It is THE hot topic around the Treasure Valley and beyond these days; unemployment. Businesses all over Boise are experiencing staff shortages and many are forced to speculate as to WHY people aren't coming to work.

Are the unemployment benefits too good? Are folks still worried about their health in the public space because of COVID-19? Or frankly, have people become too used to not working as much over the last year? There are still bills to be paid, right?

I know first hand that many local business owners, particularly in the food and beverage industry that simply can't find help, are being forced to work themselves or limit their establishment's hours. I've also spoken with many business owners who say that individuals who agree to an interview are no-showing. Things come up, life happens...but it seems all too coincidental right now that no-showing interviews is an issue.

Have you had any experience with this?

Ghosting, if you will, on jobs COULD actually result in a loss of unemployment benefits all together, by the way. Idahoans on unemployment could lost benefits all together if they do not follow up and apply with job referrals that come to them from the State of Idaho. This is a new rule that kicked in this month--if you're given a referral, you have two days to apply for the job and yes--the State of Idaho is following up on who is complying.

It's a pretty intense climate out there right now and there are a LOT of job openings across town. Really though, are Idahoans avoiding work?

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

KEEP READING: See the richest person in every state

 

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