The latest jobs report from the federal government provided some shocking information. The total number of new jobs rose by only 194,000. The economic experts had predicted about 500,000. What happened?
Many people are not willing to return to their old jobs. It’s not just one reason. The obvious reason is fear of contracting COVID-19. The less obvious is many people thinking they never did like their old job because the pay was lousy, the hours were too long, and the chances for advancement were limited. Even the poorly educated are thinking they want a more rewarding occupation so maybe I can find something else to do.
That feeling that “I’ve had enough” according to the BLS report resulted in 4.3 million workers, or 2.9% of the labor force, quitting their jobs in August. That’s the highest rate since the BLS began tracking the data in December 2000.
After all who wants to drive a truck and who wants to deal with difficult patrons? Who in the hell wants these jobs?
To lure those workers back to those mind numbing jobs it is going to take higher pay and that will mean higher prices for everything. After all businesses still want the same profits they have had in the past.
Now it appears certain that many of these strains, both economic and viral, will continue well into 2022, and perhaps beyond. “There’s just no road map to opening a global economy in a pandemic, and people keep forgetting we’re still in a pandemic,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. Now the recovery not only has to fix what was lost, but also the “scars and wounds have to heal” after hard-hit workers and industries reevaluated their futures,” Swonk said.
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