Unprecedented U.S. labor shortage effects include canceled flights, closed community pools, delayed deliveries, congested ERs, and decreased public safety.
Compared to before the epidemic, there are currently 50% more employment vacancies. The jobless rate hasn’t been this low in almost 50 years.
What caused that, then? a set of government initiatives that increased demand for products and services while also reducing the labor supply.
- In a significant development, Google’s DeepMind AI deciphers the 3D structure of virtually all proteins known to science
- Elon Musk responds to Twitter in a legal dispute
Due to policy choices like the 18-month bonus on unemployment benefits, which allowed many people to make more money by not working than by working, workers left the labor force. Washington, meanwhile, boosted consumer and corporate demand for goods and services by dumping trillions of dollars in so-called COVID-19 assistance into the economy, roughly half of which came from Federal Reserve-printed money.
The outcome is an unparalleled labor shortage in the United States. Despite a 4.2 million rise in the number of adults aged 16 and over, there are 755,000 fewer people employed now than there were at the beginning of the epidemic.
3.3 million more people would be employed now if the employment-to-population ratio were the same as it was in February 2020, before the outbreak. Furthermore, economists predict that a decrease in the desired hours of work has almost twice the labor force decline’s extent.
Who then is no longer employed?
I calculated the “employment gap” for several groups of employees using both published and unpublished data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population survey. This disparity is the number of individuals who would be employed if the employment-to-population ratio had maintained at February 2020 levels as opposed to the number of persons who are now employed.
Contrary to what the media and certain politicians assert when pushing for additional entitlement programs at the federal level, neither mothers nor fathers make up the bulk of the job gap.
The employment differences between men and women are the same, and both are 2.1 percent lower than their pre-pandemic figures.
The employment gap for parents is also half that of nonparents. The closing of schools and childcare centers has been the subject of several economic studies, which have come to the conclusion that while parents—and women in particular—were more stressed as a result, their employment was not adversely impacted.
The employment declines of 3.0 percent among individuals aged 20 to 24 and 9.2 percent among those aged 65 and beyond are the main stories. The job reduction of younger employees would not be concerning if they were pursuing higher education, but since the epidemic started, undergraduate enrolment has decreased by 9.4%.
Policymakers should support independent work that can give older employees a flexible, be-your-own-boss alternative in order to improve employment among older Americans. Eliminating the Social Security retirement earnings criteria would also stimulate greater employment, boosting the economy and Social Security’s financial situation at the same time.
Given that these are the best years for acquiring knowledge, experience, and forming healthy living habits, the fall in employment and education among employees aged 20 to 24 is especially concerning.
Policymakers should make it simpler for young people to obtain education for a successful profession without the prohibitive expenditures of a college degree, in addition to removing welfare-without-work programs that might favor laziness and reliance over production and personal autonomy.
That entails phasing out federal subsidies that displace free and low-cost alternatives, supporting flourishing new industry-recognized apprenticeship programs rather than ending them, and recognizing the value of employer-provided education and training.
Additionally, governments must address the unchecked inflation that is eroding people’s ability to earn a living. Even if the average full-time worker’s pay rose by $3,100 over the previous year due to inflation, he is now really $2,200 poorer.
The U.S. labor shortage will harm all Americans if it is not addressed, since it would increase inflation, lower salaries, higher taxes, and shrink the economy. Expanding educational options, promoting flexible employment, abolishing benefits without labor, and reining in out-of-control federal expenditure are all necessary policy objectives.
