The reluctant employee

The June jobs report showed a healthy gain of 850,000 new jobs, and employers are scrambling to fill them. We still have 6.8 million fewer jobs than before the COVID-19 pandemic, so job growth should stay on a rising vector while we fill the gap. Employers are finally in a position to reopen their doors and offer jobs to the employees they had to let go during the crisis.

Unfortunately, employers are finding the expected pool of returning employees often isn’t there. “Today there are more job openings than before the pandemic and fewer people in the labor force,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of staffing company ManpowerGroup North America. “The single defining challenge for employers is enticing American workers back to the workforce.” She continued:

Child care challenges, health concerns and competition mean demand still outstrips supply, which is dampening the ‘big return’ of the American workforce. It’s a worker’s market, and employees are acting like consumers in how they are consuming work—seeking flexibility, competitive pay and fast decisions.