User Guide

MMaannaaggiinngg LLaabboorr
Your Overseer of the Workers (page 197) and your
Overseer of Commerce (page 199) can help you man-
age the city’s labor force to alleviate a labor shortage.
To ensure that the most important services are provid-
ed, work with your Overseer of the Workers to set
employment priorities. The Overseer lists all the
employment sectors in the city, the number of work-
ers required in each sector, and the current number of
workers employed in each sector. If one of the sectors
that you consider to be most important is under-
staffed, click on it. A screen pops up with the numbers
one through nine. Click the number one to make the
selected sector the top priority. The Overseer of the
Workers funnels employees into the work sector
you’ve designated the top priority until all positions in
that sector are filled. After you set a first priority, you
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People and Employment
ployment problem by building more structures to
provide the needed services. Use the Overlays (see
pages 203-209) to see if any specific neighborhoods
in the city lack particular services.
You can also turn unemployment problems into cold,
hard debens. If the city is engaging in trade, check to
see if it is exporting all that it can to its trade partners.
If it isn’t, build more of the required industry to meet
the demand. The city’s coffers will benefit.
A low level of unemployment is actually better than a
labor shortage. New buildings draw their workers from
the ranks of the unemployed. When more than 10
percent of citizens are out of work, though, problems
will ensue.
LLaabboorr SShhoorrttaaggeess
Labor shortages can be the more devastating employ-
ment problem. When industries are understaffed, ser-
vices begin to suffer because buildings that are only
partially staffed are much less efficient than fully
staffed buildings. When services suffer, property values
go down and people are usually forced from their
homes, sometimes causing emigration. Emigration, of
course, further reduces the workforce which results in
more services suffering.
Drawing immigrants to the city solves labor shortage
problems. If the city is currently experiencing a labor
shortage, manage the labor force (see below) to make
sure that key services, like food production and distri-
bution, are fully staffed.
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People and Employment
Overseer of the Workers’ Panel.
Visit the Overseer of the Workers to
set labor allocation priorities. The Overseer will fill the prioritized job
sectors first.