Supply shortages and emboldened workers: A changed economy

By PAUL WISEMAN and DEE-ANN DURBIN
AP Business Writers

The global economy hadn’t experienced anything like this for decades. Maybe ever. After years in which ultra-low inflation became a fixture of economies across the world, prices rocketed skyward in 2021 — at the grocery store, the gasoline pump, the used-car lot, the furniture store. Chalk it up to a surprisingly swift and robust economic recovery from the pandemic recession, one that left suppliers flat-footed and hampered by COVID-19 disruptions. U.S. workers, having struggled for years to achieve economic progress, gained better wages, benefits and working conditions — and the confidence to quit their jobs if they didn’t get them.