Nobody new is entering the job market. Nobody's leaving. Just shuffling around. We're still all doing the same work. These companies are paying 30% more for labor. Aren't prices just going to go up and we're basically in the exact same spot?
If I am right, I'm curious to know why this is happening now. The pandemic should have something to say: people would prefer remote jobs now that most companies have been forced to allow for that job model. But is this enough?
Sometimes, you need a shock to the system to precipitate change. In the US, I was seeing labor supply was getting tight throughout the 2010s, and labor prices were rising for years, but the pandemic shutdown and benefits provided a great catalyst to spur the change that needed to happen to force a change in the price negotiations of labor sellers and labor buyers.
I can only hope this change continues and we see more labor price transparency, and more movement in labor markets eventually resulting in reduction of income/wealth gaps.
Also about half of the boomers have / are hitting retirement age and are retiring en masse, which will shrink the available labor supply quite drastically (especially since they were very productive workers in late career stage)