Both halves are consuming massively thanks to pandemic relief funds and bonus unemployment. Why do you think there’s a labor shortage? You can get paid more money to sit on your ass and order things on Amazon.
The most convincing piece of evidence for this IMO is that if you compare the states that ended relief funds and bonus unemployment early to try to combat this issue with those that let it keep going, there was no statistically significant difference between the two halves of the USA in terms of hiring shortages.
Though it's ending this week