Three key numbers that explain America’s labor shortage
That makes it hard for businesses to keep up with rampant demand. Economists worry how long it will take for people on the sidelines to come back into the workforce.For much of the pandemic, economists agreed that child care challenges and worries about the virus were keeping people from returning to the labor market.But recently, it has become clear that there is another dynamic at work here: early retirement.The percentage of Americans who are in the job market, either as workers or as active job seekers, is measured by the labor force participation rate. And that rate is nowhere near it’s pre-pandemic level. As of November, the measure stood at 61.8%, having recovered about half of what was lost at height of the pandemic compared with the Feburary 2020 rate of 63.3%.
That difference might not sound like a lot, but it accounts for millions of people. The participation rate for men has also recovered more than that for women,…
