blazing speeds. Clinical trials for stem cell treatments are popping up everywhere. Basically a cure for everything except cancer nowadays. College athletes are no longer legal slaves and are able to be compensated for the work and risk they put themselves up to week in and week out. It’s an employees market for finding jobs. There are more companies looking to hire in all industries than there is available tradesman to fill the openings.
It’s rural town USA. The company I was pressing to match the competitive offer was actually my own family’s manufacturing corporation. The temp agency knew exactly who I was when they saw my last name. They had good fun joking about how they knew my family doesn’t pay their employees enough but having the owner’s son threatening to quit for better pay really solidified it as a good ole hardyharhar to them. I knew it. They knew it. Plus we have done a ton of business with them over the years filling entry level temp to perm positions, so the whole thing was really super laid back.