Originally Posted by
cardsqc
I think as a little bit of a counter to the idea that people have just spent the time to better themselves and are now working better jobs rather than serving jobs (although I'd agree there's an element of that): I work at a major university. This university relies very heavily on hiring students part time to work in the dining halls. I think the number I saw was they have around 400 full time staff, and during the normal year hire about 4000 part time staff. Last I heard they've had problems hiring more part time staff than they have full time. They've had to close some of the dining halls down, and limit hours at others. Just a day or two ago, they put out a request asking faculty and staff to consider volunteering their time to work a shift or two at the dining halls. (Which just made me laugh, I'd pay money to see some of our faculty do that). The thing is, I'm not convinced that these students that normally would be working these jobs are working elsewhere. They're just not working at all these days.
I don't think this runs counter to the "better themselves" hypothesis at all. It supplements it. There's no single answer. Labor participation rate is very low - 61.4% last I saw. This means that some people who stopped working aren't looking for work, which is why unemployment has still gone down from it's pandemic peak, these people aren't counted. High school and college students likely make up part of this category. I've also heard that (formerly) working mothers make up a segment.
The workers who "bettered themselves" are the ones that were transitional entry-level employees anyway. They always planned to move on, but when their restaurant or store was shut down by the government, their plan was accelerated. Some of them spent the last year living on unemployment + $1200/month extra, while figuring out what that new better job would be. Some immediately found that better job.
Thanks for sharing your example, it helps explain the big picture.