On the recordMay 10, 2021
I hope that you had a marvelous Mother's Day. I enjoyed so much being back in Tennessee, and over the past week, I really had the pleasure of hearing from so many Tennesseans who are just celebrating having reopened businesses and music venues and public spaces in our communities. There was a lot of happiness across our State as I was there. Everywhere you looked, you could see evidence that people are ready to get back to work, and they want to get back to life as normal. There is also a lot of evidence that local businesses are ready to get back to normal. You cannot walk 10 feet in Knoxville, TN, for example, without running into a ``help wanted'' sign. Normally, this would be an indicator of a successful economic comeback, but here is the problem: Those signs just are not working, not for retail or restaurants or even for the industrial sector with small business manufacturing. Some businesses are getting so desperate for help that they are offering signing bonuses worth hundreds of dollars to anyone willing and able to come back to work. All year, we have used a particular catchphrase to encourage people to get their vaccinations. We have said that if we could only get shots in arms, then we could get back to normal. Well, as it turns out, that was step 1. We are getting the shots in arms. People are getting vaccinated. Now it is time for step 2, and that is getting people back to work, getting them to fill these jobs.…





