I've heard the same thing on a recent NPR Planet Money podcast: No Shortage of Labor Stories (Dec 2021): https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1065332194 https://www.

I've heard the same thing on a recent NPR Planet Money podcast: No Shortage of Labor Stories (Dec 2021): https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1065332194 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1065332194 Employers were saying they're desperate to hire, and there are plenty of people applying and not getting hired. It makes no sense. I hear more and more of these mismatched supply-demand anecdata. I can only conclude that there are not honest conversations around hiring; that is, the real requirement for the job is not being conveyed, or at least written down or said out loud. Like you said, if an employer such as Tim Horton has a desperate need for labor but is turning down large number of applicants, the labor being asked for is not being proffered at the wage being paid, and the alternative (not filling the position and then complaining that you can't help) is better than hiring. That is the only reasonable conclusion I can draw.