Labor Shortage or Wage Shortage?

By Mike Switzer

Published June 2, 2021 at 5:30 AM EDT

Unemployment rates continue to stay above pre-pandemic levels yet employers continue to complain of a shortage of qualified employees. This topic is getting more and more attention. What is going on with the labor market?

Mike Switzer interviews Frank Hefner, Director Office of Economic Analysis and Professor of Economics at the College of Charleston.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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