The unemployment rate is reported as a percentage of able/eligible workers, not a ratio to anything else. Restaurants and department stores are among the lowest paid positions (not to mention some of the most public facing which still scares people) so if there are other higher paying jobs around those are where people will go. Even a dollar more an hour offered is enough for that to shift.
Here, the local grocery store was hiring at $16 an hour but a lot of other places were paying $19 and $20 per hour. So the grocery store had a hard time filling those positions.
The summer after covid (2021 or 2022, I forget), an ice cream place was paying $25 an hour just to get people to serve ice cream....
Two or three tree trimming companies kept outbidding each other every other week to get people.
The local Home Depot and Lowes are still hiring, paying $19 and $20 an hour. No one is applying.
Whether willing or not, there were/are not enough people to work those jobs.
I've often wondered where all these people are working. Then I heard a report that said the amounts of people doing gig work or self employed/startups has increased dramatically since covid. Doing what, I have no idea but it appears pretty common.
too bad the trees are all gone now, and we cannot see them.
