Broad-framing America's current labor shortage

And how the obvious fix is more immigrants (ultimately fueled by climate change)

Jim Nuttle illustration from “America’s New Map”

There are 9.5 million job openings in the United States right now, but only 6.5m unemployed — a gap of three million workers. Our labor participation rate (actively working or seeking work) is presently 63%, so you could reply, Then put those lazy bones to work!

Problem is, our working age population (15-65) is 65% of our total population, meaning we are not missing out on some vast lazy pool.

Source

Did the pandemic depress that labor rate? Definitely. It was 67% prior, so the Big Quit was real. But the fact remains that, across all industries, hiring rates have continuously outpaced quit rates, indicating a widespread labor shortage. So, even if all the unemployed people in the U.S. found a job right now, there would still be three million empty positions — much of them in agriculture.

This labor shortage is hamstringing US industries right now, costing us all economic opportunity.

The labor gap contributes to income inequality in the United States, A recent Time article estimated that such rising income inequality has reduced U.S. GDP growth by as much as 9 percentage points over the past two decades, or $2 trillion in lost GDP per year. Erasing the labor gap could help reverse that negative trend by boosting incomes, consumer spending, and overall economic vitality.

Where are these labor gaps the biggest?