Inflation has no cure-all. The Federal Reserve’s rate hikes – two already this year, and more expected – might help, but they do nothing to address one of the main underlying problems: not enough workers.
According to the most recent government data, there are almost 11.4 million job openings in the country, but only about 6 million unemployed persons. That’s a shortage of about 5.4 million people. That’s two jobs for every jobless person in the United States. This hasn’t been the case since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started counting job openings in 2000.
Solving the labor shortage will go a long way toward mitigating inflation. The most immediate solution for both: import a workforce.
