Southern California is feeling a labor crunch - for servants. The Seattle Times reports the upper classes in LA are having a hard time finding good domestic help. And for those trained in the art of "estate management," it's a bonanza - they have their pick of positions, a salary of $80,000/year, plus housing, health insurance, and three weeks' paid vacation. Demand is high for trained professionals. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was a 67 percent increase in the number of "private household workers" in SoCal in the past 5 years. That statistic doesn't include anyone paid off the books, either. How do you train future servants? By making them watch Anthony Hopkins period pieces, natch. Yes, a training program for household help featured in the article charges students $13,000 to learn to become the perfect butler by making them watch Remains of the Day. That's funny. Everything we know about psychology and chianti and the proper care and feeding of farm animals we also learned from an Anthony Hopkins movie as well.
· Southern California running low on servants [The Seattle Times]
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