1st Long Covid Symptoms, Now Long Social Distancing

Complicating the acute labor shortage & implications for an economy perhaps headed towards a recession, is the Stanford-U of Chicago survey suggesting “several million workers who dropped out of the workforce during the pandemic plan to stay out indefinitely” … cause of ongoing health fears, personal impairments … or just plain tired of the rat race.

By the way, the 3 million disgruntled, disillusioned souls say they just can’t see themselves going back to work any time soon, but also shopping in person or dining out, even after the pandemic ends, i.e., if it ever ends (given influenza’s annual appearance going on forever.) According to the researchers, the “workforce dropouts tend to be women, those without a college degree and have worked in low-paying fields.” They are calling the phenomenon “Long Social Distancing.”

If the research is accurate, the WSJ suggests, progress in the economy’s pandemic rebound could “soon stall … [and] … if so, the labor force would remain depressed for longer than the Fed anticipates, potentially helping to keep inflation high.”

Davd Soul