Massachusetts workforce shortages here to stay as Baby Boomers retire

> The workforce shortage that has left employers across sectors scrambling to keep operations running in recent years isn't likely to let up "any time, in the rest of anybody's lifetime," one of the nation's leading economists said Thursday.

> "We're going to have a persistent worker shortage for the foreseeable future," Curtis Dubay, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said at a Greater Boston Business Chamber event at WBUR City Space.

> With more opportunities and security for workers, Dubay said that even as projections show a slowing economy in 2024, "I don't think it really matters that much" if there is a recession.

> The U.S. experienced a recession in the first half of 2022 when there were two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, he said. The economist argued that "no one remembers" the dip.

> The reason no one remembers that is because during that period, jobs expanded, spending increased, income grew and manufacturing output increased," Dubay said. "The point is, did it really matter? If all those things that would affect people's daily lives, if they're growing and increasing, then did we have a recession if no one feels any pain? Does it really matter if it's a recession or not?"

> Dubay called this a "tree falls in the woods recession," saying that even if the economy slows in 2024 there likely won't be mass layoffs as workers are too valuable to employers in the current landscape.

There is no such thing as workforce shortage. What is there is a salary shortage.