
Simon Says: Generational holdouts impact worker shortages
Where have all the workers gone is still a question I hear. Restaurants are closed some days because they cannot get the staff. Dry cleaners refuse to accept clothes after 5 pm for the same reason. In the Augusta MSA, there are 263,000 people in the labor force, down from 270,000 pre-pandemic (see below). Nationally, about 2.6 million workers are in the workforce compared to pre-pandemic. Although the labor force level by demographic is not available for the local area, national data suggests who has returned to work and who








