A series of mismatches mean would-be workers can’t find employment despite an abundance of openings.<\/b>
\nIn \u201c Why America has 8.4 million unemployed when there are 10 million job openings,\u201d WaPo economic reporters Heather Long, Alyssa Fowers, and Andrew Van Dam point to several mismatches. A mystery sits at the heart of the economic recovery: There are 10 million job openings, yet more than 8.4 million unemployed are still actively looking for work. The job market looks, in some ways, like a boom-time situation. Business owners complain they can\u2019t find enough workers, pay is rising rapidly, and customers are greeted with \u201cplease be patient, we\u2019re short-staffed\u201d signs at many stores and restaurants. But the nation remains in the midst of a deadly pandemic with covid-19 hospitalizations back at their highest rates since January. The surge is weighing on the labor market again, with a mere 235,000 jobs added in August. There are still 5 million fewer jobs compared to before the pandemic, reflecting ongoing problems, including child care as some schools and day cares shut down again from outbreaks. [\u2026] At heart, there is a massive reallocation underway in the economy that\u2019s triggering a \u201cGreat Reassessment\u201d of work in America from both the employer and employee perspectives. Workers are shifting where they want to work \u2014 and how. For some, this is a personal choice. The pandemic and all of the anxieties, lockdowns and time at home have changed people. Some want to work remotely forever. Others want to spend more time with family. And others want a more flexible or more meaningful career path. It\u2019s the \u201cyou only live once\u201d mentality on steroids. Meanwhile, companies are beefing up automation and redoing entire supply chains and office setups. The reassessment is playing out in all facets of the labor market this year, as people make very different decisions about work than they did pre-pandemic. Resignations are the highest on record \u2014 up 13 percent over pre-pandemic levels. There are 4.9 million more people who aren\u2019t working or looking for work than there were before the pandemic. There\u2019s a surge in retirements with 3.6 million people retiring during the pandemic, or more than 2 million more than expected. And there\u2019s been a boost in entrepreneurship that has caused the biggest jump in years in new business applications. So, it makes sense that the pandemic has caused people to reassess their life. Some older folks who were working to sock away a few extra dollars for their retirement figured that it just wasn\u2019t worth it anymore. Folks tired of working for others are starting their own businesses. But they shouldn\u2019t be showing up in the unemployment numbers. This is more helpful: It doesn\u2019t help that the abundance of job openings right now are not in the same occupations \u2014 or same locations \u2014 where people worked pre-pandemic. There is a fundamental mismatch between what industries have the most job openings now and how many unemployed people used to work in that industry pre-pandemic. For example, there are 1.8 million job openings in professional and business services and fewer than 925,000 people whose most recent job was in that sector. Leisure and hospitality, as well as retail and wholesale trade, also have more openings than prior workers, and many workers who lost jobs in those industries have indicated they don\u2019t want to return. There\u2019s a similar mismatch in education and health services, where there are 1.7 million job openings and only 1.1 million people whose last job was in that sector. Here\u2019s a handy dandy graphic: So, again, this is only partly explanatory. If the jobs now on offer don\u2019t match the skills of those seeking jobs, it\u2019s obviously problematic. But construction appears to be the only sector with markedly more folks looking for jobs than available openings. Why aren\u2019t people in those other sectors flocking back to work? In recent months, heath care workers and educators have quit their jobs at the highest rate on record, stretching back to 2002, Labor Department data show. \u201cThis is typically the time of year we recruit for the upcoming school year, but we literally can\u2019t get enough candidates, and we\u2019re seeing tenured people leave,\u201d said Cindy Lehnhoff, a 36-year veteran of the child care industry who currently heads the National Child Care Association. \u201cIf you get one good candidate, there are 10 others contacting that same person. It\u2019s a crisis. People can\u2019t work without child care.\u201d Lehnhoff has been helping a child care center in northern Virginia recruit more staff. Their infant room remains closed, because they don\u2019t have enough people, and one of their veteran workers was just poached by a nearby elementary school. As she spoke with The Washington Post, Lehnhoff pored over the Indeed.com job portal. It showed more than 2,000 job posts in the Fairfax County, Va., area for child care teaching assistants. Most paid $12 to $13 an hour, a bit less than many nearby fast food restaurants and retail stores. So, this mismatch makes sense. Low-paying sectors are having trouble getting folks to take the increased risk of COVID exposure. That childcare pays less than food service, for example, is obviously a red flag. (We\u2019re also having a heck of a time finding people to drive school buses.) But, again, this is just one sector among many unable to fill openings. Nationwide, most industries have more job openings than people with prior experience in that sector, Labor Department data show. That\u2019s a very different situation than after the Great Recession, when the number of unemployed far outstripped jobs available in every sector for years. To find enough workers, companies may need to train workers and entice people to switch careers, a process which generally takes longer, especially in fields that require special licenses. While companies say they are struggling to find workers, many unemployed say they are having trouble getting hired, especially if they haven\u2019t worked for a year. [\u2026] Some Americans are being forced to shift careers whether they want to or not. The pandemic has lingered longer than anyone initially anticipated and the ranks of long-term unemployed have swelled. About 40 percent of the currently unemployed \u2014 3.2 million \u2014 have been out of work for six months or longer. Years of research, especially after the Great Recession, show these people have a much harder time getting back to work. Hiring managers are skeptical that their skills are still fresh, and these workers\u2019 prior jobs and employers are often gone, forcing job seekers to rely on sending out resumes online without any personal connections. This points to a systemic problem. As a general rule, I get why employers would prefer folks who have recent work experience and would be suspicious of those who have been out of work for an extended period. But, goodness, the pandemic has been in the news a lot. You\u2019d think hirers would be aware of the uniqueness of the circumstances. Additionally, there are regional mismatches at work. But, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell put it recently, it\u2019s been a \u201c vigorous but uneven recovery.\u201d Job losses remain steepest for Black and Hispanic women, as well as Americans without college degrees. The uneven recovery is evident in how different states are faring. In some areas of the country, the labor market is booming. All the slack has vanished in Idaho and Utah, where employment recovered months ago and the unemployment rates were nearing their all-time lows at 2.6 percent and 3 percent respectively. But other states are still reeling: Hawaii is still missing 12 percent of its jobs, New York is still missing 9 percent, and Nevada and Alaska are more than 7 percent behind, as tourism-dependent economies struggle amid fast-spreading covid-19 variants. Similarly, urban downtowns inSan Francisco and Washington D.C. have struggled to rebound as more office workers remain at home. The shops and restaurants that supported these office workers aren\u2019t coming back yet, especially as bellwether employers such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook push back openings to January. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post). Meanwhile, the most urgent need for workers is often in suburban areas, where housing costs have skyrocketed, making it difficult for low-wage workers to live there. As the recovery proceeds, the holes in the labor force have shifted. Half of all jobs are still missing in high-contact industries such as buffets and movie theaters, but other industries that were hit harder in the early days of the crisis, such as RV dealers, carwashes, breweries and appliance stores, have staged a full comeback, buoyed by record consumer spending on goods. Some lucky industries, such as delivery services, mortgage lenders, and breakfast-cereal manufacturers seemed to have sailed through the entire crisis without shedding jobs. They now have 10 or even 20 percent more employees than they did in February of 2020. Of course, delivery service work is some of the lowest paying and least rewarding. And there may well be a breakfast cereal bubble; people are going to go back to work eventually.<\/p>\n