The daily lives of residents in the United Kingdom are affected by the lack of people in many jobs. The economy is picking up from the months of lockdown, businesses are re-opening, and they cannot find people to fill the vacant position. Labour shortage might have been preventable, and ultimately the buck stops with the government. However, blaming just one factor (Brexit, COVID, etc.) does not explain it. Everybody has a point. Those who pin it on Brexit see the restriction of the pool of candidates caused by the end of freedom of movement.
Emergency visas aside, it is more complicated for EU citizens to find a job in the UK. Those who think that COVID Is to blame think that people who lost their jobs in the early weeks of lockdown have found something else to do. Others see the transition towards a “High-Skill, High-Salary” economy as the main reason for these growing pains.
Like many other things happening in life, not finding enough people to provide products and services that the company is supposed to provide to clients has many contributing factors.
A lot of businesses that vastly reduced the size of their operation or closed altogether fired their employees. They did not place them in furlough. They got rid of them. They justified their actions by saying that they had no idea when things would have restarted. Those who lost their jobs looked for something else to do; they either found it or went home. Those who live outside the UK or Ireland and are not British citizens may face problems coming back now that the economy has picked up and their jobs are available again. Those who found other ways to earn a living may have found other jobs. Positions that they may be reluctant to leave.
Many businesses have lost the ability to train inexperienced workers. It used to be easy to hire experienced people from outside the UK, now that source of skilled labour has dried up. They have to train UK citizens. It has been a shock to the system for many businesses who had no idea how to go about training people. Also, training does not happen overnight. Certain jobs require a specific set of skills and specific training. All of this takes time. Rome was not built in a day, and we are now a the stage where they are looking at which bricks to buy, but they have not started laying them out yet.