While the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unemployment to all time highs, the recovery ushers in historic unemployment lows in 17 states, according to the Wall Street Journal. This creates an incredibly tight labor market where there are two jobs for each employee in places, the WSJ found.
“It’s a strange juxtaposition to the rate of inflation,” Emma Valdivia, co-founder peoplepath.io, said. “It shows that consumer demand remains strong, and industry needs more workers to meet that demand.”
In March, there were 3.5 jobs for every employable Nebraskan, according to WSJ. “That puts employees in the driver’s seat, and the competition for employees should drive up wages,” Anne Evans, co-founder peoplepath.io, said. “More workers with more money will drive economic growth in the near future. That’s a promising sign.”
Manufacturing and warehousing jobs are leading way in these 17 states, mostly in the Midwest and Southern United States. States dependent on tourism continue to struggle with high rates of unemployment, like Hawaii and Nevada.
Julia Pollak, chief economist at jobs site ZipRecruiter, told WSJ, “When you disrupt employment that much, it can take a long time for it to recover. The tourist numbers will return faster than the businesses that employ the service workers.”
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