The opioid crisis is draining America's workforce

[IronLionZion]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/22/news/economy/workforce-opioid-crisis/index.html

A pack of cigarettes sits on top of a Buffalo Wild Wings application on the kitchen table in front of Mike Harsanyi. After six years struggling with heroin addiction and two spells in prison, Harsanyi has been living in a sober house in Maryland for five months and he's looking for steady employment.
"The job search has not been going good," said Harsanyi, a baby-faced 27-year-old with tattoos poking out of his collar. "I think when you're a drug addict in sobriety with a felony on your record, they look at you different, like you're going to rob their store."

Jobs are plentiful in Maryland's Anne Arundel County, which boasts an unemployment rate of 3.1%. But after doing time for an armed robbery committed while he was high in 2015, Harsanyi has so far been turned down for jobs at Valvoline and Jiffy Lube, and is only able to pick up occasional work as a tile setter for another recovering addict he met through his 12-Step program.

Harsanyi's experience isn't just hard on him. The opioid crisis is turning into a real problem for employers, who are having trouble finding workers in the midst of one of the tightest labor markets in decades.

There are nearly 6 million job openings in the U.S. and the unemployment rate, at 4.1%, is at a 17-year low. But the share of people working or looking for work still hasn't recovered from before the recession. Part of the problem: The rise in abuse of prescription painkillers, partially responsible for the 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, has incapacitated thousands of working-age people whom employers would otherwise be eager to hire.

Video at link

Maybe if we tell our political leaders there are measurable economic consequences they might do something useful about treating addiction.

[turnitup]

1. Sadly

even if you treat the addiction the person will fail the background checks. It's a terrible circle of rejection for these people. I wish I had an answer

[Zoonart]

2. Mr sometimes...

employed former inmates when we had our business. As a Quaker, he believes deeply in rehabilitation. Probational employment worked for us.

[turnitup]

3. we need more of him nt

[Initech]

4. Republicans always scream "jobs! jobs! jobs" every single election.

But they never say what kind of jobs. They never say how much you are going to make. They never mention who's going to get hired. They never mention what the working conditions are going to be like. So I can imagine this guy's frustration. But they voted for this. Want things to change? Vote democrats.

[Freelancer]

5. Shitty jobs and awful employers contribute to opioid abuse too

My cousin died in the bathroom at Taco Bell. She was near the end of a miserable shift at her shitty job, being bossed around by someone half her age. She took too many Oxycodone and was just gone.