From choosing gig work to struggling with childcare, report finds reasons for Middle Tennessee worker shortage

The latest “Vital Signs” report from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce finds that most jobs have since been recovered since Middle Tennessee lost almost 155,000 jobs between February and April of 2020.

But some businesses are now struggling to find workers.

Part of the reason is that worker preferences are changing. Many residents are pursuing gig work and remote opportunities in pursuit of a more favorable work-life balance. Some would-be-workers are also still without reasonable childcare, even as the pandemic starts to slow.

Along with hospitality, the childcare industry was one of the hardest-hit sectors during the early days of the pandemic. Parents were forced to leave their jobs to take care of their children.

The chamber finds COVID also sped up the pace of Baby Boomer retirements.

These worker decisions are being felt in the regional economy, where the number of job seekers is lower than it was before the pandemic. Other factors are Nashville’s ongoing housing crisis and a lack of job training programs. The chamber’s report also projects a shortage of workers in some high-paying fields, like healthcare and IT.