My thoughts on the labor shortage: Mass retirements did happen. I personally know multiple people who were in that age range that might have kept working but were uninterested in adapting to covid work. Leaving industry en mass did happen. I personally know a few people who adapted to at home or some other form of work than the traditional model because they had no choice during lockdown. Some of them have no interest in going back. Of course gibs happened too. At the lowest level people got handouts instead of going to their retail jobs. Some of those people had the integrity before to say "I might work a low skill job but I'll be damned if I an going on govt handouts." Well, lockdowns left them no choice and killed their pride.