Business disruptions continue with 5M Americans expected to call in sick
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Following the winter holidays, employees were supposed to return to work in the first week of 2022. Instead, many called out sick, with a wave of omicron and the flu knocking around 3% of the U.S. workforce offline. The situation is being compounded by a severe labor shortage hitting the country, leading to series of economic disruptions that are most pronounced in the essential healthcare and education industries. 1 in 4 workers are planning on quitting their jobs in 2022.


Snapshot: The seven-day average of U.S. daily cases has surpassed 500K for the first time since the pandemic began in March 2020. Despite an increase in public testing, many are also testing positive at home (and some are avoiding tests altogether), meaning the infected figure could be a whole lot higher. More than 5M Americans could even be stuck at home isolating over the coming days, which could "deal a significant hit to the economy over the next month or two," wrote Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
"Hiring temporary is not an option," said Loycent Gordon, owner of Neir's Tavern, a small historic bar in Queens, New York. "Who's going to train them?"

Similar issues: Big business is also having a rough time navigating the shortages. Over the weekend, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
confirmed that it is cutting its paid leave in half, down to week, or 40 hours, for workers who test positive for COVID-19 or need to quarantine following exposure, following updated guidance from the CDC. Walmart (NYSE:WMT), the largest private employer in the U.S. with about 1.6M workers, is also taking similar measures.