It is becoming clear that the effects of COVID are not going away any time soon.

The start of December is officially the home stretch of the year. This year, we hope it is also the home stretch of the pandemic. For more than a year we have been speculating as to what the post-pandemic world will look like. Will COVID disappear or will it be a manageable condition like the flu that we deal with seasonally in the future?  We do know that even if COVID disappears, we will be dealing with the effects for years to come.

Shortages of homes, workers and supplies will not disappear overnight. And, as long as there are shortages we will likely be dealing with inflation. The economy shut down overnight almost two years ago, but opening the economy back up has been a gradual affair.  Not all the effects of COVID have been negative. We have seen advances in the use of technologies and medicines as well. Researchers are studying whether the technology which produced vaccines might actually be applied to producing treatment for cancers.

On the economic side, millions have become first time buyers in the past year and home building continues to escalate. We have the foundation in place to come out of the pandemic even stronger as a country. In addition, employment gains have been strong this year as the economy recovers. Last week’s jobs report showed that 210,000 jobs were added in November -- a disappointment. However, the unemployment rate moved down to 4.2% and the labor participation rate increased. In addition, the previous two months of data were revised upward by almost 100,000 jobs. Wage inflation continues to be concerning, as labor shortages continue in several sectors of the economy.