The pandemic leveled the hospitality industry, causing the restaurant sector to lose 2.5 million workers, according to the National Restaurant Association . When Dominique Brown was laid off from her restaurant job in March 2020, she felt disposable. The jobs restaurant workers did before have changed, as has the world around them, and wages should reflect that, said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. "When restaurants post jobs, they are posting jobs right now that are just inherently harder, more stressful than they were before [the Covid-19 pandemic]," Shierholz said. That being said, Shierholz isn't yet convinced that a true labor shortage has taken hold in restaurants and other sectors.

Source: CNN May 10, 2021 15:45 UTC