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Job Seekers Warm Back Up to In-Person Work, Signaling Relief Ahead for Restaurants -Breaking

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© Reuters. Signs of relief for restaurants: Job seekers return to in-person work

(Bloomberg) — Job seekers have started to come back around to the idea of in-person work, signaling potential relief ahead for business owners struggling fill openings.

Interest in positions more likely to be in-person – like those in restaurants and hospitality – rebounded in May back to pre-pandemic levels or higher, according to Indeed’s Relative Job Seeker Interest metric. The job site has not seen statistically significant differences in the interest for on-site jobs versus remote positions since the start of the year. This means that people looking to work are more likely to be in person.

The findings could be a boon for businesses that have struggled to hire in the pandemic recovery. The quits rate is hovering near a record high, in part reflecting lower-paid service-sector workers who’ve sought out opportunities in industries that offer remote work and better pay. And with over 11.5 million job openings, companies have raised wages and found other creative ways to attract and retain employees.

According to AnnElizabeth Konkel, economist, “It seems like interest in In-person Work is returning a bit,” she said. This remote variable does not seem as important anymore.

Though remote work is still far more popular than it was before Covid-19, “it may now be less of a make-or-break factor than it was at earlier stages of the pandemic,” according to Indeed’s report, which measures interest by tracking clicks on positions relative to the average job posting. Data are through May 20.

According to Indeed, the most popular areas of interest were tourism and hospitality, food service, and retail. However, job seekers still aren’t as drawn to work in personal care and home health aide positions.

Should more workers come back to work on site, wage gains could slow — and other metrics suggest that’s already happening.  This would be good news to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is working hard to reduce inflation by trying to lower demand.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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