The extra unemployment and stimulus checks are the reason. I don't blame them for not taking a $12 an hour job when the government will pay them $18 to sit at home, most of us would do the same. It's not as simple as "just pay more". If a restaurant hires a bunch of workers at $20 an hour for a $10 an hour job to compete with the handouts they've pretty much set the price of that labor at $20 permanently which they can't pay forever and survive. When (if) the handouts end the labor market will adjust and if you kept the doors open with $20 an hour labor then you're stuck with it. Better to cut back the hours or shut the doors temporarily than to memorialize bubble wages. It's the same as reloading component manufacturers not expanding their operation every time a dem opens their mouth about gun control and the shelves get cleaned out. If you add all the capacity during the bubble you're stuck with it when the bubble bursts.
