Quote:Since 2020, there have been more than 95m recorded US Covid-19 cases, 1 million deaths and ongoing reports of Covid-induced chronic illness and disability, known as long Covid. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that long Covid affects one in five people infected with Sars-CoV-2. A recent Brookings Institution analysis found that as many as 2 to 4 million people may be out of work as a result. With more than 11m US jobs vacant, it’s plausible that up to one-third of current labor shortages are due to long Covid.
In other words, the Great Resignation may be a symptom of a mass disabling event.
So, why aren’t we talking more about quitting and long Covid? Instead of investigating the impact of continuing pandemic harms on the workforce, many have been quick to frame the Great Resignation through stories of white-collar workers seeking better work-life balance. For a society supposedly eager to move on from the pandemic, long Covid is an inconvenient truth. Its potential impact on the workforce is even more inconvenient, since governments frequently cite economic trouble as justification for dropping Covid-19 mitigation efforts.
Despite a widespread media focus on white-collar workers who have quit, pandemic worker attrition is most obvious in “essential” industries that require in-person work. Many states face drastic teacher shortages and healthcare workers continue to quit. The restaurant and food service industry still experiences severe pandemic-related labor shortages today. These workers faced higher rates of infection than those working remotely, and probably experience higher rates of long Covid – both because preventing infection is the only way to prevent long Covid and because reinfection may increase risk. Long Covid is keeping millions out of work – and worsening labor shortage in the US | Fiona Lowenstein and Ryan Prior | The Guardian