The coming labor shortage.

It’s a prediction frequently made by think tanks, consulting firms and corporate human-resources executives who expend a great deal of time and energy worrying about how companies and the U.S. economy are going to cope with a dearth of workers in the years to come. The problem, however, is that this piece of conventional wisdom, which holds a host of implications for both the private and public sectors, is false.

That is the conclusion of a study by Peter Cappelli , professor of management and director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. The study, titled “Will There Really Be a Labor Shortage?” and published in the August issue of Organizational Dynamics , notes that employers may well face difficult challenges in recruiting and hiring people in the future.…