I've got some theories about I want to hear your opinions on this topic. I've been hearing that no one wants to work… Ok sure. I've seen a bunch of posts of the hellscape of applying and getting ghosted or rejected hundreds of times. I believe you, why would you lie?
Now here's my experience. I work in public education and we are desperate for people. We've got a bunch of entry level full time custodian positions. Not great pay but not too shabby. We've got a shortage of educational assistants to help in classrooms 4 to 6 hrs a day. We've got maintenance positions both entry level and supervisor. We've got two or three director level positions. We've been looking for a server admin for about 7 months with 0 applications. We're hiring a $100k/yr head of communications position. And nearly every position is union represented as well with most roles having good benefits too.
So how are they both true? Is it just a miss match of skills for the jobs? Is it all the boomers leaving roles with no one trained up for it yet? I know a bunch of teachers retired early but what about the rest of it?