According to a new poll, nearly nine in 10 employers say some of their employees will quit when President Biden’s federal vaccine mandate goes into effect.
This ominous news comes at a time when employers are already extremely short-staffed and the U.S. economy has 11 million job openings, an all-time record.
This past weekend, I experienced a labor shortage when I had to drive to three Dunkin Donut shops just to get a cup of coffee. The first two I stopped at were “closed” due to a lack of employees. The third location’s drive-thru was open, but it did not have enough employees for indoor dining/ordering.
Unfortunately, as most Americans can attest to, the labor shortage is across the board, and it is causing major problems.
From truck drivers to teachers to health care workers, employers are finding it more difficult than ever to fill job vacancies.
And Biden’s looming federal vaccine mandate will only make matters much worse.
According to the recent poll, conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 90 percent of employers said it will be “somewhat or very challenging” to administer Biden’s nationwide vaccine mandate.
What’s more, 85 percent of employers said the vaccine mandate will make it more difficult to retain employees. A whopping 78 percent said the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate will make it more difficult to attract and hire new employees. And 82 percent said the vaccine requirement will make it more difficult to maintain morale and engagement.
Even worse, 72 percent of employers said the national vaccine mandate will make it more difficult to maintain regular business operations.
As Trent Burner, SHRM’s vice president of research, succinctly stated, “Organizations are concerned about the challenges to implementing the new vaccine mandate during a time when there is a talent shortage in many industries.”
Among workers, the antipathy to Biden’s vaccine mandate is also a major reason for concern.
Per the SHRM survey, 52 percent of unvaccinated employees said they will quit if their employer implements a vaccine mandate.
Almost half of all manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation, and warehouse workers are opposed to the federal government’s heavy-handed mandate.
Moreover, 40 percent of all workers are against the vaccine mandate.
While Biden’s national requirement is likely to cause major economic turmoil when the rule is finalized, local and statewide vaccine mandates are already causing unprecedented disruptions.
For example, several states are struggling with severe shortages of health care workers due to recent vaccine mandates. Many states and localities are also in desperate need of police officers because of vaccine mandates.
For me, the fundamental problem with vaccine mandates is they are a one-size-fits-all “solution” that is not tailored to consider unique circumstances.
For instance, vaccine mandates do not make exemptions for those who have natural immunity to COVID-19, which studies show offers more robust and longer-lasting protection than any of the vaccines currently available.
Furthermore, women who are pregnant, people with certain auto-immune diseases, and the young and healthy also have legitimate reasons for exceptions to the mandate.
However, for one reason or another, those pushing vaccine mandates remain steadfast in their all-or-nothing approach.
Without a doubt, federal, state, and local vaccine mandates will do more harm than good. As of this writing, more than 57 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated. Incredibly, 68 percent of Americans over the age of 18 have been fully vaccinated. When one considers all who have had COVID-19, and therefore have natural immunity, we are well past herd immunity.
In other words, in the United States, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are plummeting, yet those pushing vaccine mandates are acting as if we are still in the throes of the pandemic.
That makes me wonder if vaccine mandates are not actually about protecting the public, but more about politicians and bureaucrats exerting their newfound pandemic powers.
Chris Talgo(ctalgo@heartland.org)is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.