It’s not a ‘labor shortage.’ It’s a great reassessment of work in America.

Wage data from April is also telling. When companies, especially fast-food restaurants, complain they can’t find workers, the common retort is, “Why don’t these companies raise pay?” In fact, there is evidence that restaurants are raising pay. The average hourly rate in the hospitality sector is up roughly $1 compared to the pre-pandemic going rate. But the bigger issue appears to be that warehouses have hiked wages by more than a dollar and now pay $26 an hour on average — far more than the roughly $18 average in hospitality.