The US labor short is a national economic emergency that is getting worse by the day, the Chamber of Commerce said.

The US labor shortage is holding back the country’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.

The labor shortage is hitting industries from education and healthcare to hospitality and ride-hailing apps with some states having fewer available workers than vacancies, showed a new report by the Chamber on Tuesday.

The worker shortage is real - and it’s getting worse by the day, Suzanne Clark, the president and CEO of the Chamber, said in a statement. The worker shortage is a national economic emergency, and it poses an imminent threat to our fragile recovery and America’s great resurgence.

According to the report, the number of people available for job openings has decreased dramatically. In March, the organization said, there were a record 8.1 million job openings in the country but about half as many available workers for every open job across the nation as there have been during the past 20 years.

The ratio differs from one area to another. In professional and business services, private educational services, and private health services, for example, there are fewer available workers than job openings. For government vacancies, this rate, known as the worker availability ratio, decreases to just 0.16.

Also, some states have been worse hit than others. In South Dakota, Nebraska, and Vermont, there is fewer than one available worker per open job, the report said.

The report, however, added the lack of workers to fill open jobs is not a new problem, but keeping our economy going requires we fill these jobs.
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The Chamber also said it has launched America Works, a plan to mobilize industry and government to alleviate the worker shortage.

This is Operation Warp Speed for jobs, said Clark. As we stand on the cusp of what could be a great American resurgence, a worker shortage is holding back job creators across the country.