Over a million people died of covid. Many more have become permanently disabled. Many of them were retired seniors but among the people who were not, they were disproportionately service workers who couldn’t wfh.
You will note that for the US, approximately 25% of the excess deaths in 2021 were from people 64 and younger.
That is still a large number.
Also note:
> And among high income countries, one notable outlier is the United States, which has a much younger profile of deaths than its income-level would suggest.
That hit minorities, lower income, and "essential workers" harder than other areas. These are the people who are cleaning rooms and working hospitality and service sectors.
95% of COVID deaths are of people above 50 years [1]. I think you need a bit more evidence to support the idea that worker shortage is because workers are dead or disabled.
If COVID deaths severely impacted the number of workers, then their housing should have opened up. Instead we see the housing supply even more constrained and prices rising.
