No one has ever wanted to work retail/service. And why would they? Customers can abuse employees with immunity and employers have a de facto dictatorial control over your life and the worst brag about how theyre eager to replace you
“No one” in the US perhaps. Customers look down on retail workers, and feel free to abuse them, because they are so economically disempowered. A nation which pays retail workers a fair wage is also a nation where retail workers are treated (somewhat) better.
For a living wage and decent benefits, there are few jobs that would not attract good candidates, willing to put up with the pit falls of the position. I did not hate my time in retail, and if they respected my time and payed me well I would probably still work in retail.
There have been “no one wants to work anymore” articles about as far back as we have writing.
Often driven people who work very hard are the ones who start companies. Then they expect others to work as hard as they did. But if every employee worked as hard as the owner they could start their own business. Employeers who can’t figure that out is the issue.
More likely it was a combination. The stock boom from like 2010 to 2020 was huge. So many people were already in a good position. Then COVID was the extra push. Lot of people stay working out of momentum. Then you add changing business, who at that age is going to reinvent themselves if they do not have to. Add to that employers not treating people very well anyway.
I retired just before the pandemic. Just my observation based on my personal experience.
It seems to be going okay for those that retired at the height of a boom, but I’d caution that anyone rocketing past their retirement goal from a market upturn wait a little bit longer, lest you retire right before the market crashes again and incur sequence of returns risk.
It’s very hard for someone in their late 50s to want to start all over at another company, knowing nobody, learning and training. Because the pandemic forced them to: they said their “goodbyes” and they no longer have their identities tied up in work. It was earlier than they expected, but that’s what happened.
They are unlikely to go back to work unless the economy forces them to go back, and if it does it won’t likely be to their last job. They’ll be starting somewhere new as the new employee. That’s very hard on someone in their late 50s.