Why are so many jobs going unfilled and what happened to all those who quit?

Washington Post economic correspondent Heather Long has answers

• Scott LaMar/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

 LM Otero / AP Photo

A customer wears a face mask as they carry their order past a now hiring sign at an eatery in Richardson, Texas. On Thursday, Nov. 5, the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 751,000, a still-historically high level that shows that many employers keep cutting jobs in the face of the accelerating pandemic.

Airdate: Monday, December 20, 2021

There have been several explanations or narratives about why millions of jobs are going unfilled. There are about four million more job openings than unemployed people in the U.S. right now. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, there are 11 million job openings and almost 6.9 million unemployed.

At the same time, millions of American workers quit their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic looking for higher pay, better working conditions or careers in which they’d be happier. What happened to them all?

Why does there seem to be a disconnect between employers and would-be employees?

Washington Post economics correspondent Heather Long is on Monday’s Smart Talk with some answers.

Monday’s program is part of WITF’s Careers That Work project,an ongoing, evolving multimedia initiative highlighting workforce development in south central Pennsylvania. It is supported by Tech Link South Central PA Consortium for Career and Technical Education. Learn more at witf.org/careersthatwork.