Covid-19 has changed the way millions of people work.

White-collar employees switched from office jobs to working from home, while blue-collar employees saw dramatic changes in the way they earn a living. Millions of people in the leisure and hospitality industry simply lost their jobs.

Now, with the help of vaccine passports, the economy is coming back, but many employees don’t want to go back to the same jobs they lost. They see the pandemic as a reset button and they are looking for better opportunities. They don’t want to return to the ungratifying low-paying jobs with horrendous working schedules; they are holding up for better opportunities.

In an effort to attract and retain employees, many corporations such as Amazon and Walmart have increased their wages. Amazon is now offering starting passions at $20/hour. And much smaller businesses are scrambling to offer comparative wages.

Despite the increased wages, employees are taking their time. They really don’t want to go back into the leisure and hospitality sector. As it is right now, there are millions of job vacancies and employers are struggling to find help.

In order to fill those vacancies, employers will have to find a way to pay more and to offer better working conditions.

Republicans in the U.S. and Conservatives in Canada insist that the government is helping people too much and that no one will go back to work as long as there are generous unemployment benefits.

But the truth is that people don’t want shitty jobs. A cook earns $13 to $15/hour for doing grilling hard labor, in poor working conditions and unstable schedules. They rather go work at an Amazon warehouse where they can get better benefits.

It will take a while before we settle on a new normal, but I don’t blame those employees who are holding out for better opportunities, if I was them, I would be doing the same thing.