Housing prices are at a 15 year high, and lumber prices are through the roof. For years, the price of 1,000 board feet of lumber has run somewhere between $200-$400. Now it’s well above $1,000.
Senator Joel Carter is also a real estate broker. During an interview on The Gallo Show on SuperTalk Mississippi May 3rd, he offered his own thoughts on what’s driving up costs.
“There’s no inventory out there, so the prices continue to soar,” he told us. And the housing sector isn’t the only area where he’s seeing shortages. “Friends have bought brand new trucks, and they’ve been sitting at the shop for 3 months because you can’t get a simple part. There’s nobody working. My dad is partners in a resort. They were short staffed housekeeping, so I went and helped them make beds one Sunday. Every sector of the economy you look, people just aren’t working.”
Business Insider recently published a list of shortages that includes items like computer chips, household products, and yes…the all too familiar labor shortages.
In many cases, federal unemployment policies are making it more profitable not work. But Bob Anderson, the Director of the state Department of Human Services (DHS) told us this week a lack of childcare from 6pm-7am is also playing a part. The DHS is planning to use funding from the American Rescue Plan to try to expand those hours, so people can get back to work.
