Of the many changes in America’s labor markets since the pandemic began, perhaps the most surprising has been a decisive shift in the balance of power from employers to workers. Facing historic labor shortages and much choosier workers, employers are boosting wages, improving workplace conditions, and providing more flexible work arrangements to attract the personnel they need.

In the first part of a two-part article, I explained what’s causing the labor shortage and why it’s unlikely to ease anytime soon. In this article, I show how workers are leveraging the labor shortage and other trends to be much more selective about where and when to work and under what conditions. It all adds up to newfound clout for labor and greater hiring costs and challenges for employers.

Read my article in Dialogue & Discourse on Medium here