Where Are The Workers?

NorthBay biz- August 2021

The COVID-19 induced recession centered on the services sector, leisure and hospitality in particular. With approximately 25% of local economies tied to tourism, businesses shuttered and thousands of workers were laid off. Now those companies are struggling to reopen, as positions remain unfilled and businesses are operating at less than full capacity. Though the national unemployment rate dropped from a peak of 14.8% in May 2020 to 6.1% in April of this year, the workforce is still 8.1 million below pre-pandemic levels. This corresponds to local trends. California Employment Development Department (EDD) data shows unemployment in Northern California peaked in May last year at 13.4% and now down to 5.3% as of May. And yet there are thousands of job openings. So what happened to all the workers? READ MORE