Experts cite many causes of the U.S. labor shortage and increasing job vacancies, including the opioid epidemic, companies that can't find enough workers, and retiring baby boomers.
Wayne Winegarden, an economist and senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, said the trend should concern policymakers, “If you have less labor, you’re going to have less growth,” telling The Washington Post, “unless it's compensated by more technology or higher productivity. Most of the people who really wanted to get back to work — they’ve already recovered from the recession.”
The U.S. unemployment rate continues to sink, hitting a 17-year low in November (4.1 percent), and job seekers are finding work more easily than at any time since the mid-90s. Openings in the United States have now topped roughly 6 million for five months in a row, a record streak, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
