Labor shortages weren’t a very big thing a month before the pandemic, so you have to ask yourself what changed. In many cases it’s that people got comfortable being paid a decent amount to not work, from the pandemic payouts. It’s a really interesting time to be looking at the economics of everything and see how this will play out over the next 12-18 months.
Perhaps it’s only that, for the first time, they got some time to reflect on their job and actually notice the impact it had on their lives and health, realised it had never been worth it, and want to find something else?
I think it is closer to that. A lot of people were complacent in their jobs, and not nearly tapping their potential (market or otherwise). I can't tell you how many people I know or heard 2nd hand got furloughed or laid off, then landed a significantly better paying gig and never went back (sometimes wildly different industries). If they were never forced to change, I guarantee most would have stayed.
> In many cases it’s that people got comfortable being paid a decent amount to not work
Americans got a paltry few thousand dollars. So you certainly agree that if a single payment amounts to more than their shit job then that shit job isn't paying enough.
one thing that changed that often gets overlooked is that covid killed off 648k people so far in the US. that's a lot of people. I would fully expect there to be a labour shortage after approximately the population of las vegas is killed off.
and i know that a lot of the deaths have been in older people who may have already been retired, but they are often the childcare providers who enable others to work.
