As the personal finance website WalletHub points out, during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans lost their jobs and experienced financial difficulties due to unemployment. Now, for many employers, the shoe is on the other foot. Lots of businesses are struggling to hire enough workers, which has sometimes led to delays in services and reduced business hours.
In fact, WalletHub says, the labor force participation rate is still below pre-pandemic levels, and is at one of the lowest points in decades. Some businesses aren’t even able to keep the employees they already have as Americans are quitting their jobs at record rates in what’s been dubbed the “Great Resignation.”
Within the U.S., workers are easier to find in some states than others. In order to see where employers are struggling the most in hiring, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on the rate of job openings for both the latest month and the last 12 months.
WalletHub based its comparisons on two metrics, the rate of job openings for the latest month and for the last 12 months. WalletHub gave the job openings rate for the latest month double weight in its rankings (two-thirds) and the job openings rate for the last year full weight (one-third). WalletHub then used these metrics to rank the states and the District from those that struggle the most with hiring to those that struggle the least.
The Commonwealth of Virginia did not come out well in the rankings, landing at number seven in the rankings of states struggling the most in hiring.
According to WalletHub, the ten states having the most trouble finding employees are 1. Alaska 2. Georgia 3. Montana 4. Louisians 5. New Mexico 6. West Virginia 7. Virginia 8. Wyoming 9. Delaware 10. Vermont
On the other hand, the website found that the ten places having the least trouble finding and hiring workers are 42 South Dakota 43. Nebraska 44. North Dakota 45. Pennsylvania 46. Illinois 47. Florida 48. New Jersey 49. Connecticut 50. District of Columbia 51. New York
The reason Virginia businesses cannot retain older workers is because they treat them like dirt. Younger workers are lazy and won’t listen to management and supervisors, then when reprimanded, complain they are being targeted or their feelings are hurt. HR departments also sweep a lot of dirt under their collective rugs and brush aside real problems and concerns which makes their staff less likely to stay.