Hacker News Reader

You best believe it wasn’t free. Especially for smaller jobs like flooring it’s often priced based on material. Everyone I know in construction was making $$$ in pandemic

I think they were talking about DIY. People couldn't really travel or do things outside the house so they might start home improvement projects themselves where as you might be more inclined to hire if you're busy with outside things.

I assume it varied greatly by region, but my experience was that it was extremely difficult to find workers during the pandemic response.

It seemed like a combination of fear and restrictions, plus free money at least in the US. I saw hourly rates for physical labor jobs go through the roof, double the pre-response rates and still couldn't fill positions.

GP was suggesting that many people found a supply of labor in the mirror while brushing their teeth.

Labor was not free during covid, it was harder to find than ever