Adnan Zai

Where Have All the Workers Gone?

Adnan Zai
5 min readMay 13, 2021

The country is trying to recover from over a year in pandemic mode, and although there are some glimmers of hope, job recovery is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Vaccines are working, but not enough people are getting vaccinated. Jobs are hiring, but there are not enough people applying, which is forcing a slowdown. The government put a stimulus package in place, but it is causing many people to stay home rather than seek jobs. The sluggish job market is having ripple effects in all sectors of the economy, and the US needs a suitable set of jumper cables to get businesses booming again.

Current economic recovery

There are some bright spots in the current economic recovery, but not every sector of the workforce is experiencing the same thing. Although there are more jobs available than there were when the pandemic hit in March 2020, there are fewer workers filling those rolls. The construction, manufacturing, and restaurant industries are definitely hurting. And the shortage in workers is tipping the already wavering economy.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “U.S. employers added 916,000 jobs in March, according to the Labor Department, and economists project the April jobs report, due out Friday, will show employers added 1 million more. Weekly unemployment claims fell to 498,000 last week, a new low since the pandemic…

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Adnan Zai

As an Advisor-In-Residence, Adnan particularly focuses on strategy, deal pipeline, and structuring.