Heritage Foundation research fellow Rachel Greszler recently testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee that the severe labor shortages in health care and other sectors are being caused more by government than by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Greszler has spent years working on labor issues. In her testimony to the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, she discussed the severity of the labor shortage, saying that employers and businesses are under severe strain. She also noted that the problem is not simply a product of the pandemic, but of bad economic policy. 

“Instead of spending more federal money and imposing more labor distortions, policymakers should remove the employment barriers they’ve created,.” Greszler said.  
 
She added: “That includes eliminating welfare-without-work policies, reducing tax burdens that limit wage and productivity gains, letting people pursue the work they want, and expanding child care options by allowing parents to use Head Start funds at providers of their choice.” 

 
In particular, Greszler focused on the consequences of the labor shortage in the health care industry. She noted that an estimated 70,000 health care workers could lose their jobs due to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. 

“It’s one thing to be frustrated by longer waits at restaurants because of worker shortages. And cancelled flights and cancelled school bus routes are major disruptions, but closed hospital units, or delayed and restricted health care risk people’s health and lives,” said Greszler. 
 
Watch Greszler’s full testimony here.