Unfilled jobs can be attributed to many reasons as to why people can’t or don’t want to work at the jobs that are available. This is according to Kyle Anderson. Anderson is an economist at IU Kelley School of Business.

Unfilled Jobs and the Various Reasons for it

In fact, the wait at the fast-food drive-thrus is as long as 30 minutes. Moreover, restaurants have cut back hours. Also, pools can’t find enough lifeguards.

There are places that have raised the wages which are struggling to hire. Governor Eric Holcomb is trying to cut federal unemployment a few months early. The point is to get the hundreds of thousands that are collecting the federal benefit to take some 116,000 jobs that were unfilling earlier this year. Thus, he was blocked by a lawsuit.

On September 4th, the federal benefits expire across the country.

New Hourly Wage in Indiana

Moreover, $15 is becoming the new starting hourly wage in Indiana.

In fact, Indiana’s unemployment rate of 4.1% has been steady throughout the Summer. However, that does not account for people who have stopped looking for work. The state lost 4,400 jobs from July to August.

Driving People Back to Work

Therefore, many other states are also cutting the federal benefits early in hopes of causing people to go back to work. Because economists are warning that the move may be futile. In fact, they don’t think those benefits were the driving force behind the work shortage. 

Unfilled Jobs: COVID-19 and More

In fact, the story is more complicated. There are reasons which range from the fear of COVID-19, child care needs at home, mismatch of skills between the worker and the job, also changing career interests, and early retirement.

More than 600,000 Americans have been killed by the pandemic which plunged many more into a financial crisis. It then forced businesses big and small to close. Thus prompting many American works to re-evaluate their lives.