Where Are All the US Workers? by The Conference Board

Demographic and market trends exacerbated by COVID-19’s impact on the workforce converged to worsen labor shortages, presenting important challenges for business and public policy leaders as the nation strives to revitalize its economy and compete in the postpandemic era. Several long-term demographic trends contributed to a tight labor supply even before the pandemic, including meager growth in the number of working-age Americans, the shrinking number of working-age adults without college degrees, and historically low US birth rates, projected to continue beyond 2040. But the pandemic’s impact has further constricted the labor supply. Business leaders and policy makers must get Americans into the labor force and support all workers by providing training to develop the skills they need to prosper and taking advantage of global talent by reforming US immigration policy to increase legal immigration, decrease the flow of illegal migration, and reform, most immediately, the H-1B visa program.

This piece was created as a complement to the research report, The US Labor Shortage: A Plan to Tackle the Challenge.