Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
The labor market is a very interesting subject in 2022, and I get questions about it all the time (despite not being an expert in this field, by any means).
The conversation always goes like something this:
Me: "Boy, customer service sucks these days. Nobody can fire bad employees because it's impossible to replace them, plus businesses everywhere are short-staffed, so you generally have to just tolerate shit service nowadays. I want 2019 back."
Friend: "Yeah but why is everything so short staffed? Why don't people need to work now? Those stimulus checks stopped a long time ago."
There's not a simple answer to this. At first, it was obvious. People had no desire to return to low or semi-low paying jobs if the government was supporting them. But now that this has stopped, why aren't we seeing a rush back to these jobs? How can these same people support themselves in 2022 without working, if they had to work to be viable in 2019?
My best guess: Savings and the gig economy.
Let's go over the timeline of events.
2020: COVID hits, gubbmint shuts down most businesses. People start getting checks, in order to compensate for the job they can't go to anymore. With little to do (and declining costs, such as money not spent on driving, socializing, vacationing, and dining out), suddenly American savings build up like they hadn't in a very long time. In addition, many jurisdictions do not allow eviction for nonpayment of rent, so many people simply bank their money otherwise earmarked for rent, with plans to bounce to another apartment/house when the eviction moratorium ends.
2021: Vaccines are available, places rapidly are opening back up, and people are eager to get out and do things. Businesses are almost all reopened and jobs are more plentiful than ever. However, with money still rolling in from the gubbmint (huge mistake), people have no incentive to go back to these jobs. They also start to look to supplement the gubbmit payments by taking little gig jobs, which are far easier, more flexible, and more pleasant than their shit low-wage jobs they had to attend on a rigid full day schedule.
2022: The gubbmint money has stopped for awhile, and jobs are still plentiful, with the worker shortage remaining. However, many who used to hold these jobs in 2019 have already experienced the gig economy, and they don't want to go back to a rigid job. In addition, they are still holding onto their savings from 2020/2021, so desperation time hasn't set in. They've been used to not working for over 2 years, and it just seems so unpleasant to go back to a shit job 5 days per week. Instead, they continue driving for Uber/Lyft/Doordash/whatever, or taking jobs where they can work from home (which greatly increased in number during 2020 out of necessity, and now those positions remain.)
Result: It is now quite tough to find workers willing to show up and toil for 8 hours per day at a low-wage position.
This unfortunately has wreaked havoc upon the economy in several ways, and also caused total shit customer service everywhere. Even with my low tolerance for shit service, I have found myself holding back and not complaining when it appears it's a result of short staffing, and not just employees being shitty without their boss' knowledge.