"People don't want to work anymore"

The extra benefits have gone away here in Texas, right? So the extended benefits aren't there any more, there are still too many crappy low-wage jobs going unfilled. How do you think people are staying home until the benefits stop? Haven't they stopped now?

To answer the OP:

One factor in Texas and a lot of other places is the loss of immigrant workers, some undocumented, some with undocumented friends and families, who went back to their home countries during the Trump administration's reign of terror. Many restaurant jobs were filled by people like them. That's been an issue since 2017. More have chosen to go back home due to Covid.

Another factor is that lots of parents didn't let their kids go out and work retail/restaurant as they normally might in the summer. I didn't let either of mine work in a public place like that and won't until this is better under control.

Lots of people have chosen to try out gig economy jobs.

More and more, we're seeing a mismatch between the workers looking for work and the types of jobs available. If you're a single mom who previously made 40,000 as an AR clerk, but that job is gone and all you can find is $12/hr part time restaurant work, you're wasting your time. You'll still be homeless and have no food on the table in a couple of months because you can't pay your bills on that.

And finally, employers themselves have to bear some of the blame for why they have trouble filling jobs. If you're offering $15/hr but you expect the employee to be fine with unpredictable schedule and hours, you're making it impossible for many people to work for you. Childcare expects set hours and a set payment every week. If you the employer want to protect your bottom line by giving your employees 40 hours a week during up times, but cutting shifts back to 15-20 hours per week when things are slow, people are going to look for another job because their bills and responsibilities don't change like that from week to week. The retail and fast food sectors are terrible about this, BTW - and look who's struggling for employees right now.

Are there people sitting at home right now who could be working if they really wanted to? Sure. There always are. But we as a society have to look at how we've made it impossible for people to work and have any kind of life (I'm not talking about social life - I'm talking about being able to take care of your kids, your elderly mother, whatever).

Our society loves to say, "If you don't like the work conditions, find a better job." But we don't mean it. What we mean is, "If you don't like the work conditions, that sucks, but we expect you to keep working at it anyway because the economy needs you and your corporate employer needs you to make money for them, and dangit I don't want to wait more than two minutes for my Big Mac." 

People don’t want to pay childcare, have refinanced lower rates, got money from PPP, free rent. etc. I think many are taking stock of what they want to do next. It has changed lives.

In summer, at least in my area there were tons of day camps where working parents sent their kids. Those disappeared too during the worst of COVID.

Wow just wow. Yes let’s help you commit fraud snd also be guilty if it.

I think it's everything tincin mentioned, plus (at least in my area), a real downturn in the number of teens working.

During COVID I knew parents who had their kids stop working. And this summer, I know a lot of families who, after not doing much of anything last year, decided to take bigger or more frequent family trips this year, and their older teens of working ages went with them. Some of them were gone off and on all summer, while others went for a few weeks at a clip. So here we're seeing a lot of seasonal spots open that used to be held by teens & early 20s.

For instance, lifeguards have been a problem. Several local pools have been open on a much reduced schedule or are not open at all due to a lack of lifeguards. Likewise, local amusement parks, ice cream shops, etc. have been running reduced hours, having less attractions available, etc.


And at the opposite end of the story, I know some nearly retirement age people who were out of work during part of the COVID situation, and decided not to go back.  People who were sure they couldn't possibly retire for 5 more years, or 3 more years, etc., who suddenly found themselves feeling differently. 

In our state, there was a lot of delay in getting people their unemployment payments.  We have friends who went the entire lock-down period without a single check.  They were back to work and still fighting to get the back checks owed to them.  For some people in similar situations, they realized that they didn't need to continue working for as long as they thought that they did after all.  And so they didn't go back.

When grandma died they lost their babysitter. So a death was a contributing factor to a mom not going back to work. People are having to help and/or take care of long Covid family members, young and old. Another factor where death or illness contributed to unemployed..
Lots to consider..

So true!  Places like Disney bring in many employees from other countries, and as a kid we always noted how many young people came from European countries to work in the beach towns where we vacationed each summer.

it's way higher than minimum wage. They make 50.00 an hour. 

Nurses who aren’t leaving the hospital setting are going to per diem jobs and travel nursing where they take limited length contracts. 

That's a good point.  We know of a few families where the grandfather watched their kids while they worked (after being vaccinated). 

I thought they had to physically be looking for a job to qualify. I know in the beginning you didn’t but thought that changed in June. I really hate when people take advantage of stuff like this. Would much rather see people that really need it get more and not people doing stuff like this even if she technically qualifies. Of course I keep thinking my grandkids are going to be paying for this.

Lots of child care has reduced capacity in an effort to implement some distancing and safety measures. Many of the people who provided child care were mothers themselves or provided it on their homes and have decided not to take that risk with a pandemic.