Pandemics and Employment

 The Post runs through the uneven nature of return to employment in these - hopefully - late stages of the pandemic.

Some sectors are basically back to normal, but others are struggled to hire. Certain places in the country are struggled more than others, as people wonder whether to risk returning to a shitty job when you might get Covid or bring it home to infect your 4 year old.

This isn't a new phenomenon. Most famously, the Black Death killed so many peasants that it upended feudalism as it shifted the negotiating power between serf and landowner. This event isn't nearly as calamitous, but it does raise questions about the nature of work. I know we lost several faculty members to retirement that had to be accelerated by the pandemic. 

America has largely been gripped by the idea that workers should be grateful to have a job at all. That's...well...bullshit, but it is a prevalent idea. As many Americans work their way up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, they tend to reject the idea that they should risk their lives or the lives of their children to make $12 and hour asking someone if they want fries with that.

Time will tell if we are seeing a fundamental change in the American workforce, but some changes would hardly be unwelcome.