This is Planet Money from NPR.

Just a quick language warning, this episode is about work, so there's going to be some swearing.

Okay, I'm Ryan Thomas. I'm in Los Angeles, California.

And I'm Jesse, and I live in Los Angeles, California.

I think we've both come to a consensus on this matter, working's terrible, and sourced.

Yeah, don't do it. Don't put yourself through that. Stay home with your cat.

That's pretty fun.

Yeah, I'm literally making pot cookies right now.

Okay, that's it. That's why there's a labor shortage.

A labor shortage. That is what a lot of people have been calling this moment.

Here in the US, when the pandemic hit 22 million jobs just went poof-gone.

It's been a lot of people have been ruptured by a tanking economy.

Since then, jobs have come back, but workers sort of haven't.

In fact, a lot of people are quitting. Right now, there are a lot more job openings than there are people looking for work.

And that usually does not happen.

Economists are waiting for more data, trying to understand this.

Meanwhile, people are floating lots of vaguely sociological explanations.

Let's find out what is going on in your world of work.

So we asked you to tell us, are you hiring? Are you quitting? Are you looking for work?

And you call this back from all over the place.

Hi, Planet Money. My name is Carlos from Western Florida.

Hey, Planet Money. My name is Nick, and I live in rural Virginia.

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