Hundreds of workers at a Smithfield Foods Inc. meatpacking plant in Crete, Neb., contracted Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic last spring. For about 50 of the facility’s 2,300 employees, a fear of getting sick because of preexisting conditions has kept them from working ever since.
“We work so close together,” says a Smithfield worker in pork production who’s been on leave from the plant throughout the pandemic and asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. “It’s like pulling teeth to find out if the person next to you tested positive.”
While the surge in the number of unemployed Americans has been a focus of economists throughout the pandemic, another problem in the labor market has been mostly overlooked: The people that do have jobs are calling out sick in record numbers or taking leaves of absence. Unlike the jobless rate, which has declined markedly from the peak in April, the rate of absenteeism has remained stubbornly high. More than 1.9 million people missed work in December because of illness, according to Labor Department data, almost matching the 2 million record set in April and underscoring the impact of a third wave of coronavirus infections.
These lost days of work are sapping an economic recovery that’s been progressing in fits and starts for the past several months. Some indicators have improved significantly, but others such as retail sales and personal income have weakened as the pandemic rages and local governments impose fresh restrictions on businesses and travel.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
The Hyperinflation Hype
Talk that the U.S. is going the way of Zimbabwe or Venezuela is bunk but bunk can move markets and influence policy
The Sheriff Wants a Word With Robinhood
Massachusetts regulator William Galvin says the free app is encouraging novice investors to trade themselves into trouble
The Geopolitics Of Chips
Taiwan and South Korea have amassed an uncomfortable degree of market power
THE SUPERCAR SPECIAL
Electrification is redefining what it means for a car to be extraordinary.
Tech's Latest Perk: Never See the Office
Silicon Valley companies are wooing executives with the promise of remote work forever
VACCINE CAPITALISM
Pfizer deserves every bit of the credit it’s receiving. But should a drug company decide who gets a shot?
GOD SAVE MY PUBS
Tim Martin is fighting to keep Wetherspoons, his working-class British chain, alive. His detractors would bid it good riddance
WHO GUARDS THE SECURITY GUARDS?
THE PEOPLE ASKED TO ENFORCE COVID SAFETY RULES PUT UP WITH LOW PAY, MINIMAL TRAINING, AND SOME DANGEROUSLY ANGRY CUSTOMERS
Can Clubhouse Keep The Party Going?
Silicon Valley’s hottest app is getting more than just money from its prominent investors
After a Grim Limbo, Hope
A migrant camp empties as Biden undoes Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy