Employers across the U.S. are crying out for workers and grasping for solutions to the current labor shortage. A labor shortage means there are more jobs than people out of work. Though this is a phenomenon not often seen within the U.S. economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned many industries upside down and resulted in an acute worker shortage. Currently, there are about 3.5 million fewer people in the workforce relative to February 2020.