I was listening yesterday to some “experts” are discussing this very aberration. The welfare has stopped for many, but they are not going back to work. “Experts” are trying to figure out why?
They think...and that does mean guess...part of the issue is the Child Care Tax Credit people are now getting monthly instead of at tax time. The savings rate sky rocketed during the pandemic by something like 37% is what they said, so many are now living off their savings(dumb move, but it is their life).
There is something else going on and no one is grasping it. It could be that many learned they could live with less, on less, and with the recalibrated budgets due to the pandemic rediscovered the value in time spent with family, friends and loved ones. Couple a recalibrated family budget, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, digital vaccine passports collecting your data, what many parents saw their kids learning via Zoom, and I think people are just not going to be coming back to work very soon. If they come back at all.
The age of consumerism is over. Many may have realized they didn’t need a two income lifestyle. Minimalism was a trend before the pandemic and those toying with the idea found out...it does indeed deliver on a far less stressful lifestyle.
I'd add that seniors that don't need the money may not want to work because of leaky vaccines. I notice a heck of a lot more seniors on the golf course during the weekdays than before Covid hit..
I hope so. The two-income-family trend led to a higher cost of living, according to my economics professor back in the 80's. If the average household income drops, maybe the cost of living will, too.
Then again, could the buy-now-pay-later people really have learned how to budget in a year? They might be maxing out their credit cards. Some people always live on borrowed money.