American workers rush to take advantage of pandemic bargaining power
There are more job openings now than at any other time in recorded U.S. history. But will the bargaining power last? Ariana Garcia, 27, with her son, Noel, 7, in Lancaster, Pa. Garcia was working as a manager at a MAC Cosmetics store before the pandemic and pivoted to real estate last year for better stability and flexibility and to spend more time with her son. A pandemic-tightened labor market has given willing and able workers more of an upper hand with their employers for the first time in generations. While workers are trying to take advantage of this rare moment of opportunity, economists are less convinced. Worker power is the ability of an employee to command higher wages and benefits and set terms about their working conditions. Since the 1950s, worker power has generally been on the decline as the power of corporations and shareholders grew and union strength fell. But now the nation has the most job openings it has ever had since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started ...