Over the past several months, millions of American workers have opted out of the churn of low-paid, dead-end work, producing one of the tightest labor markets in modern history. This exodus has had wide-ranging effects on the economy, perhaps most notably the disruption of supply chains and a shortage of many consumer products. In the past week, we learned that these shortages led to the largest year-on-year increase in inflation in over 30 years. Also worrisome is that Americans’ rejection of front-line work has created a bottleneck in the production chain that is limiting opportunities for these workers’ own advancement. When there are fewer pizza delivery drivers, there are also fewer managers needed to supervise them and fewer accountants needed to pay them.
Immigration as an engine for reviving the middle class in midsized cities (brookings.edu)
