The pandemic has deeply disrupted the labor market, with lockdowns causing millions to leave the workforce last year. While many businesses have reopened their doors, bringing back former employees, or hiring new workers, has never been so challenging. And the increasing imposition of vaccine mandates is making the problem worse.
Meanwhile, Americans are quitting their current jobs at a record pace. The Labor Department data showed that quits increased to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000.
Workers at restaurants and stores, especially, are quitting in droves. Resignations are also highest in the tech and health care industries, due to increased workloads and burnout.
A Gallup survey discovered that 48 percent of the working population in the United States is actively looking for a new job or watching for opportunities.
The ongoing labor shortage is "the single most significant threat to America's economic recovery," according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's biggest business lobbying group.
"Congress should drop the multitrillion-dollar tax and spend proposals that would further undermine the economy and focus on getting Americans back to work and helping employers fill open jobs," the business group said in an Oct. 12 statement.