The participation levels in the labor market in the U.S. have still not recovered, lagging behind the pre pandemic levels that had been seen and it is causing concern as far as the potential for economic recovery.

So long as this does not recover and things remain the same it is going to mean businesses will have difficulty filling those positions that they are currently trying to hire for. There are various reasons for why people might not be going back yet or interested in going back at all.

Food and retail outlets are leading the race with millions of Americans quitting their jobs this summer and some of their resignations went viral too.

Those engaged in customer service positions around the market are expected to put up with a lot today. This includes having to deal with angry customers, low pay, bad treatment at times from management and guests, lack of flexibility with schedules and time off, and they're frequently filmed by customers as well, and even attacked. Now businesses are being forced to pay more if they want to try and hire to attract those workers back, because for some they are just done putting up with it and they won't be returning.

Walmart Employee Quits Over PA

Millions of Americans are unhappy with their work and career, this has been the case for years.

The pandemic might have given many the opportunity to re-think those priorities and now they simply aren't interested in settling for less. For others it might be the fear of customer confrontations over remaining mandates and covid restrictions, or covid itself that they're concerned about, for one reason or another there are millions of workers still missing from the labor force.

The pandemic also gave people the chance to experience working from home and the benefits that come with that schedule and for some now they don't want to return to what they once knew. This means we can expect wages to rise so long as that labor shortage continues and businesses need to fill those spots. If they aren't willing to raise it or it isn't enough then they will still be short and they might be forced, like others have been, to close down their business because there isn't enough staff.

For others in the market who are having this issue they might increasingly turn to automation to get the job done and why not? If people aren't willing to do those jobs but they still want that service and standard of living then at least businesses have that option to stay open by going that route, moving to bring in the robots to get it done.