I think this misses a lot. I suppose it's because it has to support the pro-billionaire-founder conclusion. First: monetary policy. This was half the shock, no

I think this misses a lot. I suppose it's because it has to support the pro-billionaire-founder conclusion. First: monetary policy. This was half the shock, not just the pandemic - it was on a scale similar to World War II. In hindsight, you can say that the pandemic was a signal to increase production, but that's a bit ridiculous. If vaccines took longer, if governments didn't spend more than WW2, we would be in a much different situation. Not to mention all the retail bankruptcies that happened anyway. Second: structural changes in the labor market. Huge numbers of Baby Boomer retirements [1], for example, which disproportionately affect the sorts of manufacturing and transport jobs that are relevant here. Third: operational effects. Lots of spare capacity can mean operating at normal rates after accounting for things like social distancing, quarantines, and government forced shutdowns. Examples include mass factory closures in Vietnam the last few months, huge outbreaks at meatpacking plants, forced quarantine of air crew, and Amazon employees waiting taking 20-60 minutes to pass screening before work. 1. https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2021/10/15/the-covid-retirement-boom https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synops...