Unless they are comfortable where they're at, they will , in time, be where they can get the most for their time. While the concern over skilled labor availability, comes more from the retail bakery segment than the volume wholesale trade, it's a problem there too. For its labor, the wholesale trade is not competing exclusively with other volume wholesalers. It's competing against all types of automated production line industries. Workers in the labor market are drawn to opportunity just as dollars are, in the financial markets.
People have to eat.
For staples like bread, there is a constant demand, irrespective of the whims of the economy. Accordingly, bakery workers need not fear every time the Dow-Jones index hiccups. For a bakery worker, if they do their job, the job will very likely be there for them tomorrow. For the auto worker, on the other hand, there is the ever-present prospect that if someone finds there is too much inventory on the lots, the plant will close until the inventory is reduced, and they'll be laid off. This is a trade-off which goes a long way toward making up the wage discrepancy, but it's something we rarely promote to the people we're trying to hire.