During the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 9.6 million U.S. workers between the ages of 16 and 64 lost their jobs.

But in the past several months as the majority of the country has opened back up, we’ve seen more and more darkened windows and closed signs replaced by help wanted notices.

What’s been surprising however is the number of these help wanted signs we see remain in place, followed by reports of a labor shortage here in the U.S.

So what happened? Have individuals taken the opportunity to transition to new positions or different fields? Are employees able to leverage the labor shortages into opportunities for better pay and working environments?

Joining me to help bring some clarity to the labor shortage questions is Robert Handfield with North Carolina State University.