At the same
time, some sectors enjoyed soaring growth.
Interest rates plummeted, causing a massive jump in business at mortgage
companies as homeowners sought to refinance their loans.
Home sales, including vacation homes, soared when
people sought comfortable surroundings for their newly established
work-from-home routines.
Supermarkets
and food-delivery services boomed.
Cloud
computing firms, cybersecurity companies and digital payments firms, such as
Square and PayPal, were also dramatically boosted.
By late 2021, thanks to immense federal
government stimulus plans and the widespread adoption of Coronavirus vaccines,
the U.S.
economy was roaring ahead in most sectors, creating vast numbers of
job openings.
Nearly all industries were
complaining about large shortages of qualified workers, wages were rising and
some industries were offering generous sign-on bonuses.
Many industries were suffering shortages of
parts and inventory.
In February 2022,
the unemployment rate was down to a modest 3.8%.
One of the most important changes in business and related employment has been the acceleration of long-term trends, in a manner that saw years' worth of business change occurring over a matter of months.
The most noticeable of these trends was a boom in ecommerce of nearly all types.
Technology-driven services of many other types were accelerated, from remote telemedicine to remote online education.
At Plunkett Research, we believe that consumer and
business habits have permanently changed in many ways as a result of this
global pandemic.
The trend towards
shopping
Read More
...