Labour shortages and supply chain issues are also giving Joe Biden a headache

There has plenty of talk in recent weeks about the supply chain issues and labour shortages (in certain sectors) facing Britain, but the US has not been immune to such problems.

US businesses added only 194,000 jobs in September – the lowest of any month in 2021 – and following only 366,000 jobs being added in August (revised up from an initial reported figure of 235,000). Both figures were well below expectations. A number of analysts pointed towards concerns over the Delta Covid variant being a factor – although the number of cases has been declining through the back end of September, so there is hope for the October reports.

A survey released last month by the National Restaurant Association found 78 per cent of restaurant operators said they have experienced a decline in customer demand in the last few weeks prior to the survey and that 71 per cent of restaurants said they were understaffed. Ninety-five per cent of restaurants that answered the survey said they had experienced supply issues of some kind in the last three months.

One company, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but with outlets across the country, has said that it will be sending 250 of its roughly 750 corporate staff to go and work frontline jobs in their locations. The employees will be housed in hotels for one to two weeks at company expense. “It’s all hands on deck,” co-CEO AJ Kumaran said, with the company also looking to hire thousands of new workers during the next two months.

So how has the White House responded to the issues? Well, there isn’t masses that the federal government can do quickly to alleviate supply problems (not unlike the UK). But last month the Biden administration named as its “ports envoy” John Porcari, a former Obama transportation official, to try and deal with issues over cargo and freight. Administration officials have also held meetings focused on four areas where supply issues are most pressing: home building, semiconductors (used in many digital products), transportation and agriculture.

In the short term, it is about an emphasis on government monitoring and improved data-gathering to try and fix problem areas. Officials are talking about reform – but big infrastructure changes take time, and that is true whichever side of the Atlantic you are on.