Stories from the Great American Labor Shortage: An Update

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran. This episode contains strong language. Bartenders, sous chefs, wait staff — back in August, managers in the U.S. hospitality industry were struggling to fill a range of roles at their establishments. One owner of a gourmet burger restaurant in Houston said that before the pandemic, a job opening could easily get 100 applicants — but that was no longer the case; applications were in the single digits. “I had never seen it like this before in my career,” he told us. “I’ve been doing this for over 25 years.” Managers blamed pandemic unemployment benefits for the dearth of job seekers. Employees said that the pandemic had opened their eyes to the realities of work. Today, we return to the country’s labor shortage to find out why so many Americans have left their jobs, and whether the people we spoke to back in August are working again.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Michael.
0:02.8	This week, the Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year, and hearing
0:07.8	what's happened in the time since they first ran.
0:11.3	Today, we return to the country's labor shortage to find out why so many Americans have left
0:18.0	their jobs since the start of the pandemic, and whether the people we talk to back in
0:23.2	August are working again.
0:26.5	This is Monday, December 27th.
0:33.5	Hello, hello.
0:35.6	This is Sydney Harper, producer with the Daily here in DC.
0:40.2	This is Claire Tennis-Getter.
0:41.9	I am on Smith Street in Brooklyn.
0:44.2	Walking up and down 18th Street in the nation's capital.
0:48.7	18th Street is a big hill.
0:52.9	Oh, challenge is to breathe in hard, breathe in hard, breathe in hard.
0:59.9	Hi.
1:00.9	Hi, how are you?
1:02.9	Hi, I'm a producer with The New York Times, the Daily News podcast.
1:06.6	We're trying to do an episode looking at businesses and local restaurants hiring people,
1:10.9	and if they're having trouble finding people, can I get your name and your role here?
1:15.6	Dave Delaplane, General Manager.
1:18.6	My name is Vanessa, and I'm the manager here at Sochi Takarim.
1:21.8	My name is Jonathan, and this is my family's restaurant.
	...

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