The workforce is severely understaffed and this is not simply people just being lazy and not wanting to work. But one thing we have to accept is that COVID has affected aspects of life and our community and the workforce is one of the things that have been affected the most with people going through tough times. And until everything is back to “normal” or as close as we can get it to at this point businesses being understaffed will be something that goes along with it.
Most people are going with the narrative that people are just being lazy and don’t wanna work at all. When all the jobs available do little to nothing to bring food for families in need. People also go on to say that people would rather just lean on government aid to help them through everything. According to a study from the Wall Street Journal the labor-force participation rate—the share of adults either working or looking for work—has fallen to 61.5% from 63.3% before the pandemic, a decline of nearly 3.9 million people.
Another reason tied along with that is bigger companies are pushing their employees to get vaccinated sooner rather than later. Along with that people’s opinion on the vaccine becoming a political stance, there is still a very high amount of Americans who want nothing to do with the vaccine. According to the New York Times, 52.3 % of Texas is fully vaccinated and many Texas have stated their opinion on how and why they are not getting vaccinated.
The only way Americans are going to go back to the workforce is if it rewards and helps them and their families. People are in need and $7.25 an hour doesn’t do much for anyone in this day and age easily with the recent inflation of basic’s like bread, gas, milk, and eggs. According to Moneycrasher.com, single people supporting themselves on minimum wage are not technically living in poverty. If Americans put in a standard 40-hour workweek at $7.25 per hour, they earn $290. That isn’t nearly enough to support themselves let alone a family.
