As the United States emerges from the pandemic, employers have been desperate to hire. But while demand for goods and services has rebounded, the supply of labor has fallen short, holding back the economy.

More than two years after the COVID-19 recession officially ended, some sectors haven’t found the workers they need to operate at capacity. Only in August did the workforce return to its pre-pandemic size, which is millions short of where it would have been had it continued to grow at its pre-pandemic rate. READ MORE