Bloomberg News
@Bloomberg-News·2.8M subscribers·40.1K videos
Labor Shortages Divide Washington and Wall Street
Posted
July 12, 2021
Views
1,429
Likes
21
Comments
10
Engagement
2.17%
July 12, 2021
1,429
21
10
2.17%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
2:22
4:21Now PlayingThe whole idea of a “labor shortage” is a tricky one. As the Fed has pointed out, there isn’t even one clear definition of what it means, much less how to measure it.
That might be one reason why it’s become such a controversial topic, with people on all sides of the economic spectrum taking a stance on how much damage it’s doing, what’s causing it or whether it’s even real.
The idea itself comes partly from business owners who say they’re struggling to fill open jobs.
That concern has been around for a long time - since well before the pandemic even started, and research shows that reports of labor shortages tend to pick up whenever there’s a recovery.
But there's a deeper question about the economy, and it centers on two key data points.
One is U.S. employment, the total number of Americans who currently have jobs. Employment plunged during the pandemic and then surged back, but it’s still about 8 million below where it was just over a year ago.
The other number is job openings, which are now at record highs in the U.S. - some 9 million according to the Labor Department.
So with all these companies looking for new employees, it begs the question: Why aren’t people going back to work?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.
To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.
Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake
Connect with us on…
Breaking News on YouTube
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
