Those of us who are a little older will remember that, within two years of the 2001 recession, there was much hand-wringing about the coming labor shortage, which was apparently obvious—except to those actually looking at the labor market. It never came.

More recently after the Great Recession, another set of hand-wringing was going on about a labor shortage, despite the fact that millions were still laid off. We stopped hearing that one even as hiring increased and the economy improved. There was no shortage. READ MORE