And many who didn’t die now have to live with permanent disability that prevents them from holding any kind of job (especially because employers are so opposed to making the work accessible).
Those who are able-bodied and still remain have left to fill the higher-paying vacancies left behind by the newly deceased/disabled.
Someone in the notes said “the number of deaths is 3x that”… no, it’s not. (There may be some handwaving of the numbers, and some weirdness in statistical methods here and there, but there’s no vast conspiracy trying to cover up - or invent - millions of deaths.)
But COVID deaths aren’t evenly split across all demographics. The wealthy were hit much less. Office workers were hit much less than the service industries. Everyone whose job switched to “work from home” immediately… they’re in the less-afflicted. Everyone who was labeled an “essential worker” was stuck working in high-risk conditions… often with minimal health care options.
In January [of 2022], 78% of ICU beds were being used and 29% of hospitals were dealing with critical staffing shortages. As of April 5, 69% of ICU beds are in use and 19% of hospitals face staffing shortages.
Are those hospitals split evenly across the continental US? HELL NO.
In April, Texas had 83% ICU capacity and 12% staffing shortages. More than 40% of hospitals in West Virginia, Tennessee and Vermont have critical staffing shortages.
California, the most populous state: 69% ICU capacity, 32% staffing shortage.
On the one hand, working with sick people is a high-risk thing. On the other… if you don’t have the kind of experience that will put you in a wfh office… would you rather be emptying wastebaskets and driving supplies to a hospital or at a supermarket?
Guess which jobs are not being filled? Hint: it’s not a lack of $40/hour office managers nor of $125/hour programmers that are causing signs saying “CLOSED because we can’t find anyone to work.”
If minimum wage had kept up with inflation & productivity trends, it’d be over $20/hour right now.
Below that would’ve been considered starvation level wages in the 70s. It’s starvation level wages now.
Ask how many of the “unfilled” jobs are paying a living wage.
